Shawna Harch was heading for happy hour in June 2017 when she heard barking.

Inside a black Mercedes parked on the street in Portland, Oregon, a small dog—it looked like a Pomeranian or a Chihuahua, she thought—sat in a crate. The moonroof was cracked, but the car windows were rolled up. Outside, it was nearly 90 degrees.

Harch called the police, but they couldn’t tell her how soon they’d be there. The dog was panting—the barking had stopped.

Grabbing a car jack she had in her trunk, Harch smashed a car window and let the dog out, cooling her down in a tub of water provided by a nearby cafe. The owner appeared soon after and thanked Harch, according to a