I DO hope you will print this letter as a warning to dog owners.

On Monday (July 25) my son and I were leaving Morrisons store in Ross-on-Wye. It was early afternoon and very hot. We saw an estate car with a large dog in the back parked in the car park.

The dog was panting and clearly uncomfortable. Yes, two or three windows were slightly open but this makes no difference. The temperature in that car must have been soaring.

Dogs die in hot cars and they die because the internal temperature in a car, even with the windows open, rises to a point where the animal's blood temperature increases rapidly. Effectively, the dog boils alive.

Why would anyone take a dog shopping? I don't understand the logic, and why – after so many warnings put out by animal welfare groups and after stories in the press over the years – would anyone leave a dog in a car on a hot day?

I was so concerned I called the store and they said they would get someone to take action.

I'm sure the dog's owners considered they were doing nothing wrong. I'm sure they felt annoyed if the store arranged for someone to intervene, but the bottom line is that dog could have died a horrible death and its owners would have been responsible.

Please don't leave your dog in a car on a warm day. Leave it at home.

– Name and address supplied.