Keeping your vehicle cool for the dogs

hahaha! Yeah I used to think it'd be easier to have a people-aggressive dog in terms of getting people to not wanna pet your dog, but after seeing LOTS of extremely nice hard hitting totally bite-crazy dogs work, who will then be social and friendly with EVERYONE including the decoy that just threatened them defensively, well, it kinda makes me not care if people pet my dog anymore LOL I don't like everyone petting Cujo but I don't care if someone does anymore, he's become very aloof to strangers anyway, he'll wag his tail n say hi then immediately walk away n go do something more interesting. Cujo's my super social "loves everyone" dog, but he'll be aggressive when he's told to or needs to be... Lÿka, well, it could go either way, she's a little people shy right now towards strangers, but she's alot less shy than she was 3 weeks ago, so maybe with lots more socializing she'll learn to like strangers, or at least be neutral to them... her father is a social dog, her uncle (same parents different litter) is very dominant and doesn't like being petted, his grandma on fathers side isn't social either, her mother is friendly as far as I know, and so is her mothers male littermate... so who knows, I think if I keep socializing her that she will at least be able to be neutral around people even if she doesn't like to be petted... maybe she'll be social like her dad, maybe not, either way doesn't make all that much difference to me... but I can see how a very people aggressive dog that has little self control could be a pain in the ass, that might get old real fast... but growling at someone who reaches to pet her I can deal with.

I have a quad cab Dodge Ram 1500, I love it for ease of use for the dogs... the back seat flips up n there's a metal tray that folds out to make the back area flat, n Home Depot sells for $12 these burgundy bathroom mats that are the EXACT size to cover the entire metal tray in a Ram, so Cujo doesn't slide around lol. Lÿkas puppy crate fits back there nicely, even the bigger one I bought to keep in the truck so I'm not constantly lugging crates around... someone told me that when she's an adult a Pet Limo 400 will fit back there perfectly which should be enough height for her. I also bought these plastic window guards that Ray Allen sells for $15.99 each at PetSmart.com for $5.99 each lol they clamp between the window and the inside of the window frame very tightly and give about 4" of air room, depending on the width of the window, but in the Ram about 4" with no risk of the dog getting out without breaking the glass, which Cujo will never do anyway.

I'm a little confused about the auto-start system I was looking at though, it has a pager option and option to beep the car horn repeatedly when the vehicle gets too hot -- but if the engine auto-starts when it gets too hot, isn't it a little pointless to alert the handler to something that is innevitably gonna happen, when there's already an automatic cooling system (engine start/AC) in place? You'd be sounding off the horn all the time in Florida for no reason. Perhaps it's useful to just be able to go outside n check if the car actually started with the pager alert... but the horn alert seems a little pointless/excessive?

Apparently it's $455 for the base unit, then another $165 for the pager, $47 for the window roll down and like $25 for the horn module. I want the autostart and pager, so should be under $650ish with shipping is my guess. But I think a worthwhile investment if it makes life with dogs easier, beats keeping em stuck in the house when you're running errands around town for 5 hours, especially for a puppy who's bladder can't handle much more than 3 hours.

I had a remote starter in my old Camaro, it also had a 2-way remote that displayed the interior temp of the vehicle on the keychain remote, I never understood why anyone would want that at the time LOL. I've been to dinner after training several times, usually about an hour or so... when the temp is cool in the winterish months.... as summer heats up I'd get more paranoid a bout the temperature in the truck if I go to dinner after training, n not like I can take the dog in with me It'd put my mind at ease if the AC turned on whenever it started getting hot. I can't walk barefoot on the sidewalk after 10am without burning my feet, n in mid-summer if the car sits in the sun for 20 minutes you can barely breathe when you get back in.... n manual transmissions suck because you burn your hand shifting for the first 15 minutes lol. So with all the heat problems we face down here it's a "better safe than sorry" type thing.

I agree a remote starter could work nicely for letting the car run without keys in there.... but if I'm gonna spend money on being able to let the car run for the dogs, I might as well spend money on a product that's intended specifically for what I am wanting to achieve lol. If I got a remote starter type alarm system (I wouldn't just buy the remote starter because I gotta overcomplicate everything when it comes to gadgets n toys), i'd probably end up getting the system that costs almost as much as the thing intended for keeping dogs alive... so I'll get the thing intended to keep dogs alive instead LOL.