I recently moved home and am living with my parents.

My mom has/had this lap dog. It was nice enough.

My parents were out of town for the day and I went an hour away to visit my brother. I didn't know how long I would be gone, so I put the dog outside. As I witnessed in the past, I put the dog outside on a leash. However, I used the wrong leash(it was too short) and the dog couldn't get any shade. I put water out for it, almost a gallon, and the dog was only 7 pounds. That should have been plenty of water for it to survive. So, I talked to my mom on the phone and told her this, she freaked out and said that I needed to get home right away and put the dog inside. "You can't leave the dog out in the middle of the day in the hot sun like that," she said. I reassured her saying, "I am sure the dog will be fine. I have only been gone 4 hours."

I pull up my driveway and the dog is laying there like a rock. I go to pet it and it's stiff as a board. Sure enough, my mother was right. The dog was dead. I called my father. I couldn't really handle telling my mother right then. My father is a doctor and told me to bring the dog in and put it in cool water to see if I could revive it to make sure she wasn't really still alive. That did not work. Rigor mortis had already started setting in and she was starting to smell I realized. Before knowing that, my father instructed me to wrap the corpse in a towel and leave her in a crate we have for the dogs. He wanted to examine the dog when he got home. After about 30 mintues, I realized that the dog was stinking up the place. So, I had to call my father who was driving with my mother and say, "dad, is there anything else we can do with the dog. It's starting to smell." I was on speaker phone and my mother had to hear the whole conversation. He told me to wrap the dog tightly in a trash bag and tape it up good and place it in the freezer because we have many other animals and did not want me to leave it out because they may have their way with it.

That qualifies as the most morbid thing I have ever done. I placed it in a pull out drawer in our big freezer like it was a hunk of beef. Shortly after my father arrived home, I had to load a wheelbarrow up with sand and bury the dog in our backyard in a sinkhole.

No one should ever have to say, "mom, sorry I killed your dog". She loved that thing.

I cried when I had to actually talk to my mother about it. Her response was, "I know you're sorry. It was just an accident. I value you much more than that dog anyway." I love moms.

I keep thinking I am going to have nightmares about this animal. It was all my fault, you know...

I can't even comprehend a way to make this situation right. So, as per the thread title. I am a horrible person. No other way about it.

You're not horrible.

Just kinda stupid.

Does that make you feel better?

hmmm. nope. But it's not stupid, if you think about it. My two other dogs spend the whole day out in the sun like that. Plus, this dog had spent more hours than that running around so much so that my mother had to throw it in the pool just so it cooled off. If you ask me, the dog is stupid. But, me being dumb, I can only kinda buy that. Rigor mortis was setting in, which takes a good 1.5 hours or so on an animal that size. This means that the dog had to have died after only 2 hours outside, on estimate. I think something else happened to it. Granted, it was hot, but not THAT stinking hot.

i don't even know what to tell you about this. damn. well, it's not like you meant to. wow.

Joe...oh my gosh. I know what a kind heart you have, but ...oh geez, I don't even know what to say. Poor doggie. Poor mom. Poor you.

T.M.I.

I wish I never read this.
I think i'm going to bathe in my own vomit now.

I think you should've done this with the dog for as long as possible instead of telling your Mom the truth:

J/K

At least it wasn't a kid

I'm a worse human being then you

Dude, that sucks. Sorry everyone in this story had to go throught that. It was an honest mistake. One I'm sure you will never make again. Just be glad no one saw you do that, you could have had a lot more to worry about.

And fuck anyone for making fun of it. You people should also be put in a garbage bag and buried in a hole.

man, that's a tough situation right there, and i'm sorry, but picturing the visual of the above line actually made me laugh.

as far as the dog goes...I think the freezer is kind of funny...in a sick way, but funny.

that sucks, but it was a honest mistake.

Man that sucks...Bad situation all around..Sorry about that...

But this sounds funny..


"place it in the freezer because we have many other animals and did not want me to leave it out because they may have their way with it. "

Wow, i don't know what I'd do if I lost my dog. Be good to your mom, she's handling it really well.

Feel better.

Yeah...you did what you thought would work. It just didn't. I hate this phrase, but if anything qualifies as a "shit happens" scenario, it's something like this.

Well, it is sad and it's not like it was a child, but no, it's not a "shit happens" scenario. NO animal is going to survive even a couple hours in full sun, even one that's always active outside - they go into the shade to cool off when they can, then go back out and play in the sun. But stuck, in the sun, with a body covered in thick fur and no way to cool off other than panting? He's damn lucky no one saw that - he'd be facing animal cruelty charges, most likely.

I accidently killed a guinea pig the same way when I was a child. I'm not good at taking care of pets, thats why I own a bonsai tree.

Damn, man. It sounds like that dog was a bit more fragile than others, and you definately didn't put it out there thinking "This oughtta kill it." Ugh. Sorry to hear it.

I'm sorry to hear this happened. Chalk it up to learning by experience, and don't assume a dog can survive heat and no shade... too many dogs die like this. But then again, I get panicky when I see dogs stuck in cars with no windows down (another big no-no).

Stop sulking & redeem yourself. Go save one of those cute, cuddly fleabags down at your local animal shelter.

[quote="dnorwood"]I'm sorry to hear this happened. Chalk it up to learning by experience, and don't assume a dog can survive heat and no shade... too many dogs die like this. But then again, I get panicky when I see dogs stuck in cars with no windows down (another big no-no).[/quote]

Yeah.

But I can't help but feel inclined to say that was not a learning experience. Killing an animal, even accidentally by leaving it out in the heat is not a learning experience.

I'm sorry, that was just lack of common sense. You were better off leaving the dog inside for a couple hours, at least if it messed in the house you had a solution for it.

If it was a larger dog it may have handled it a bit better. My mom has had small dogs for 20 years, they don't handle heat at all. It's like leaving an infant in the sun.

Your poor mother. Jesus.

Dana, it was 98 one recent sunday and some stupid-ass beamer owning bastard left their bichon frise in the car with no friggin windows down in front of the supermarket. It was laying in the back window panting when I saw it. I called the market and asked them to try and make an announcement over the loudspeaker thing, they said they would. Man I wanted to go find that person and beat them over the head with a hard object.