I’m wondering how other museums handle this kind of situation.

 

Today someone tried to come into our museum with a dog (not a service animal). We told her that only service animals are permitted in the museum. Apparently, she then went and put the dog in her car and left it there for over an hour. I was out of the museum at the time but was informed that this upset at least two staff members.

 

My question is, if this happens again with someone leaving their pet in a car in our parking lot, how should we handle it? I hate the thought of a poor dog being put at risk by being stuck in a car on a hot day. Our museum is small enough that it wouldn’t be too difficult to locate the owner, I just don’t know what, if anything, we could say to them.

 

Has anyone else run into this before? How did you handle it?

 

Diane