Preparing your dog for a typhoon or evacuation
The hard lesson from every calamity is the same: the animals that do not make it are usually the ones nobody had a plan for. In the moment, there is no time to improvise.
Here is a plan you can put together this week.
Decide now that the dog comes with you
The most common reason dogs are left behind is that the decision gets made under pressure, at the door, with water rising. Decide in advance, tell everyone in the household, and know which evacuation centre in your barangay accepts animals — or which relative inland does.
A carrier or leash the dog is used to
A panicking dog in an unfamiliar crate is a bite risk and an escape risk. Let the dog eat near the carrier, sleep in it, be handled in it, well before you need it. Fifteen minutes a week is enough.
A go-bag, packed
Keep it near the door:
- Three days of food, sealed and rotated
- Water and a bowl
- Any medication, plus a photo of the label
- Vaccination record — a photo on your phone counts
- Spare leash and collar with your number on the tag
- An old shirt of yours; familiar scent settles a stressed dog
A current photo of you with the dog
Not just of the dog. With the dog. If you get separated and someone else is holding your animal, a photo of the two of you together settles ownership faster than any description.
Identification that survives water
Collar tags fade and detach. Write your number directly on the collar webbing with a permanent marker as a backup, and if microchipping is available to you, do it.
Know who to call
Save your barangay's number and your vet's. If UDLFI is running relief in your area, the Facebook page is where that gets announced.
After the water goes down
Displaced dogs behave differently — disoriented, defensive, sometimes injured and frightened of the people trying to help. Approach slowly, from the side, and do not corner an animal you do not know.
If you find a dog that is not yours, photograph it, note the exact location, and post it. Most reunions happen because somebody bothered to write down a street name.
UDLFI's Animal Disaster Response & Relief Committee coordinates rescue, evacuation, shelter, and veterinary assistance for animals affected by calamities. If you want to be part of that response, volunteer with us.