I rarely post on GW but this is a subject that upsets me greatly! In fact, I just wrote myself a note to call our vet Tuesday morning and ask if they have some type of letter/note/notice that I can copy and carry copies in both of our vehicles. Both my husband and I have no qualms about contacting store security, the cops, or asking that something be announced over a store loudspeaker. A couple years ago we were on our way home from Reno and stopped at a small casino to have breakfast. It was already near 100* at about noon. There were two dogs in the back of a truck. There was a bowl of water but both dogs were acting really strangely. One kept trying to get up and kept falling over. The other dog wasn't moving and seemed as if he/she could barely move it's eyes and couldn't seem to lift it's head. My husband tried to open it but it was locked. He ran into the casino and got security, who in turn made an announcement over their loudspeaker. The one security guard who had come out was getting ready to smash the window when the owners came out. When they opened the rear hatch you could feel the heat rolling out. They said they had only been inside less than 10 minutes. Yeah right! It was horrible! Another related thought that bothers both of us are people who leave their dogs in the bed of their pickup trucks in hot weather, usually tethered. Unfortunately, this isn't addressed very often. The poor things can't get off the hot metal of the truck beds. Don't the owners realize that the pads of their feet or their bellies burn if they try to lay down? I can't tell you how many times I've asked the driver to please put their hand down on the metal of the truck bed and tell me it's cool. Even lined truck beds are blistering hot. I think that some of the people were honestly surprised at how hot those beds were and yet others didn't seem to care. We don't own our car...our dog does. She lets us drive her around in it tho. And she is quite the pouter if she can't go with me/us. Shoot, that dog knows we're going somewhere before we even think about it. Never does she get to go if it's hot outside and I/we are going to be out of the car. There really isn't any such thing as running into a store "for just a minute". Our girl is about 110 lbs. of GS and Chow (and we figure there's also a little bit of horse in the mix) and it's easy for her to get overheated. I'm so sick of people like the Paris Hiltons and others that treat dogs as a fashion accessory/statement instead of a feeling, loving, hurting, suffering living thing. Sorry, had to throw that in as it's also a major pet peeve of mine. If our vet has anything that I can copy here I'll post it. If not then maybe between us we can come up with something that gets the point across to those idiots. Jenna

beegood, that's the beauty of a forum like this. Don't leave on account of a disagreement. I tell myself I'm not logging in here at least every month or so due to feeling offended or piled on by others. We can discuss, agree, disagree, etc. At times it gets one-sided, but I think this particular thread is pretty evenly divided. I respect your (and everyone else's) opinion, even when I totally disagree with it. The times it gets rough are when it's a pile-on against 1 poster or stance on an issue. Also, to me the worst behavior is personal insults, I get offended & also strongly believe that when a poster resorts to personal insults/namecalling, they've usually run out of logical support for their position. Now when that happens, I remind myself that my opinion is as valid as yours (everyone's). The one thing I won't do anymore is shrink back when I feel attacked. I used to do that & it really just gives power to other posters. Now back to this topic. I'm a bit jaded about cops esp. when they immediately pull the blue curtain of protection over incidents. We get to see dash cam of the public acting badly but often when a cop is suspected of bad behavior, the dashcam is 'faulty' so we can't hold police to the same scrutiny. That's my complaint here. I did scan over 3 articles yesterday about this story & even a week after the death, there was no substance to the police's story. It makes me suspicious. Well, didn't mean to go on so long here beegood, but please don't leave over me. Stay, you may find one day that we agree about something. I agree with a lot of posters then bicker over a different topic. The one thing we probably all agree on is a love for animals.

I emailed my friend with a mini-doxie about this. Her little guys goes *everywhere* with her all day along as she runs a catering company. She uses a "Kyjen Outward Hound" car seat (about $30 on amazon) in one car and a "snoozer" booster seat (around $80 on amazon) her delivery van. Here is what she had to say about each. "The Kyjen's initial setup was easy. Now I just plop Mick in the top basket and off we go. It is inflated, not solid foam like the Snoozer. The sides of the top basket are 8" hight and mesh. Mick hasn't tried to jump, but some dogs would. Harnesses the dog and clipping it to the booster would remedy them jumping or bouncing out while driving. The Snoozer is deeper, more cushy and sports a removable, washable cover. It is a little trickier to install, but once in the car you just put you dog in and clip the harness to a strap within. For the money, the Kyjen is great, but I prefer the Snoozer hands down. It is more like a bed." Hope that helps :) I think it is fantastic your dad is still out and about at 90! If he can clip a leash, then he can clip the halter onto the booster.

I saw this the other day, and my first thought was, what a silly, ill-thought design. I don't think it will be very effective. You turn the ignition off, it makes a noise. That's it? So every time you go somewhere, you can count on hearing a very annoying noise as soon as you turn the car off (to go with all the other annoying noises), because you can't possibly make it to the car seat to undo the baby before the noise starts. In behaviour sciences / learning theory, it's clear that alert sounds and alarms can only modify behaviour if there is a correct action to take to prevent it, in this case there is not. Not to mention, over time the possibility of becoming desensitized to the "going to happen anyway" sound. It all seems very frustrating. I think it especially won't be effective because people will return the seats / throw them in the garbage. The parents who care enough to buy this kind of seat are the ones who are most unlikely to forget their child. For the person who has similarly somehow forgotten the sound (perhaps gotten out of the car to get something out of the trunk first), this new seat doesn't do anything more for that child. If I were designing a car seat with built-in protection, I would put a pressure sensor under the seat, a high tech thermometer sensing the air temperature, both connected to a transmitter with gps location. If a child is sitting in the seat and the car is over, say, something like 90 - 100 degrees or so, it puts out an immediate signal to police so they can come save the baby.