Authorities: Dog found left in 126 degree parked car

Southfield, Mich.--(FOX 2)--With temperatures creeping into the lower 90s parked cars became ovens on wheels Tuesday. A dog was spotted inside a car in a Southfield, Mich. parking lot, but a Good Samaritan spotted the pooch and called police.

Left inside a hot car on Tuesday was Rock, a Chihuahua, while his owner ran into the grocery store.

Only gone 10 minutes, it was enough for Southfield Animal Warden Robert White to take action. He first used his laser thermometer to get a temperature inside the car and on the dog.

"Even with the windows cracked I got readings of up to 126 degrees in there," White said.

FOX 2: "And you could actually take the temperature of the dog?"

"Rock had a skin temperature of 100 degrees," White said.

The owner who did not want to go on camera, had allegedly left the windows cracked and water in a bowl on the floor, not realizing just how hot it was in his parked car after only 10 minutes.

"It's 90 degrees out right now and within 10 minutes that temperature can raise easily 20 degrees," White said.

White says dogs can overheat and start to suffer brain damage after only 10 minutes, in temperatures like Tuesday's which cracked 90. The animal warden explained all of this in detail to Rock's owner and gave him a warning - it's a mistake he won't make again and will hopefully keep others from doing the same.

"Rock is going to make it just fine," White said. "And his owner is better off with this warning now he promises he won't do it again.

"He had cracked his windows. He even left water for the dog. However in these temperatures that water quickly disappeared and the temperature still rose to what we found it to be and that is a dangerous situation."