With Hurricane Irene threatening the East Coast of the U.S. this weekend and evacuations ordered from North Carolina to New York, it’s a good time to review some of the preparations pet owners need to make in advance of a natural disaster.

New York has already spread the word that pets are welcome at the city’s shelters, but in other states things may be a bit tougher for pet owners.

One of the most powerful exercises for saving the life of your dog is to follow a disaster plan when a hurricane, tornado, blizzard, earthquake, flood, or wildfire strikes.

Four Steps Help You Avoid Dog Injuries And Lost Pets

#1. Make sure your pet always carries her identification with her. To identify your dog, use a microchip, dog collar with tags, embroidered name and phone number on the dog’s collar, or a tattoo.
Remember to post waterproof stickers next to your front and back doors and windows with the number and type of pets at home.

#2. Create two “Pet Survival Kits” – one for your car and one for your home that will take care of your dog’s needs for at least two weeks. Use water-tight containers that are easily portable and fit in your car.

Your Dog Survival Kit should contain:

• Bottled water
• Food (dry, canned, and a can opener!)
• Medication with a description of dosage
• Heartworm tablets
• Flea and tick treatment
• Diarrhea treatment
• Water bowl
• Food bowl
• Dog coat
• Bed
• Blanket or towels
• Brush
• Nail clippers
• Toys, balls, bones
• Crate – make sure it is labeled with your contact information and any medication requirements
• Extra leash
• Extra collar
• List of dog-friendly accommodations – as soon as you suspect a disaster, call for reservations!
• Adhesive tape and indelible pen – so you can write your shelter name and phone number on the back of your dog’s tags.
• Paper towels
• Bleach
• Recent photo of your dog for identification or lost dog posters
• Dog papers such as:
• Copy of dog license
• Copy of vaccinations
• Copy of registration or adoption papers
• Medical records. Describe any past or current medical conditions
• List of any allergies
• List of any reactions to medicine
• Pet Insurance number
• Veterinarian’s phone number
• Your contact information and your designated contact information. (Make sure that your designated contact has a signed release statement from you authorizing medical care for your dog.)
• Rescue Remedy and Vitamin B5 will help with anxiety and stress
• First-aid kit should contain:
• Sterile gauze pads (3″ x 3″ and 2″ X 2″)
• Two-inch roll of gauze
• Hypoallergenic adhesive tape,
• Vet wrap
• Cotton swabs (Q-tips®)
• Tweezers
• Scissors
• Needle-nose pliers
• Latex gloves
• Towel
• Plastic freezer/sandwich bags
• Small bottle of 3% hydrogen peroxide
• Antibacterial ointment
• Antiseptic cleansing wipes
• Kaopectate® or Pepto-Bismol®
• Liquid skin
• A current pet first-aid book
• Eyewash
• Eyedropper
• Digital or rectal thermometer in a plastic case
• Water-based lubricant
• Benadryl®
• Nylon leash
• Splint materials -tongue depressor, 12-inch wooden ruler or thick magazine
• Compact thermal blanket
• Small flashlight
• Your veterinarian’s telephone number
• National Poison Hotline number
• 24 Hour Animal Emergency number
• Pre-paid phone card

#3. If you must evacuate research dog-friendly hotels, motels, boarding kennels, and animal shelters out of your local area. Also, ask relatives or friends who live out of a potential storm’s path, if they will have room for you and your dogs to stay in case of an emergency.

#4. If you will need to shelter-in-place, bring your dog inside to areas, such as basements, cellars, interior rooms or hallways. Avoid windows, doors, and outside walls. Remember, the center of the room is the safest.
Keep your dog on a leash! Dogs often panic during a natural disaster. Dogs who are afraid can run away, bite, submissively pee, or hide.

Natural disasters pose serious risks to your dog’s safety. However, by following four simple steps, you will increase the odds that your dog survives when a disaster strikes. Because the truth is… you love your dog. And you want your dog around for a long time.

Thought I’d share a day in the life of Krista Cantrell “pet parent.”

