Avoid Calamity - Organise Your Dog Emergency Information

Introduction

And you thought that keeping a dog would be a simple matter: just walkies, feedies, sleepies and chase the stick! Sadly our canine friends require medical attention, and if you need to leave poochie in a boarding kennel for a bit they will require an up-to-date vaccination record. There are insurance details, vet details, and believe or not, possible legal details. All of which require accessibility. It's time to get organised!

Types of information

The best way to start organising any system of information is to actually work out what sort of information you need; what is the simplest way of accessing it, as well as who are people who will require to use it. Of course the most important information concerns veterinary and insurance details, but perhaps you want to keep a complete medical history, a list of medications and allergies. However, there may be other sorts of information that are not necessarily obvious: legal things such as what happens to your pet in the event of your death, in which case others might need access; or maybe more general information about common diseases, such as symptoms; what about things which might may be toxic for your dog, but not necessarily toxic for you.

Who is going to need the information?

Obviously the person who will be using this information the most will be you! So as long as you understand your system, and can access it quickly and easily, that will be fine. But suppose your family or friends need to access this information, or professionals from a boarding kennel. What ever system you develop has to be user friendly, and easy for multiple person admission.

Computer programs

Ease of access, then, is just as important as the information itself. Perhaps you want to have everything filed in a traditional manner, in a cabinet say, or a card index system. This might seem laborious, also not so easy to back-up. Most people have computers these days, so you might consider creating a relational database. This way even friends and family can keep a copy as well. If you are baulking at the thought of the amount of work which would go into creating such a thing, there's no need for alarm, as there are plenty of software products on the market that do all the hard work for you! Some even allow you to keep a nice picture of you best friend, just to remind you who's the most important!

Conclusion

It is far better to take a little time at the outset setting up an information system for your dog, than to wait until disaster strikes and then find yourself unable to help your pet because you have misplaced a vital bit of information. Organise your dog information now, and be ready to help your dog when help is needed.

About the Author

Probably the most important bit of information that you will need to retain is your dog training records. As your dog goes through their training, remember to keep track of all the milestones. When they were potty training, when they stopped nipping, or when they stopped crying at night.