idling question

the battery will run down and it is not recommended to leave a dog in a car unattended.

 

If you leave the car in "Ready" the battery will not run down. The engine will run from time to time to keep it charged up. You will have to manually lock the drivers door when you get out, but that's about it. If you have SKS take the FOB with you.

If you're leaving the dog in the car, you may want to put a sign in a window so some well meaning panic stricken person doesn't call the police and have a window broken to "save" the dog. A sign that says "This is a hybrid car, the air conditioning is on, even though the engine may not be running."

 

This will work fine. "Ready" mode is the normal operating mode when the Prius is powered up and ready to drive - it's the same as leaving a normal car running. To do this when you pull into a parking lot, just press Park, not the power button. To be safe you might want to set the parking brake. Set the air conditioning as desired. You will need to manually lock the car, as the Prius is smart enough to know that it is still running, so it will beep and complain.

As another poster suggested, you may want to leave a sign in the window telling well-meaning busybodies that your dog is fine and that they don't need to break your windows to save the dog from the stifling heat inside of the car.

Tom

 

that's a better idea