Pip, 9.5 year old BC, had bloody diarrhea everywhere at 2 am, 4 am, 9 am 2 pm… to say that clean up was challenging is an understatement.
But if you have dogs or kids you know what it’s like…

Pip  nudged me awake at 2 am, but by the time my husband went downstairs to let her outside, there it was spread from the kitchen to the back door.

At 4 am only a four foot area by the back door.  Is this considered progress?

Outside with the puppies at 9 am because they needed to tinkle and pooh… and surprise! There it was in the kitchen and next to the door.

Meanwhile you know I’m taking her outside every 20 minutes or so  and giving her my favorite acidopholous combination, but it isn’t working.

How is it that as soon as I leave with the puppies, she needs to go again?

Meanwhile this morning Ranger, 22 week old BC, attacked his tail with a vengence; so bad there was a two inch raw spot – so I called the vet and got her only appointment at 6:40 pm tonight. No problem. It’s my only night not teaching dog class and my to-do list can wait again.

However, to keep Ranger from licking the hydracortisone I put on his tail – I put Boots and Ranger in the front ring with Steele – my 6 yards per second BC.  Ive done this before…

They were cruising at top BC speed – Boots is as fast as Steele at 22 weeks – and Boots slammed into the agility weave poles, flipped in the air, and hit the ground. When he got up he was three – legged.

So i came inside, gave Boots an aspirin – cleaned up dog pooh everywhere – and got really really discouraged.

And I really am not much of a downer person, but he was three-legged. I decided to bring him to the vet appointment with Ranger at 6:40 pm.

Because I just refuse to stay down, I took a Krista time-out and journeyed to the spiritlands to get a bigger perspective on what was happening.

After the journey I did a qigong bodywork session on Boots. (I guess there are some advantages to be a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine.)

Then it was computer – time. Wrote a couple of responses to people on the Best Dog Ever site, did a few Facebook comments, checked email.

Next up –  dealt with the needs of my other 5 dogs, 3 horses, and cat.

And today is the day I have the aggressive dog appointment. (Will the fun never end??? Trust me aggressive dogs are not fun.)

Then, drove to the vets office. Oops! Ranger poohed in his crate. Puppies!!!

After seeing the veterinarian and driving home with yet another $500 vet bill… I gotta tell you I was overwhelmed.

I don’t normally get discouraged, but today was the exception.

Home at last.

Opened my email and heard from the really great tech guy that makes my Your Best Dog Ever site possible.
And he had something good he wanted to share! Whoo hoo!

The next email was from someone that I’ve been working with in my role as shaman and life coach… and she got a wonderful job offer, and that’s what we’ve been working on (Yup. I even rewrote her resume.)

The emails were perfect timing.

Spirit has pretty amazing ways of letting people know they are not forgotten.

Now I’ m back to being myself, but I am soooo tired. – because it’s been so dicey today waiting with Boots until he could have x-rays… But his shoulder is not broken! It will just take a little time to heal, but it’s okay.

Ranger doesn’t have mites or anything – he just needs some antibiotics and Lidocaine.

Pip’s test came out negative, so she just needs a little something extra from the veterinarian.

And me… I’m totally blessed because I’m a Pet Parent – and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Shine!

Krista

New Year, New Dog! Day 7…A New Year’s Resolution for Your Dog http://fb.me/OJUTzrQI

5 Second Sessions Teach Angel To Hold A Toy In Her Mouth

“If we take care of the moments, the years will take care of themselves.”

Maria Edgeworth, O Magazine, April 2004

If you want to spend more time doing what you love… snuggling, playing, and having fun with your dog…

Choose one little thing you want to work on…because this year it’s time to do less and enjoy life more!

Right now. Think of a small dog behavior you want to work with, for example:

• The puppy looks at me when I call her name.
• I praise the dog every time I see him sit.
• The puppy accepts my gentle holding of his paw.
• The dog holds a toy in her mouth.

Choose just ONE behavior to reinforce and reward.

Next add a bunch of short 5 second training sessions at different times throughout the day for the next 3 days.
Remember: 12 5 second training sessions only take one minute!

Now watch what happens!

