For the second time in 4 days (that we know of) poor mayoral dog Scout was left alone in the mayoral SUV on a hot day while his master, the mayor of Toledo, Carty Finkbeiner, attended to some mayoral business.  Friday was the first incident made public.

There was a news conference/ceremony at the University of Toledo today to announce that U.S. Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur had secured $1.9 million in federal money for the University of Toledo’s Science and Technology Corridor and Carty was in attendance along with several public officials.  The press conference was held outside and it soon became very obvious that Scout was there as well, but not next to Carty, instead he was in the car.  How do we know he was there?  He was barking.

I first read rumblings of this second dog-in-a-hot-car episode this afternoon on a couple local blogs and later on while driving to work I tuned into the Brian Wilson show on WSPD (there was a guest host) and it was confirmed there.  WSPD had a reporter at the event where they recorded audio of the public officials speaking and in the process captured audio of Scout barking in the background.  The piexes of audio were edited together and there were indeed several barks loud enough to be easily heard on tape.

This barking, of course, perked up the ears of various other news stations on scene and some videographers and reporters checked to see if suspicions were correct.  Yup, there was Scout, sitting in the car.  Sure, some windows were down but there was no water in sight.  At that time of day it was at least 85-87°  with a feels like temperature  of 92°.

Tony Geftos, a 13abc reporter, went to Carty’s home Monday evening to ask a few questions and he filed a report on the 11pm newscast.  In listening to Carty talk you can immediately tell that he still feels like he has done nothing wrong in leaving the dog in the car on these 2 hot days.  In fact, in the report he tells people to come down to One Government Center, visit the 22nd floor and check how “Scouty” is doing yourself.  (Yes, he called the dog Scouty on TV.)  Do you think the average Joe Citizen would even be allowed to do that?  I have my doubts.

He also stated that he feels that all this attention regarding the dog -and the handicapped parking incident- are personal attacks on him.  He went on to explain that basically “they” have found no other way to harm him politically and so that now “they” are coming at him in a personal way by generating interest with these dog stories.  I suppose the “they” he might be referring to would be his detractors, those who feel he should not be in office, perhaps some of the people trying to recall him.  But I think the real “they” is us, the bloggers and blog readers, the people who feel that a city leader should lead by example in how to be respectful of animals and the law.  Who wants a leader that (albeit supposedly unintentionally) puts his pet in harm’s way on a regular basis? – yes 2 times in 4 days qualifies as a regular basis to me.  I really don’t have any doubt that Carty and Amy love and care for their dog, I just have to really disagree with some of the things they are doing.  If he wants to take the dog to work that’s someone elses drum to bang, I guess I don’t really mind that too much (altho it would be nice if he let fellow city employees bring their pets to work.)  The main issue I have with Carty here is that he should be thinking more about possible harm to the dog’s welfare and less about how he thinks that Scout is ok.  Dogs can hide problems pretty well.

What are the mayor’s alternatives?  Well, there are a few that I can think of right off the bat, the first of which is leaving the dog at home.  Or there’s leaving the dog at work with a trusted caretaker for a couple hours if he needs to go somewhere on official city business.  If he doesn’t want to leave the dog at home then the most obvious choice is to enroll Scout in doggy daycare.  There are now a bunch of these facilities in the area and I just know the local dogs would love to welcome a local dog celebrity into the fold.

 Because Carty has left Scout in a vehicle on a warm day a few times now (he also says he doesn’t take the dog everywhere with him) he feels that the dog is fine and can handle these situations.  Veterinarians and Humane Society officials disagree.  They say that each dog is different, some can handle the heat whle others can’t.  I also recall hearing someone say that just because a dog was ok in a car on a hot day one time does not mean that that same dog will be able to handle it over and over.  Nothing about a dog dealing with heat is consistent.  The temperature in a car and the temperature of the dog both rise rapidly in a warm environment.  Carty could come back to his SUV someday and find a dog on the brink of death. 

He just doesn’t get it…and if you’ll allow me to harken back a couple years…It’s Just Not Right!

UPDATE – 8/7/2007

The Blade published an article this morning regarding Carty and his “Hot Dog”

and Roberta de Boer offers her thoughts on the issue in today’s column as well in a blog entry from Saturday.

In case you don’t read Roberta’s blog entry she points readers to the website MyDogisCool.com where you can print off flyers to keep in your car and then slide under someone’s windshield wiper when you find a hot car imprisoning a dog.