[puppylove2009]

Sorry this is so long I just get real nervous over this

Okay we get the worst winter Tornadoes here....because we live in a very unstable area.

Since Friday it has been in the Mid 60s out (before that it was in the 40s) and we have a very unstable weather system moving in.

Which increases the likelyhood of winter tornadoes.

My husband and I live in an apartment with our two dogs.

First floor.

We think we know the safest area to go in the apartment....our guest bathroom.

But if I'm here myself I don't know what to do with the dogs. Last year we just had the one dog and we were in a small 2 story apartment and most of the storms avoided us but we just moved back to where I grew up and the storms can be bad here.

Anyways I'm trying to figure out what to do with the dogs.....do I just leash them and try to hold them with me.......one is 11 pounds and the other is 25 pounds......or do I secure them both in the larger dogs crate?

I mean I want to keep them safe but I can't hold onto both crates.

What do you think?


Thanks


How would you suggest we do this
In the case of a bad storm?


I will add I have a hard time controlling the two of them together at times Sasha is real strong.

And both hate the bath tub.


by the way I also crate my dogs during thunderstorms....I would just have to put the one into the others cage


I just need some help thinking through this

[wishbone]

That's pretty bad situation for you and everyone there, all I can suggest to you is to move out of the place, in a way or another, the risk is always there.

I would almost be inclined to suggest using the create, just because if the dogs panic, you run the risk of not just danger to the dogs, but also to yourself, is there room in the area that you and hubby would go to yourselves in this situation to keep a crate?

Just my thoughts anyway, I can understand you wanting to protect the dogs, but you do need to be mindful of your safety, and reducing the risk of injury to you by a panic stricken dog.

[puppylove2009]

Well the crate won't fit in the tub I don't think but I could try.....if not it would fit between the toilet and the tub perhaps I could try.......Do you think crating them in the same place.


To the person who suggested moving.....there are natural disasters everywhere you go.....you can't run from them. If its not tornadoes (which make up a good area of the country.) Its floods, Hurricanes, Wild fires, Ice and Snow, Volcanoes, Earthquakes, drought, Electrical storms.

You can't run from the weather its still going to happen. I mean if we move we just move into a new threat. I grew up here....I was born here and no matter how much I want to move away from here the time isn't right. I mean we need to secure a job elsewhere first.

Where we are planning to move there is still a small threat of tornadoes (its a neighboring state) but we also will have a coast and though we won't deal directly with the hurricanes being so far inland (this state we are talking about is NC) we will still deal with the rains and the winds.....I have family there and there property floods every time a Hurricane hits (they live along a river)

I mean you can't escape it you just deal with it. You just don't pick up and run because you are afraid of something.

Growing up around here I've learned if its going to get you its going to....I mean there isn't much you can do about it.

You just live your life and deal with it. We want to move believe me I more than anyone.....Recently i've let the fear of the storms eat me up.

But the thing is I've looked into the ugly face of a Storm that killed my neighbors.....The storm that destroyed more than half of my community.....it spanned 3 towns and 2 counties.....People are still recovering from it.....I don't even remember the death toll......my neighbor hood I think 7. Other parts of town and other towns I don't know.

I've still got the picture I took of it from my back porch. I got my dog to safety and I ran out on the back porch with my camera (how stupid was I, I was studying to be a journelist so I thought it was a good opportunity....I was a stupid stupid 20 year old looking back) But I took the picture of the tornado that was less then a mild down the road and took out the neighborhood next to mine.....ripped apart my college......and almost hit the school where my sister went and my father was picking her up......we were lucky....it was the scariest day of my life.

We lost power before we even got the tornado warning. It was just there.


Anyways I'm just rambling now.....

Here are some of the pictures from the 2006 storm. (I moved to a different county in 2007 and it didn't storm to much in my county but this county I grew up in got slammed in both 2007 and 2008. But when my Grandparents moved down here they were told that this county gets a lot of bad weather....the problem is we get tornadoes and we never have a warning....they never say that this county is under a tornado warning (or watch for that matter) and then we get them.....(all the other counties around us can have warning and not get anything and we don't get a warning and have something you know.

Anyways here are the pictures:

Here is the tornado



Here is a Car dealership




Here is some of the damage at the college...I have other pictures but this one will do

[puppylove2009]

Here is an interesting dog and owner story from that storm.


My sisters best friend was in the car with her dad and two siblings and they stopped when they saw the tornado (they were trying to beat the storm home) so they stopped at these condos on top of the hill which over looks there neighborhood and saw the storm rip apart there house. Well mom felt the house start to shake so she grabbed the dog (a black lab) and they ran to the basement......then they both got into his dog crate.......well that crate got knocked around a bit and some of the above floor collapsed above them but that crate saved not only the dogs life but this womans life.

[puppylove2009]

UPDATE:

This wave of storms has passed and thank goodness there was little to know damage......we have a lot of tree limbs and some big branches down and it tried to pull off my lattice work on the patio to keep the dogs in while we are out there but I was able to fix that after the storm.

We had some severe thunderstorms and some straight line winds

But for parts of our Metro area the power is out and there is some wind damage....I'm still trying to get in touch with my mother in law....she lives there but i'm hoping she was at work.

The southern counties got hit by a few isolated tornadoes but nothing too bad at the moment.


I had my dog that freaked out when the storms started (Sasha....it hasn't stormed here since the night we brought her home from the rescue...she was 12 weeks old and now she is a year old) in the bathroom in her crate and our other dog was with me.

Well, I'm glad you're okay-- seeing as how you still have internet, it must not have been too severe. : )

[puppylove2009]

We only lost power for like 10 minutes.

However the counties just south of us....had several isolated tornados, uprooted trees, and strutural damage to several buildings.....as far as I know no casualities.

Which is very good. The last 4 years of storms have been so bad around here.....I hope we can get a reprieve.

But we are back in the 60s again so anything can happen. 10 years ago and before that February was our cold month....ice storms. Now we just get severe thunderstorms and tornados it seems the climate is changing

I currently live on the coast of NC (near the border of SC/NC) and have lived in tornado country as well. As you say, there are foul weather risks just about anywhere.

First thing to do is take stack of what the risks are (tornado, hurricane, blizzard, flood, earthquake) and what the resources are (shelters that take animals; escape routes; rooms in the house/apartment to go to, etc.).

Second, have an emergency supply kit. Your kit should provide food and water and other survival gear for each human and animal for several days at least.

For myself, there are no shelters in the area that take in animals (last year with a hurricane threatening the closest such shelter was an hour north in Wilmington). My options are to stay home or head inland. I am always prepared for the prospect of heading inland with my animals. That means having sufficient food and water for animals and humans. It also means being prepared to crate, muzzle or sedate animals that are freaking out. It means having a first aid kit and other emergency supplies.

I do think I'd rather deal with hurricanes than tornados--at least with hurricanes you have time to prepare. I worked at a group home in Hot Springs, Arkansas for 18 months and was responsible for 9 children. I'll never forget the nights of pacing around watching over sleeping children in a hallway while listening to the weather channel and the wind outside. What a nightmare.

There are websites that provide lists of what to put in your emergency kits--both the kits in your house and smaller one for your car.