You will discover that when you…

• Call the puppy’s name, she looks at you and you reward her, this is a quick way to teach your puppy to pay attention to what you say.

• See the dog when he sits during the day and praise him, he learns that as soon as you say “sit,” he sits. It’s an easy way to teach a dog to stop jumping on you.

• Lay on the floor with your dog and gently hold her foot, and release it. She doesn’t back away from your touch when you go to reach for your dog’s nails to clip them.

• Say “good girl” when the dog has a toy in her mouth, you have no more worries about your television remote being viewed as a chew toy.

“Think small” and teach your dog without any extra work on your part… it’s so easy… so effortless.

Your Best Dog Ever is full of dog-friendly, effective exercises that free up your time, and give you more time to relax, kick back, enjoy the New Year and spend carefree time with your best friend.

The most powerful force in the universe…and how it relates to your dog http://fb.me/QUxpGSC5

New Year, New Dog! Day 6…What have we discovered so far?

It’s easy to overlook the obvious. The simple. The small incremental changes that, when “stacked” on top of one another one by one, eventually have a huge impact.

If you get just 10% better at something every day, after one month you’ll be light years ahead of where you were just 30 days ago.

This is the law of compounding — and none other than Albert Einstein called it “the most powerful force in the universe.”

Understanding how to develop a bond of trust with your dog will make your relationship at LEAST 10% better (it will actually revolutionize it, but let’s be conservative).

Understanding how to “catch your dog doing something right,” how to make the right things easy, and the wrong things hard, instead of shouting “NO!” all the time…another 10%.

Understanding the simple things you can do to reinforce your pack leader status…another 10%.

This first week in the New Year, New Dog celebration has been all about showing you simple things you can do that, when added up, transform your relationship with your dog.

So, how many of these little tips are you “stacking” together to make a big impact?

The sooner you start, the closer you’ll be to understanding how to truly raise the perfect dog.

New Year, New Dog! Day 5 — If you’ve been following along with the New Year, New Dog posts, you already know… http://fb.me/IzeI38Xy

New Year, New Dog! Day 4… http://fb.me/FzQhyqUQ

In so many of the videos I post online, I often get comments about how well-behaved my dogs are — about how “effortless” it looks to train dogs I’ve never even seen before we started filming.

Well here’s the big secret.

Dog training IS effortless when you understand one thing…

Trust.

Because I know what my dog needs from me AND I act like a leader, my dog trusts me.

You see, THE TRUTH IS…Relationships are based on trust.

The question is, you know your dog loves you, but does he trust you?

Trust is that special bond between a person and a dog that makes everything fall into place without any effort.

Because when dogs are around someone who leads with loving kindness, they don’t have to “fill in the gap.”

…And take charge and become “super Alpha dog.”

You see, problems like barking and pulling on the leash often start because the dog thinks he’s the boss.

And that it’s his job to protect you and control the territory. (BTW this is true for girl dogs, too.)

And when dogs take charge things often get out of control.

Alpha dogs can refuse to come, or when you call them they often run away from you.

They can get snarky to other dogs and people…

They bark and jump on visitors…

So if you’re feeling worried, stressed, or frustrated about your dog’s behavior, it’s probably because you’ve got the leadership roles reversed…

…the dog is the leader and you’re the follower.

This has to STOP if you want things to change.

If you’re not getting the results you want, then obviously you need to stop what you are doing if your dog’s behavior is going to change.

Because if you keep doing the same things, you’ll get the same results.

It really IS that simple.

Over the past few days we’ve covered a lot of information in surprisingly little time.

In fact, you’ve just discovered the real secret of professional dog trainers who get lightning-fast results.

We make sure the dogs we work with see the 4 most important things they MUST see from their human (see the previous post if you missed it), AND we establish TRUST with them early on.

Once you do that, training takes care of itself.

Tomorrow I’ll show you a short video that’s an incredibly easy way to start establishing pack leader credentials with your dog.

You can do it right away, and it takes all of 5 minutes.

Stay tuned…

New Year, New Dog! – Day 3… http://fb.me/Crxz9o7j