A/C for my dog while parked

I've left the car locked and running before, but I had to leave the fob in the car. I assume this is because my car doesn't have the SKS. I tend to power up the window instead of using the little key for locking, but I can see how that could be a problem with a dog.

 

I couldn't agree more with this statement! Take the dog out of the car for a "Potty" break, get your food to go, eat in the car, find a nice shady spot and eat there with your dog...
On be half of the Corgi Gang, Don't be stupid!

 

I am so with you on this one. We know our dogs and that they are perfectly safe inside the car for a few minutes, and that the world is safer with them inside the car. Anytime I have left Kid in the car, I have had him in sight (but out of his sight) to see what he does. He curls up in his little car seat (harnessed in), and goes to sleep. He'd be fine if I needed to leave him in there for a few minutes. A good idea is to leave a water bowl in the car, I use a Buddy Bowl which has a lip around the edge that prevents the water from splashing (even holds water upside down).

I laughed so hard thinking about my Chihuahua hitting the power button, running down to depress the emergency brake (it's hard enough for me to do), jumping back up on the seat, shifting it into drive or reverse (he'd be sure to check the back up camera), running back down and throwing all of his weight on to the gas pedal.

 

Where is the driver supposed to pee?

 

I can't leave my 2 chocolate labradors in a running car. They would STEAL it and go out cruising for a couple of hours.

Dbcassidy

 

What's worse:

Imagine tying your two labs to the bumper of the Prius!
Labs see a cat, eep:

off go the labs :bolt:

with Prius being pulled along! :car:

 

In the gas tank of a Hummer for all I care!

 

Good to hear everything went well. I tried this with my Chihuahua today in the car, just in the parking lot. Worked great! And it was nice getting back into a nice cool car!

 

I would leave on note otherwise you will get some ugly looks and someone may call the animal rescue. If I were in the parking lot and I saw a dog in the car..I would check it out because our summers are 96 to 100. I would also leave a small bowl of water inside the car and a chew toy so the dog does not get bored and bark. I would also (like suggested earlier) park the car in an area where I could keep an eye on it.It would not be a bad idea to put heat shades on the front of the car on the inside so your A/C does not have to work so hard. Then I would park with a side view of the vehicle. I think everyone had great solutions!! Prius Chat ROCKS!!

 

If you have to leave the dog in the car then I would put a sign up in one of the windows explaining that the car is on and the a/c is running to keep the dog cool. No harm in doing that to ward off any phone calls to the police.

However, the best option is just to stop at a place that you can get takeout even if it has to be fast food and just eat in the car while parked.

There are always plenty of fast food places to stop at and eat healthy at the same time, you can just get something to go and sit inside the car with your pooch and munch on your lunch.

 

I wouldn't do this simply for one reason: A couple of weeks ago I had to run to the store. My girlfriend didn't feel like going in so she waited with the A/C running. Even though I was in there less than 10 minutes, when I got back I noticed my tank's MPG plummeted to 35 MPG!

 

It really depends on how many miles you had since you reset your counter. I've idled my Prius with A/C on full blast (in AZ) while eating in a restaurant (on the way to the circus and didn't want the kids to endure cooling the car down again) and running into the store (figured the day before I may have killed my mileage while in the restaurant so figured what the heck) on one of my tanks of fuel and I still got 45mpg on that tank overall. That week it was around 112-113 every day and I'm not shy to have the A/C on full blast for the duration of my trip so 45mpg is pretty darn good. I'd estimate that in that weather without idling I would have probably gotten 47mpg on that tank. When the temp is 105 or under I consistently get low 50's.

 

Another thought: Today or yesterday I read a story on the Net about an officer who left her K-9 in her cruiser while she went into the station house. She left the A/C on, but the compressor failed and the dog died. Department ruled it wasn't her fault, but the dog still is dead. You gotta do what you gotta do, but there could be adverse consequences; consider all alternatives.

 

She was conducting police business, not personal. The time she was inside was not definitively stated. My opinion is that she should have and could have brought the dog into the station. But it didn't happen that way. The chances of a compressor failing are pretty small. But it didn't happen that way.

 

I haven't read every post in this thread, but could a neighbor look in on the dog during the day? Seems that the discussion is all about the human needing to eat and pee; what about Fido?