Dog dies in hot car in Shorewood Staples parking lot while owner shops

An 11-year-old English bulldog named Spike died Sunday afternoon after being left for at least 30 minutes by its owner in an SUV in the parking lot of Staples, located at 992 Brook Forest Ave. in Shorewood.

Another dog left in the car, a 9-year-old English bulldog named Ruby, was still alive when the owner returned to her parked car. The 64-year-old female owner was accompanied by family members who met her at Staples, Shorewood police Deputy Chief Eric Allen said.

The temperature Sunday reached about 93 degrees.

The SUV was a gray GMC Yukon, Allen said. He said the woman believed the air conditioning was running, but said “an unknown malfunction” turned the car off.

The incident was considered an accidental death, Allen said.

The dogs’ owner was making copies at Staples while her dogs were in the car, the general manager of Staples said. Julia Radford, a manager at Petco who assisted in rescuing Ruby, said the owner said she had been checking the car periodically.

Radford said there was vomit from the dogs in the SUV.

“If you were checking your car, you would’ve noticed that,” Radford said. “I hope they’re getting fined.”

When Radford was first alerted to the situation about 3 p.m., she ran outside. Jeff Lewis, a senior dog trainer at Petco, also ran outside, then carried Ruby into the grooming salon tub. They began spraying cold water all over the dog, Radford said.

Channahon resident Tiffany Ehret, who teaches nursing at Chamberlain University in Downers Grove, was dropping her two dogs off at Petco for a nail trim with her 12-year-old son. As soon as she realized something wasn’t right, she starting helping, too.

“I said, ‘I’m a nurse, and I want to make sure everything is OK,’” Ehret said.

After grabbing an ice pack from her car, Ehret said Lewis grabbed a thermometer off a shelf at Petco, and Ehret took Ruby’s temperature. It was 106.7 degrees, Ehret said.

“The dog’s eyes were sunken. It was holding on for its life,” Radford said. “It was so scary.”

While Ruby was being sprayed down inside, a group of people outside was pouring cold water on Spike. But when it was evident that Spike wasn’t alive, they wrapped the dog in towels, Radford said.

“People shouldn’t have to see that,” Radford said.

Radford said the owner was hysterical and screaming.

“She felt bad,” Radford said. “She kept saying, ‘I killed my dog, I killed my dog, I killed my dog.’”

Ehret said she spoke with a younger woman, who she believed was the owner’s daughter.

“She was very, very upset. She couldn’t believe it,” Ehret said. “She was upset that her mom had done this. She didn’t know her mom brought the dogs.”

Allen said the police were first notified when a third party called them for an ambulance because the owner was “hysterical and distraught.”

“Nobody’s more upset about this than the dog owner,” Allen said.

Once Ruby was cooled off and Spike was wrapped up, Lewis sat in the back seat as one of the owner’s family members drove the dogs to Animal Care Center in Plainfield.

Ruby was kept overnight for observation and survived, Radford said.

“Don’t bring your dogs with you if you’re going someplace that they can’t go into,” Ehret said. “Especially on such hot days, leave them at home.”

Radford echoed a similar thought.

“You see this happen way too often. They should be punished for it regardless,” Radford said. “I wouldn’t leave my baby in a car.”

Allen said this is the first time they’ve found a dead dog in a hot car this summer. He said the department found no intent or neglect in this case.