Many good ideas. Whistle, air horn. Good things to have if the come-along can’t move everything. Vacuumed ours yesterday and my bride is planning to stock the snacks, etc this week. It’s that time of the year in Moore.
Treats. One step at a time. It will take FOREVER.
Work with one dog at a time. Put a treat on the top step and wait however long you need to. When he is comfortable taking the treat from the first step, move down to the second. Couple times a day, 15-20 minutes at a time with each dog. Once they make their way down about halfway (sometimes a little less than that) they should just go on down. MAKE SURE there is nothing in their way at first, so they can go down and up as they wish.
Once they are not scared of going in you can work on staying down there for a bit. Don't try to close the door until they are completely comfortable sitting in the shelter with you for 25-30 minutes at a time.
As you can see, depending on your dog, this could take a couple weeks -- or it could take 6 months. All depends on how much your dog trusts you and how afraid they are of being in a tight space.
Btw, my GSD STILL won't go down. He just WILL NOT do those steps. Much as l love him he will be on his own in the hallway (safest place in the house) if something happens and we have to go into the shelter.
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You know, I hadn't thought about actually training them to go down there. I was actually thinking about getting a piece of plywood to use as a slide. With me on the outside and the side on the inside, I figured I'd just give them a boost and let them slide down.
You can buy a magnetic cover from Smart Safe I think it was, but they are well over $100. For mine, I only need about 27in x 72in. Amazon will run around 40-50 bucks for one, but Lowes has some stuff they will cut to length, its 36in wide, and will run be about $20 for a 7 ft piece.Oh good GOD, we could LIVE in our shelter for a month. Lol
Like SMS there, I need to vacuum it out. That rubber mat over the door is a good idea. I'm gonna measure and see if I can find one that will fit. Amazon, here I come!
I'm closing on a new house next week and a flatsafe was negotiated into the price so that gets installed this Fri. Not gonna stock it with a bunch of stuff. I dont plan to be in it more than an hour worst case.
Worst case is hard to plan for. We've never been in ours more than 15-20 minutes since we've had it, but if the EF5 comes through there's no telling what your shelter could be buried under and how long it will take for rescue.
EF5s usually leave t clean as a whistle lol.
I get what your saying but I've never even had a reason to be in one in almost 50 years so just having it is good enough. I can do without water n food for way longer than I'd be in it. The bucket to use as a crapper might be a good call though.
We got in ours in our old place twice, both in the year we put it in. Neither time was for more than 30 minutes...but having kids means someone is going to have to take a piss at the worst possible time. A 5 gallon bucket fits everything I need and doubles as an extra seat.
I got a couple of these specifically for my shelter. Check out their video.
https://www.amazon.com/Streamlight-44931-Compact-Alkaline-Batteries/dp/B00DII7CTI
https://www.amazon.com/Streamlight-44931-Compact-Alkaline-Batteries/dp/B00DII7CTI
I have an above ground safe room that is stocked with water and a few snacks. It does have a porta potty, weather radio, HAM radio, GMRS hand held radios, HAM 2 meter 440 hand held, document safe, laptop. My safe room is in my shop building which has an over the air TV and is solar powered. If the weather gets bad, we go out to the shop and turn on the TV. We can be in the safe room in less than a minute if needed.
