Officer Jeff O’Rear got a call about a Chihuahua that was locked inside a hot car at a strip mall in Kansas City, Missouri last month. It happened to be one of the hottest days of the year.

A little girl heard it whimpering when she walked by, and told her parents to call 911. It turned out it had been there for about two hours, and wasn't doing well.

When Jeff got there, the puppy was lying on its back with all four legs sticking up, and it was having convulsions. So he and his partner immediately smashed one of the back windows with a nightstick and got it out. But things still didn't look good at that point.

Its body temperature was almost 108 degrees, and its heart was racing like crazy. Then it went into shock. Luckily, there happened to be a veterinary clinic in the same strip mall, where the staff worked on the dog for about 90 minutes, got its vitals back to normal, and it survived.

(Erik Winter)
(Erik Winter)
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The good news is, the dog's owners are now its former owners. They're facing charges for animal cruelty, and agreed to sign him over to a shelter. Now he'll never end up locked in a hot car again, because Jeff surprised his two daughters by adopting him. Last we heard, they were still deciding on a name.

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