Imagine being locked in a car for 19 days.Now imagine those 19 days without food, water, a blanket or anyone to tell you everything is going to be OK.This is the story of Michou, a 12-year-old miniature poodle whose owner “unintentionally” locked his dog in a car at the Burlington International Airport from Dec. 16 until Jan. 6, the day Michou was finally rescued.I had an experience with dogs trapped in a vehicular prison myself just last week, which is what led me to find out about poor Michou.The dogs I came across one cold Thursday night, when the temperature hovered around zero, were trapped in a car outside of my apartment building.I discovered them at about 8 p.m.The hood of the car was cold, the windows almost completely frosted over. The only thing that tipped me off was the incessant howling I heard coming from the backseat.I’m no expert, but I’ve lived in the cold my whole life and I would say it takes about two to three hours for a car’s windows to frost over. So it would be safe to say those dogs were in the car for at least an hour.It took three calls to my local police department, and the threat that my roommate and I would break into the car if we had to, before the police finally showed up.The time was 10 p.m.I’m sure if I would have said my neighbors were smoking dope they would have shown up in no time.The culprits, unfortunately, sped away as soon as they heard the cops were on the way and were probably going to take their dogs away. I called them a number of expletives and told them next time I wouldn’t call the cops.The dogs in my story were locked in a car for roughly five hours, a drop in the bucket compared to Michou’s 19-day experience.Ironically, after speaking with the police and learning they have no real jurisdiction over animals locked in vehicles, I went inside and on the television was an ad for the ASPECA, begging for donations so they can help those animals subjected to abuse and to prosecute the abusers.Did I forget to mention that Michou’s owner received a slap on the wrist and a whopping $100 fine once he returned to retrieve his vehicle?I’m glad the ASPECA is spending their money so well.