I haven't been able to read the article but I heard about it on Facebook. I just recently learned that one of the dogs belonged to a member of our local breed club so tragic. I don't even know what to say.
I just can't imagine how devastated all the people concerned are - especially the handler who lost at least five of her own dogs. I'm fairly sure I know which ones of hers... and I can guess which dogs from other people were involved... which just made me feel all the more sick thinking about it. You are not just talking shattered dreams, you are talking heartbreak.
I think there are those of us who are not in the mood to debate anything about this or jump on the blame game.... because this is very local for a lot of us. We know the handler and I think many of us have seen the dogs as well. Or the dogs are related to dogs we know.
It's easier to jump on people when you don't know them or they are from another country or another sport...
Heartbreaking. She is such a wonderful caregiver and I have never seen her do a single thing I would find fault with. I hate how people are being on FB.
My heart just sunk when I read this. That article is from my Local news station and this happened just a couple hours away from me. These poor dogs. I can't imagine how devastating this is.
I am not jumping on a blame game but this happens too often - can't alarms be added to dog vehicles that sound off when the interior of a vehicle reaches say 80F ? Can't we learn from these occurrences?
So horribly sad, my thoughts to everyone involved but especially to those poor dogs.
This is beyond sad I can't even image. there were alarms from what I heard but sadly for reasons no one knows they did not go off. Its always my greatest fear to leave my dogs someplace that I feel they are safe ( my home) and to find some mechanical failure has caused them to be hurt. I was in a house fire as a child caused by a radio shorting out and every time I leave the house with the AC on that crosses my mind.
Its always my greatest fear to leave my dogs someplace that I feel they are safe ( my home) and to find some mechanical failure has caused them to be hurt.
The thing is, no matter what we do and how hard we try, there's always a risk to everything we do. It's nobody's fault, that's life. I worry this time of year of my air conditioner going out while I'm at work. So sometimes I'll point fans at the dogs as backup. Then I worry about if a fan shorts and catches on fire. I could build a dog door so my dogs could have an escape route in case of fire, but then there's a risk of them finding a way out of the fence of getting stolen. When I think about it I just want to become a hermit and stay home to keep my dogs in a protective bubble, but that isn't realistic or healthy, so I do the best I can.
I hate when we all leave and Chloe is home alone. My biggest fear is a fire. There were times I wouldn't go with everyone and stay home with her because it made me nervous. It still does.
I don't know how common leaving dogs inside a box truck like this is. I seen pictures of it in some other stories. I think it is irresponsible and can't believe there are reputable breeders who do this kind of thing. Other arrangements should of been made.
I don't know if you read the article, but the dogs were with a handler when they perished. They were traveling to a hotel for a show and had been that way for days before the incident occurred. Their breeders had nothing to do with it. Actually, 5 of the dogs belonged to the handler. It doesn't do any good to assign blame. I'm sure all those involved are feeling enough without bashing.
Tragedy. But this is why you DON'T leave dogs in a vehicle regardless of the equipment being used to cool it. It can fail. Leaving them unattended in a vehicle is the height of irresponsibility.
Have cameras thru the house and can watch them from the office or the cell phone thru the day. As far as training or tests my dogs are never on a truck. They come with me in the motel room or I do not need to go. No ribbon is more important that the safety and the lives of my dogs.
One woman should never be responsible for 14 dogs regardless if her name is Mother Teresa. Cannot imagine the agony those poor souls have gone thru.
Please do not rely on anything mechanical, computerized or using networks or cells. Alarms do fail. Cells and networks fail. Electricity fails. There are many points of failure. My breeder has one of the biggest RV setups I have ever seen, looks like a Mach truck. She was told to never trust anything, always have the fans running and the windows open and water. Dogs can live longer in heat with air and water, than they can with no air. She has the alarms, but actually carries two cell phones - and still has had close calls. You need third and fourth level redundancies.
This month it has been so hot in the midwest, my dogs have been hermits in the house. I will not even take them in my car, in case my car breaks down, so I am not stranded (this almost happened to me with a brand new car in the heat with my dog).
All it would of taken is even a storm to knock out electricity. Chloe hasn't been out much either the last week. Way to hot. She likes to sun bathe and the last few days she won't even stay out she comes right in. Which is very unusual for her.
People that are not in the show world, these are not your typical box trucks - they are customized for dog show people, and for the safety of the dogs. There are companies out there that specialize in this type of clientele, and big bucks are spent on them.
One of those dogs belonged to my breeder...he was only 2 or 3 years old. He was such a nice dog, I was shocked to learn he was one of the dogs in the truck.
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