BEWARE!! Its summer here in Australia&yesterday being quite a hot one (34 deg) I took my dogs to the off lead beach for a swim&run..Well that was great but had to pick up my son so i rushed back to the car opened the back of the station wagon,piled the dogs in&shut the door..LEAVING THE KEYS INSIDE with the dogs..
This car(not mine)locks itself when the hatch is shut!!
Luckily some other doggy people were right behind me&let me use a mobile phone(mine was in the car) to call RACV(roadside assistance)who after telling them the situation had a car to us in ten minutes&the dogs were out!! Thankfully as they had started to get a little distressed after that amount of time..Another few minutes&I would have broken the window myself..
Something lovely though-I am not a current member&they came anyway in fast time&didnt charge me as the dogs were locked in!! So there is still good things happening in the world. I have also learnt how to break into cars now..lol.

I had an incident last year, I stopped the car outside my son's home to run in and give him something. I left the keys in the car with my DH and a terrier who stood on the switch that locks the doors, its located by the gear lever in between the front seats. It was summer but UK summers are not anything like as hot as they are in Australia. Luckily the driver's window was slightly wound down with a gap of about 1/4 Inch at the top. After locating a long thin stick I was able to insert it through the gap and push down the central locking switch to unlock the doors.

I have now learnt not to leave the keys in the car while the terrier is inside.

Wow Kat, that is a great plug for the RAC. Kudos to them for getting there in record breaking speed. Last time I called them for a punctured tyre it took them a good hour and a half to get ther. And double Kudos for not charging you. The doG's must have been smiling on you that day

Thank God it was a happy ending.

You don't need it to be a real hot summer for dogs to die in cars, even on cloudy days the inside of the car can become like an oven.
Never had a dog incident but locked my 18 month old son in once Would you credit it, he could escape from his car seat any other day, but not this day, there was me saying "Come on darling, open the door for Mummy" and he just looked at me, we managed to get the car door open eventuallyB)

Thank goodness the RAC attended so quickly! I am always aware when leaving the dogs in the car (I try not too) of how quickly the heat can build up no matter what the weather is like and especially withy 5 hounds all panting everywhere

Yes, it is worth emphasising that shutting dogs and children in cars is HUGELLY dangerous.
In fact Kids are more at risk as they dehydrate/overheat very quickly.
I recently saw a program on TV.... a TV reporter was doing a story on this.....
He shut himself in a car, in the sun when it was 30C outside, within 10 minutes it was 60 degrees Centigrade in the car and he was in a LOT of distress.

Dave