Dog left in hot car honks for help

UPPER MACUNGIE TOWNSHIP, Pa. (CNN/WFMZ) - Sweltering temperatures are a reminder to keep not only yourselves cool, but your pets. In the case of a Labrador, he may have been left alone, but helped himself survive what could have been a terrible situation.

Eleven-year-old Max is not just a dog. He's like another member of Donna Gardner's family.

"You have to know Max. He's a very smart dog and he just does things that I don't think a normal dog does all the time," said Gardner.

The chocolate Lab proved that a couple of weeks ago. Gardner ran an errand and took Max with her. When she came home a short time later, she went inside the house, forgetting Max was still in the car.

"I came in and started cleaning and about an hour later I heard a horn blow," said Gardner.

She went outside, but didn't see anybody. "So I came back in the house and I started cleaning again and the horn blew again."

This time, she saw Max sitting in her driver's seat.

"I rushed over and got him out real fast and he was panting like crazy. I brought him in the house and he just dropped to the floor," Gardner said.

Gardner gave him water and cooled him down. Her daughter called the vet who said Max was a little weak, a little slow but otherwise OK.

"Number 1... Max saved his own life by honking the horn to get himself out of a very, very overheated car. Number 2, the Gardners are such good pet owners that they looked at him first. They managed to get his temperature down a little bit before they got here," said Nancy Soares with the Macungie Animal Hospital.

"I don't know whatever made me forget he was with me," added Gardner.

Meanwhile, Gardner says she will never make that mistake again and hopes this serves as a lesson to other pet parents.