Bringing Your Dog Home | Medical Care and Visits | Provide for Emergencies | Bite Prevention | Other Considerations
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Making the Successful Transition (adobe format) - detailed tips to ensure a positive adoption and relationship with your new adult shelter dog. |
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To Crate or not to Crate - if you are thinking about using a crate with your newly adopted dog or puppy, please take time to educate yourselves about the proper use of a crate. |
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County Dog Licenses - please make sure that you register your dog with the appropriate dog license agency. |
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Dog / Cat Introductions reprinted with the permission of the SF SPCA - tips on making the successful introduction between your existing cat(s) and a new dog. |
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Bringing a new baby home in your dog's household - tips to getting your dog acclimated to the lifestyle change in your household. Ideally, these steps should be started months before the baby comes home. |
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Heartworm preventative - any dog that goes outside is susceptible to heartworms. Heartworms are a silent killer - you don't know your dog is infested unless tested by a vet. Symptoms do not appear until often, it is too late to save your dog. Responsible dog owners put their dogs on the monthly preventative. |
Hurricane Katrina demonstrated the need to plan ahead for your pets' safety and well being in the event of an emergency or natural disaster. Emergency preparedness is but one necessary aspect of responsible pet ownership. Whether it's a fire that can happen anywhere or a natural disaster such as a hurricane, tornado or flood, advance planning can mean the difference between life and death for our pets.
Where would you evacuate? Most of us consider our pets to be members of the family. Yet, if there is a disaster (natural or man made), emergency shelters will NOT allow pets inside for health and safety reasons. Should you need to evacuate with your pets, government and many non-profit agencies will turn you away as they focus solely on assisting humans. Many people who did not evacuate from New Orleans did so because they could not find a place for their pets.
Don't count on boarding at a local kennel, shelter, humane organization or vet. They will likely be facing the same evacuation orders as yourself; or be filled to capacity. In order to evacuate safely with your pets, plan ahead to identify friends, family or foster homes that will take your pet once you have safety evacuated the area.
Emergency supplies - the most important first step to preparing for a regional disaster is to keep emergency supplies available in an easy to access location close by. Items you should have on hand include:
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manual can opener |
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one heavy blanket per pet |
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water and food bowls with 3-5 days supply of water and food |
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one pet carrier per cat or other small dog or pet |
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one collar (preferable a harness as even the most obedient dog will likely pull out of a collar if stressed) |
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one leash per large dog (not feasible for putting in animal carrier) |
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grooming supplies |
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pooper scooper or litter box |
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two weeks supply of medications |
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copies of all licenses and rabies vaccination certificates kept in plastic so water will not ruin them |
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recent photos in case you need to make posters or show animal control authorities |
Microchip your pet - even with your best efforts, if the disaster is forceful enough your pet could become lost. Animal control agencies will be overwhelmed in the hours and days immediately following the disaster in trying to reunite pets with their owners. This is why it's imperative that your dog or cat wear a collar and identification tags at all times. For example, if you're at work when calamity strikes and your home's walls, doors or fencing falls down, your pet could escape and run off. Even collars sometimes get separated from your pets, so it is advisable to microchip your pets. It takes seconds to insert the tiny chip under your pet's skin by a veterinarian. Unlike a collar, the chip can never "fall off" and you can be sure reputable shelters and humane groups will scan all incoming lost pets for a chip.
After the disaster - even if you and your pet survive a disaster together, keep in mind that even laid back pets can have a change in personality following a disaster. Be prepared that your pet's disposition can radically change. All of a sudden, his routine and environment has disappeared. This can cause the most mellow dog and serene cat to start growling at each other even though they've always gotten along famously.
In the aftermath of a disaster, always keep your dog on a leash when outside. Cats should not be let outdoors. Landmarks have suddenly changed or have been altered and your pet might lose his bearing and become lost.
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Understanding the Foreign Language of "Dog" - at an early age, dogs learn how to communicate with each other in their own special language. It is up to us, as owners and parents, to understand and learn this foreign language so we will better know when to intervene and when to let dogs just be dogs. Talking Dog: Body Language (by Stacey Braslau-Schneck) explains the importance of understanding what dogs are saying with the bodies. The ASPCA provides a pdf file on Reading Canine Body Postures that also describes how the ear position, pupil dilation, facial tension, tail carriage and body weight distribution can tell you is a dog is relaxed, playful or fearful, or whether given a situation, whether the dog is dominant or submissive. | ||||||
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Bite Prevention - most bites are a result of a dog's fear. Often you hear the comment "the dog snapped (or bit) without any warning whatsoever." But in fact most dogs, when put in a fearful situation, send out CLEAR warning signals through their own language. As a responsible dog owner, it is important to understand and detect the warning signals that you dog is NOT comfortable so you can remove the dog from the situation that might cause him to snap.
Other Considerations |
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Pet friendly hotels - a listing of pet friendly hotels B&B's and resorts when traveling with your pet |
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