My son is a firefighter, God Bless Him. Over the years he’s given me some crazy good safety tips that I might not have thought of on my own. Boy am I grateful for that knowledge. Having this safety information allows me to plan accordingly to protect my pets.It gives me comfort that I’m being a responsible pet parent. Here are several really important safety tips:

Always Harness Your Dog In The Car.

Two reasons. First and obvious is for the safety of the pooch. He’s safely anchored should you have to stop fast. He’s safely anchored and won’t fall out the window if he leans too far. But also think of this: if, God forbid, you’re in a car accident, first responders may not be able to get to you if your dog is loose in the car. If he’s injured and freaked out, he may try to protect you and threaten to bite anyone who comes near. Those precious minutes that first responders have to spend restraining your dog instead of getting you out of the car and to the hospital could mean life or death to you. Pretty sobering thought, isn’t it. Harness your dog–it’s best for both of you.

 

 

Jenny-Girl and Tyler Safely Harnessed and Enjoying a Ride.   🙂

If one of your reasons for not harnessing your dog in the care is he’s small and can’t look out the window if you buckle him in, then consider a booster seat.  You can see in the photo that I have a lovely pink pleather booster seat that fits 2 or 3 small dogs together at one time. They can see everything outside and they totally love it! The boosters are lightweight, buckle in and out quickly and easily, have tiedowns to attach your dog’s harness securely, and many have a drawer tucked underneath to store leads and water dishes, etc. So check out these options and pick a nice one for your pooch. Don’t take chances with your pet’s wellbeing, especially when there are such easy accommodations to be used.

   

Carry A Safety Notice In Your Wallet,

next to your license, that says you have pets at home. The safety notice should contain the person’s name who can care for your pets in an emergency. Again if, God forbid, something happens that you can’t get home, this safety note will alert everyone that you have pets at home. Now they’ll know who to call right away. It would be bad enough that you’ve suffered an event that might keep you from getting home. But it would add an extra element of tragedy to a situation if no one knew to go care for your pets until you could get back home to them.

Post A Notice At The Entry To Your Home,

like right by your doorbell, stating how many pets are in your house. My son told me “Mom, when we get called to a house fire, we have no idea what we’re walking into. We can’t save your pets if we don’t know they’re in there.” Omigosh, critical safety tip! Think about it–when firefighters go into burning homes filled with smoke, they have to feel their way around because they can’t see. Pets are freaked out and would be hiding. Firefighters would never know to look for them if they didn’t have a heads-up that the pets were in there. I went a step further and added our veterinarian’s name and phone to my safety post too.

If any of these situations ever happened to me, had I not prepared ahead of time for the safety of my pets, boy would I feel like scum. Knowing these critical safety tips and preparing accordingly is comforting. I know I’ve got my pets’ best interests at heart.

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God Bless and Happy Pet Parenting!

With love and good wishes,
jeannie.   ?

About jeannie:  I’ve been pro-actively involved in pet rescue all of my life. I founded Milagro Senior Pet Refuge© (Phoenix) in 1998, and BareFootPets (TM) in 2008.  Animal welfare has always been and will always be my heart’s work. If my only legacy is that I save a handful of precious souls that would not survive otherwise, I’m good with that.