I once gave a book reading at a small Vermont town in the summer that loved it’s dogs and rode everywhere with them and brought them to my reading. Some got restless and were put in their owner’s cars. It was a pleasant Spring Day, about 60 degrees.

The reading was interrupted, then cancelled because a couple of animal rights zealots went by and decided it was too warm for the dogs to be in the cars, even though it was cool and the windows were wide open for ventilation.

Some months later, the bookstore messaged me to say the same thing happened at the local grocery where some other intrusive nutballs decided no dogs should be left in cars after May 1st, and police showed up again. Nobody in town takes their dogs in their cars any longer for fear of getting arrested. I met some of these people at my readings. They adore their dogs and would never endanger them.

In America, the idea of minding your own business is being swept away by zealous and clueless people who hide their hatred of people behing the pretense of loving dogs. If you really love a dog, as I do, you bring them everywhere you can. Zinnia loves to come along when I go out of the house, and I love to have her with me. In the warm summer months, I leave her at home when it gets too sunny and warm. I use my common sense about it, and I never consider the business of other people or the police unless the dog is suffering visibly and seriously.

Car dogs are one of the sweetest and most beautiful American traditions, but I hear all the time of animal rights abuse of power stories and more and more people just don’t take dogs for rides at all unless it’s cloudly and cold. A woman in Saratoga Springs messaged me and told me that when she pulled up in front of a pharmach to pick up a waiting prescription, she was arrested, handcuffed and hauled off to jail for the afternoon.

Dog lovers ought to have the right to take their dogs wherever they wish for as long as they wish, period. It is illegal to abuse dogs and if people do it, they can and sould be punished. But it’s not up to roaming vigilantes to do the policing.

PETA, now one of the most extremist of so-called animal rights organizations, claims that “162 dogs and other animals” died in one recent year from heat exposure in the summer. Considering that there are an estimated 90 million dogs in America, the number is disturging but hardly horrifying or surprising. The figure includes homeless people who live outdoors and on the streets.

There will always be some careless and thoughtless people, we will never live in a perfect world.

As usual, there is no explanation for the date they use to raise money.

American dogs are the luckiest dogs in the world. People use to eat them for good and beat them to death as punishment. That is very rare in modern day America. I wonder how many dogs are saved by people who spend thousands of dollars to keep them healthy and safe? I don’t see any on PETA’s website. Nor do they mention that 19,215 americans died of traffic accidents in the first quarter of 2022.

No dog should die that way, and no dog owner should be harassed and persecuted for having dogs that do not die from heat exposure and are clearly not in danger. It feels like just another way for the movement to scare animal lovers into sending donations rather than educate them or help them understand how to keep their car dogs safe in warm weather.

Non profits – especially animal rights groups – have learned how to scare people into sending them money, often exaggerating alarms and statistics.

An animal rights group (not the real police) in a town near me patrols the shopping districts to brak open car windows and calls the police if they decide it’s too hot. The dot owners are not given an opportunity to protest or leave or take the dog out of the car. A new law in Saratoga Springs says the people inside have to be handcuffed and taken to the police station to be charged and ticketed for animal abuse if dogs are left even for a minute in a warm car.

I had a dose of this experience twice.

Once, last May, I took Zinnia with me to do a food shop. It was a beautiful early summer day, the sun was out, it was windy and the temperature was in the 60’s. Zinnia loves riding with me and I always leave the windows down all the way on both sides so she can stick her head out and smell things.

I’ve done this a thousand times including two days ago and have never done it when it’s hot, knowing how quickly a car can heat up. That time, I came out to find a police officer and an animal control  truck next to my car preparing to pull Zinnia out. A self-appointed animal rights vigilante saw Zinnia and decided she shouldn’t be there.

She didn’t think any dog should be allowed to drive in a car between May and the end of September, and since it was June, she was calling the police whenever she found one. she didn’t know the temperature or have any kind of veterinary training. She was a school bus driver.

