Do you all have a disaster plan for your family and does it include your dogs? What preparations/precautions have you taken. I know that since Hurricane Katrina where people died because they werent willing to leave their animals, disaster relief plans are now including provisions for pets, but what about your personal plans?
Thats about the only disaster that we are regularly faced with every year being in Cincinnati. My aunt survived a tornado with her dog and she hid in the closet. The only part of the house left was the closet part of the room and the kitchen wall and counter attached to it.. on the counter her sons hamster in its cage running on its wheel. she was the only one home at the time.
I do not really have any type is disasters here except for power going out due to snow or ice which in itself is VERY rare.
I do have stickers on my windows to let the fire/police know there are dogs in the house in case of an emergency. I have wondered if there was a fire downstairs and I'm in say my bedroom, how would I get the dogs out. I can buy a ladder to hook into my window sill and I could probably carry my Elkhound down....but Magnum is too heavy.
Does anyone know of anything to be used for the dogs to get down from upstairs windows?
we have always had ladders that hook to the windows but even if you could carry a dog it would be hard because those ladders are so flimsy........they dangle so it would make it difficult.
Our bedroom is on the first floor now so my girls all sleep with us....I'll be interested to hear if anyone has a solution.
I've looked for over an hour on anything to evacuate large dogs from upper floors. Several places I read that if you don't leave a house while on fire you can be tasered and arrested! The best things I could find were making sure you had signs on your windows regarding pets, leashes and collars by window, teaching them to stay at window, pet first aid kit, and fire estinguisher.
I think we should invent something and make tons of money!!!!
A harnessy type thingy (that is the technical term), and you attach it to a very strong rope, manage to get the dog out the window, but he's attached to the rope and harness, then there is a crank on the inside of the window, and you can lower them down that way. Yep, let's do it.
I had really never thought of this before. In my house now, I could get him on the roof outside our window, and jump with him to the ground (it would be about one story down), which he could hurt himself, but better than burning.
Hi, I thought about the pulley system this weekend and it was a lunch conversation. I was in my upstairs thinking away. My townhouse is two levels in the front and three levels in the back above ground. The problem with the pulley system is you'd have to have it set up ahead of time as you wouldn't have the time in the moment. But what if you put it in one room and the fire causes you to need to go out another room - then you are screwed.
I was trying to think of how they get people out of planes in an emergency but didn't know how to make a slide that wouldn't puncture with nails and still be user friendly based on size.
Then I started reading how they evacuated disabled people. They have to wait for assistance wherever they are! Needless to say, I got very frustrated!
Not sure I had all the bases covered. Living in Florida we get our hurricane season and tornadoes are becoming a more normal part of the season:(.I have already had to evacuate numerous times etc and have plans in place for flooding events etc. As far as Fires though I never thought about that really. Hmmmmmm glad you brought this up!
I thought this was interesting on how to train for fire drills.
1.Place the door mat or rug on the floor.
2.Drop a treat on the doormat/rug (mat). If your dog doesn't put its paws on the mat, try putting the mat in a corner, and place the treat near the wall, so the dog has no choice but to step onto the mat.
3.Repeat.
4.When the dog is readily walking onto the mat, say the "fire drill" word, such as "outside" in a happy, excited voice. Think what your might say in a real fire, and use that word or phrase. Tell everyone in the family to use the same word or phrase.
5.Repeat.
6.Now start in other areas of the house, and say "outside" and run with your dog to the mat, and put the treat onto the mat.
7.Repeat.
8.Now move the mat out the door.
9.Put a leash on your dog, start in a distant part of the house, and say "outside!". Run with your dog to the mat that is outside the door, and reward the dog for standing on the mat.
If your home fire drill escape plan uses a window as a second escape route, you can also train your dog to come to you and wait at a window.
1.In that case, use the word "window" and train your dog to come to the window for a treat. Repeat frequently.
2.In the event that the main fire escape route is blocked, you can call your dog with the happy "window" command, close the door in your room, put blankets to cover the crack at the bottom of the door, and open a window.
3.If your dog is a small dog, in advance you can make a supportive harness, and have a long rope to lower your dog to safety.
I put my pet alert decals in the windows this weekend. After I cleaned the Akita snot off them so the decals would stick! Figure if I'm not home, the firemen will see that.
