So much of the news these past few weeks has been focused on the natural disasters happening all over the Atlantic and Gulf areas around and offshore of the US that it got me thinking about how prepared are we for the chance of a natural or nuclear disaster striking us.
I checked our Disaster Evacuation Kit and everything looks good, but after talking to a few experts I realized there were a couple of things I overlooked and it those things I wanted to share with everyone this month.
Get your service dog use to seeing first responders in all types of gear.
One thing that is really helpful to include in your evacuation kit is a list of all your pets and their microchip numbers. If you and your pets are separated, which could and does happen in spite of best efforts, then you have something that you can pass out to rescue groups and animals shelters. These groups will be scanning recovered pets and having the information that certain numbers have a traceable owner are really helpful to them.
I never thought to check with my county officials to see if our county had a plan for evacuating pets during an emergency. We do in fact have a plan in the county where I live and it tells me what the official plan of action will be with regard to my pets if disaster should strike. I urge you to become familiar with your county’s plan BEFORE something happens so you know where to go with your animals, where to look for them if you are separated, and how to support you county officials handling animal rescue if you so choose to get that involved.
Another thing that cropped up in regard to the theme of this blog this past month as I put many more thousand miles on my van traveling about the country is how little time people prepare their service dogs for emergencies. People who are self training as well as many non service dog pro trainers helping those folks seem to forget to add in the exercises I feel are a necessary part of a good service dog schooling.
One lesson every service dog should have is how to react in and around first responders, ambulances, and the not-seen-every-day equipment associated with these people. All the first responders that I have spoken with told me that if a service animal is well mannered and cooperative they have no issue keeping the dog with its person.
Learning to handed off to someone else.
At the first sign of trouble though they will hand the dog off to animal control as their first concern is the well-being of the person. What this means is you need to practice doing out of sight handoffs to another person the dog is not too familiar with in multiple locations, you need to have other people walk your dog away as you lay down and fake a crisis, you need to have other people be able to tell your dog to do something and they do it willingly. If you don’t practice this, don’t be surprised if your dog won’t do it.
Another important lesson is how to remain calm in a cage. I know a lot of people do not like cages, crates, whatever you want to call them. However, there will be times when your dog may end up in one and for that reason you should at least train them to:
- accept the cage
- willingly go into the cage on command
- stay there with the door open until told it is Okay to leave
This is not as difficult as it sounds. Try tossing a treat into the cage at the same time you say a cue word for the dog to enter. I like the word ‘kennel’ which to my dogs means “go into what I am pointing at”. As soon as your dog enters and turns around, close the door and wait for them to sit. When they do reach in and reward with a treat. If they move or try to get out the door closes, if they hold the position they get a treat. Soon enough the dog figures out that going into the cage and sitting until told to do something else is the way the game works. Mine will do happily many times, I think they rather enjoy the game.
I hope this finds all my friends everywhere safe and sound, in the meantime get prepared in case you do have an emergency.
Chilbrook Labradors 