Rover, the intrepid Impreza, is nearing 200,000 miles and when I realized this I decided to see how many of those miles included a dog. Boy was I surprised to learn that I travel *at least* 15,000 miles annually with a dog in the car!
I know that other dog people like myself travel even more miles each year with one or more dogs tagging along, and of course the more miles you travel, the more chances for an accident. So, you’ve done your homework and secured your dogs just in case, but what happens if *you* are incapacitated in a wreck? What happens to your dogs?
It’s a question we often hate to think about, but it’s an important one. In addition to keeping a card with *my* ICE information in my wallet and glovebox and an entry for the same on my phone, I ran across a brilliant idea a few years back: packets attached to each dog’s kennel with this important information included.
Here’s what mine include:
- Copies of each dog’s vaccine records (rabies, distemper/parvo, and bordetella if applicable)
- A letter from me authorizing vet care or boarding as needed and detailing what situations euthanasia is acceptable. This letter also includes two emergency contacts who are authorized to act on my behalf for my pets.
- A short description of each dog
- A list of basic care instructions should the dogs need to be boarded
The packet is assembled in a nylon “pencil case” and attached to each kennel where it is visible to anyone looking in the car. I also have duplicates of each dog’s information in my glovebox with my ICE information, enclosed in a labelled envelope.
If anything changes (contacts, phone numbers, different care needs, new vaccines, etc.) I go through all 4 packets plus my “master packet” in the glovebox to make sure everything is still up to date.
I’m happy to send people a template of the letter and forms I include; feel free to email the blog at 4pdriveblog@gmail.com with the subject “ICE packet templates”.
Four Paw Drive 