An officer told me he had no choice but to get the dog examined and remove it to a local kennel. He said some people were bashing windows if they thought the dog might be hot.

Then a superior officer pulled up and told the first officer that he was not obliged to take any action and as he put it, “any idiot can see the dog is fine, not breathing hard or showing any kind of distress.”  Actually, not any idiot.  A self-appointed and untrained animal police officer thought otherwise.

And the day, the captain added, was cool and comfortable with a breeze. The animal rights hero said she would file a complaint against the superior officer for dismissing her complaint. Go for it, he said, “you might think about minding your own business, this man obviously loves his dog and would not hurt her.” It was her tenth call to the police in the last two days, he said. She patrols the parking lot as oftne as she can.

Lots of animal rights people love dogs and  fight for them, bless them.

Lots of them are just unbalanced and without any real knowledge of dogs, who have for centuries, and especially in rural communities, ridden around in trucks and cars. I see on in many farm trucks, and good for them.

I left and still bring Zinnia to the market when it’s cool enough and safe enough.

Unless there are signs of serious injury or suffering dogs, I will bring Zinnia any place  want and any time I want.

If I have to hire a lawyer and go to court, I’ll do it. Without some grievious evidence, Zinnia’s safety is my job, not every stranger who is looking for something to do.

The sergeat who pulled up used his own judgement and saw there was nothing there that called for police interference. This is why so many rural people hate the animal rights movement. Farmers love their animals and care for them better than many people care for their chilren. And they are constantly harassed and accused of animal abuse.

I was reminded of this when some animal rights idiot wrote to me in December demanding that Zip, our new barn cat, be brought into the house on cold nights.  She didn’t know me, had never seened zip or my farm.

I declined to answer her or educate her about barn cats and their mystical lives outside. The next week, a sheriff’s deputy pulled into the driveway and said this sad person called the police claiming I was abusing my new cat and endangering his life.

At my invitation, the deputy came out examined Zip, saw the heated cat house where he slept, and noted his smooth, clean coat and full belly. He is fed twice a day.  He joked he wouldn’t mind sleeping in Zip’s heated cat house.

He contacted the woman that day and said her complaint was baseless. He said he would be happy to live on our farm if we invited him.

She never, of course, apologized or explained herself.

On the extremist end of things, the animal rights movement has become just another hate group in America, shoving aside truth, perspective or common sense.   Hating people with animals does not improve the lives of animals or protect their “rights” to live and be with people.

This woman was both a liar and a coward, hiding behind the anonymity of computer messaging and take no responsibility for her ignorance. This would have done Zip and us a grave disservice if a different officer had taken the cat away and send him to animal control or a rescue group.

There is abuse of animals, of course, and the people who do it should be punished. But for me, animal welfare is not about hating people and lying about them. This does animals or people no good, and it breaks my heart a bit to see that the beautiful tradition of dogs riding around in cars is fading rapidly – I can see it – because the animal rights movement continues on its deepening campaign to drive animals away from people, even when it is clearly either unnecessary or a cruel thing to do.

I’m sorry about those alleged 162 dog fatalities. Tens of thousands of children due by guns each year in America, many more in car crashes. I don’t see any persective here. These deaths are not profitable. More than 60,000 children were killed or injured by gunfire in 2022. But dogs can’t ride around in cars in the summer ,please send a donation to PETA.

What kind of country are we becoming?

I won’t fall victim to this stupidity and overreaction. It’s  wrong to take the exception and use it to make it the absolute rule and seperate dogs from the world world of people. I won’t do it.

I called the bookstore where I gave the reading last week and asked if anyone brings their dogs to readings anymore, or to the town grocery when they are buying food. No, he told me, “people in town tell me they don’t ride around with their dogs much anymore. They fear getting humiliated, threatened, seeing car windows broken, or handcuffed and jailed for something their families have done for more than a century. It’s safe just to leave them at  home.”

This makes it a very sad story to me.