Halifax man breaks knuckle during confrontation with dog owner

A Halifax man has been left with a broken knuckle after a confrontation with the owner of two dogs locked in a hot car parked in Bayers Lake.

Sean Weaver says he punched the rear window of the car that backed into him this past week, after he confronted the driver in the parking lot of Home Depot. The incident prompted Weaver to upload a picture of the driver's licence plate on Facebook a post that has been shared more than 1,600 times.

Weaver says he saw two golden retrievers in the back of a blue Jeep as he pulled into the parking lot on his motorcycle. But, he says he wasn't sure how long they'd been there.

• Mic Mac Mall pet patrol looks out for pets in hot cars

"When I got out there, it was a little bit overcast but it was still hot," he said.

"I left them, I went in the store and did my own thing and came out about 20 minutes later. And at this time the sun was out and it was cooking hot."

While he didn't believe the dogs were in immediate distress, Weaver who also owns two dogs said it was hot enough that he considered a rescue. The front and back windows were both open a little bit.

The owner approached the car as Weaver considered his options.

"I told him what I thought of him for leaving his dogs in the car, and he didn't seem to care too much about it, didn't seem too concerned that it was a big deal," he said. "We got in a little bit of an argument."

The owner eventually climbed into the driver seat. Weaver said he stepped behind the car to take a picture of the licence plate.

The driver reacted, Weaver said, by putting the car in reverse and backing up.

"Not hard, but enough that he was trying to make his point, right? And I made my point by punching his back window," Weaver said.

The window remained intact Weaver was left with a broken knuckle.

Facebook fury

He said posted the photo of the man's licence plate on Facebook out of anger.

"I was hoping he'd get the point, but he didn't seem to care very much at all," Weaver said.

In the post, Weaver says the driver told him he'd left water for the dogs. Weaver says he told the owner that water wouldn't change the temperature in the car.

"You've got to be stupid to do something like that especially nowadays, with all the media and attention around that. I mean, you shouldn't leave your kids in there, you shouldn't leave your dogs in there," he said.

Weaver said he didn't consider calling the police because the altercation was brief. He does say, however, if the dogs needed rescuing he wouldn't have hesitated to make the call.

"It's just typical ignorance; typical stupidity by somebody," he said. "Seems to be the going trend these days."