Fire Drill Training

[borzoimom]

This is something people have not thought of to do. In the event of a fire, most pets get lost or so scared from the noise, they do not know what to do. I fire drill train my dogs. This is how I do it.

This takes two people obviously. One person to press the smoke alarm, the other to call in a happy voice to a certain door with a reallllllly great treat. ( Mine like hot dogs). Start with only a short blast from the alarm. Lots of praise and pets as well. Do it again- going to the same door.. Again- treats and praise. Then later do it but go to a different door calling the dogs again. At this point- the dogs just think this is some weird game, but when the alarm is pressed again- listen for you to figure out which door is the special treat game. Also I advance this by putting a slip lead on the dogs and walk out the door.

Several things need to be noted here- remember in a real fire your voice would be highly panicked- so you need to make a mental note of that to try to control your voice.

Slip leads should be at every door. I even have slip leads in back bedrooms as you might have to exit out a window as well.

Another thing I teach done independantly at first is " CAR". My dogs when I say that will run to the car. Hide spare keys somewhere safe outside that would be a house key if you have reenter in another door that might be locked, as well as a set of car keys if you had to move the car with them in it. Another thing we do with keys here is that one slip lead at each door has a house key and a car key attached to it.

[Rusky]

I'm impresed, thanks for the heads up. I have my dog plan, I have the leads everywhere I have never even thought to desensitise to the alarms in the home. I am always concerned with the bush. So thanks...will get on to all that today and give it a mention at the dog club.

Edited April 1, 2009 by Rusky

[Pippi]

What a great idea. Considering what has happened in Victoria recently with the bush fires I think every one in a fire prone area should consider doing this.

[borzoimom]

I'm impresed, thanks for the heads up. I have my dog plan, I have the leads everywhere I have never even thought to desensitise to the alarms in the home. I am always concerned with the bush. So thanks...will get on to all that today and give it a mention at the dog club.

One note on this- if that alarm ever falsly goes off ( like burning toast etc) - you need to do the drill. The dogs must not EVER think to ignore this noise- and object is to find mom or dad etc. The dogs need to be trained by all family members in the house.

This is conditioning- like when a dog hears a door bell they run to the front door- it is the same principle. They hear that noise- follow " the game".

And always remember in a real fire or emergency your voice is panicked. You need to remember that to keep your voice as close to normal as possible. I used this one time when a carbon monixide buzzer went off. The dogs had no clue. I hit the fire alarm... all out of the house. Or like if you live where tornados hit- only this time calling them into a basement etc.. Same principle.