06/24/2025
Are you a terrible pet owner? Take the quiz!
✅You leave your dog outside all day with no real shade.
👉 Fix it: Shade is not optional — it’s basic decency. Trees, tarps, umbrellas, or an actual dog house with ventilation. And no — a plastic igloo in direct sun is not “good enough” — it’s a microwave. If you can’t manage shade, you shouldn’t have a dog. 🥵 If you are a Duke Power costumer and you’ve sat in your house with no power and no AC recently, you know exactly how bad the heat sucks.
✅ You dump water once in the morning and hope for the best.
👉 Fix it: Water needs to be clean, cool, and available all day — not a dirty bowl knocked over by 10am. Use a wide, heavy bowl they can’t tip, keep it in the shade, and drop in ice cubes or a frozen block in the morning. If you can’t check it more than once a day, buy a cactus 🌵 instead of a dog.
✅ You chain your dog up for hours with no escape from sun or hot ground.
👉 Fix it: Chaining a dog up for hours in blazing sun should be illegal — unfortunately, it isn’t here. If your dog is stuck on a chain ⛓️ with no way to find shade, congratulations: you’re the neighborhood a**hole and we all despise you. Give them grassy or dirt areas, and freedom to move.
✅ You leave your pet in a parked car.
👉 Fix it: Leaving your pet in a parked car — even for a minute — is a death sentence. On a 90 degree day, your car turns into an oven in minutes. Cracking the windows does nothing. If you think it’s fine, sit in it yourself for 10 minutes. If you live, 💀 tell us if you understand now.
✅ You provide zero ways for your pet to cool down.
👉 Fix it: A cheap kiddie pool or shallow tub with a few inches of water can literally save your dog’s life. 💧Wet a bandana and tie it loosely around their neck. If that’s “too much work” for you, swap your dog for a pet rock instead.
✅ You walk your dog at noon on frying-pan pavement.
👉 Fix it: Walking your dog at high noon on blazing pavement is animal cruelty, not exercise. 🔥 Think we’re dramatic? Take off your shoes and try it. Walk dogs early in the morning or late when temps drop.
✅ You won’t bring your pets inside during dangerous heat.
👉 Fix it: Extreme heat kills fast. Bring animals inside — even if it’s just a garage, porch, or basement. It could literally save their life. If that’s too much effort, question why you even have a dog. 🤔💭
✅ You don’t recognize heatstroke until it’s too late.
👉 Fix it: Signs of heatstroke: rapid, heavy panting, drooling, confusion, bright red tongue or gums, vomiting, collapse. See these? Get them to shade, wet belly/paws/armpits with cool (not ice-cold) water, and get to a vet immediately. Avoid this emergency by keeping dogs cool and shaded.
💡 QUIZ RESULTS
If you checked even one box on our quiz — be a better human. You’re exactly why neighbors call Animal Control, push for stronger laws, and secretly wish they could climb your fence and rescue your poor dog themselves.
For everyone who passed the quiz: we see you, we appreciate you, and we know you’re tired of watching helpless animals suffer because some folks can’t manage basic decency. Always start by talking to owners — share kindness, facts, and simple solutions first. Sometimes people genuinely don’t know better (unbelievable, but true).
If that fails? Call Animal Control: 704-289-1591. But remember: your local officers didn’t write the Animal Welfare Code they have to follow. If you want better protection for animals, aim your frustration at the ones with the power to change it — your elected officials. Sign our petition for common sense ordinance updates 👉🏼 https://bit.ly/UCChangePetition
🐾🔥 Stay shady, keep ‘em watered, and do better.
