Emergency Plan for Your Dog: What a Caregiver Really Needs to Know

Most dog owners have a plan for vacation. Almost nobody has one for the Wednesday afternoon when things don't go as expected.

A fall on the stairs, an accident on the way home, a hospital stay nobody saw coming. Your dog is waiting at home, and someone else has to take over. That person usually knows two things: where the dog lives and what its name is. Everything else is in your head.

This article is a list of what belongs in writing. Not as a collection of nice-to-haves, but limited to what counts when it really matters. At the end you'll find a sample excerpt showing what such a sheet actually looks like, and answers to the questions we are asked about it most often.

Three situations, one sheet

When people think of dog care, they think of vacation. That is the most harmless of the three cases, because it is planned. The other two are the ones that make it worth writing something down.

The planned absence. You go away, someone takes over. You have time to explain everything, and the other person has time to listen. Even so, a lot goes wrong here, because what was explained verbally fades after three days. Nobody remembers eight feeding rules from a chat at the door.

The sudden absence. You are in the hospital, unable to respond, or simply unreachable. Someone picks up the dog or comes into your home. That person has no chance to ask you. They find what you have written down – or nothing.

The emergency involving the dog itself. The dog swallows something, gets hurt, has a seizure, and you aren't there. Now everything depends on whether the caregiver knows where to drive, what the dog can't tolerate and who is allowed to give consent.

A good sheet covers all three, because the information is the same. The only difference is how quickly you need to find it.

Official preparedness guidance points in the same direction: the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend designating a trusted friend or neighbor who can care for your pet if you can’t get home, keeping records of vaccinations, medical history and medications ready, and keeping the microchip registration and contact details up to date.

Why the note on the fridge usually isn't enough

The usual solution is a handwritten note with feeding times and the vet's phone number. That's better than nothing, but it has three weaknesses.

It's rarely up to date. The medication that was added in February isn't on it. Neither is the practice you switched to. And the neighbor's cell number dates from before she changed providers.

It answers the wrong questions. Anyone will figure out that the dog eats twice a day, at the latest when the bowl is empty. Nobody will figure out that he can't tolerate chicken until it's too late.

It stops where things get serious. The question of who may decide on treatment while you're in the hospital is not on any fridge note. But that is the very first thing the animal hospital asks.

Who takes over in an emergency, and what that means

Before getting to the content, it's worth giving a thought to the person who will read the sheet. That determines how much detail you need to write.

Family or a partner know the dog. Above all, they need figures: amounts, times, numbers. You can skip explanations about his personality.

Neighbors and friends know the dog by sight. They need everything you take for granted at home. That the dog isn't allowed in the kids' room. That the leash hangs in the hallway. That he needs quiet after eating.

A boarding kennel or pet sitter knows dogs, but not yours. They read with practiced eyes and want it short: feeding, medications, how he gets along with other dogs, contacts. For them, a cleanly structured sheet is worth a lot, because they can pin it on the wall.

The animal shelter or an emergency service is the least likely and least pleasant case. Here only the first page counts: microchip number, contacts, medical conditions, medications.

What belongs on the sheet

Who the dog is

Call name, breed, sex, whether spayed or neutered, approximate age, weight. Add the microchip number and where the chip is registered, that is, the name of the pet registry and the registration number.

And one sentence on how to recognize him if he runs off. Not "brown mixed breed" – there are thousands of those – but the white chest, the bent right ear, the red harness, the scar on the foreleg.

Weight is more important than it looks. Veterinarians dose according to it, and if nobody knows it, it gets estimated.

Feeding, and completely

This is the area where things go wrong most often, because everyone thinks it's self-explanatory.

• Which food, how much, how often, at what times
• Where the food is kept and how long the supply will last
• Whether it is soaked, warmed or served dry
• What he can't tolerate and how you can tell
• What he must not be given under any circumstances
• Whether treats are allowed, which ones and how many
• Drinking habits, especially in dogs that drink little
• Special points: gulps his food, needs a slow-feeder bowl, eats only alone, gets tense at the bowl

The last point sounds like a detail, and it isn't one. A dog that guards his bowl from the cat may do the same with a helpful neighbor, who will then treat him differently from before.

For food intolerances, "can't tolerate chicken" isn't enough. Write down what happens: itchy paws, soft stool, vomiting. Otherwise the caregiver won't connect the symptom and will call the emergency vet on Sunday evening, when all that happened is that someone gave the wrong treat.

Medications

Name, amount, time, how it's given, where it's kept. Plus what to do if a dose has been missed.

Write amounts down exactly the way your veterinary practice stated them. Anyone who calculates or rounds on their own builds in an error nobody will notice later.

And one line that is worth more than anything else in an emergency: drugs your dog can't tolerate. For some breeds there is a genetic test for this, for example for the MDR1 defect, which occurs in Collies, Australian Shepherds and their mixes, among others. Affected dogs can react severely to certain medications, even though other dogs tolerate them without any problem (Mealey et al., 2001). If you know the result, don't keep it in your head – write it on the sheet.

The same goes for past reactions: if your dog reacted noticeably to an ointment or a painkiller two years ago, it belongs on the sheet, even if it was never officially investigated.

Daily routine

When he goes out and for how long, when his rest periods are, where he sleeps, whether he can be left alone and for how long.

Also, how he lets you know when he needs to go. A dog that stands quietly at the door will simply be overlooked by someone who doesn't know him. A dog that whines will be misunderstood. Both fit into two sentences on the sheet and save a puddle and a guilty conscience.

When it comes to being left alone, it pays to be precise. Not "can be left alone", but "up to four hours, fill a Kong with food, leave the radio on quietly, leave without saying goodbye". That can make the difference between a dog that sleeps and one that sits at the door for three hours.

Handling and walking

Harness or collar, which leash, whether off-leash time is possible and where. How he travels in the car. Where in the house he isn't allowed. What he is afraid of.

Please be honest about off-leash time. "Comes back reliably, except around cats" is useful information. "Listens well" isn't, because everyone understands something different by it.

The most important part of this section comes down to two questions: how can you tell it's getting to be too much for him, and what should you do then?

Typical signs that many dogs show and many non-experts miss:

• Panting without exertion and without heat
• Licking the nose, yawning without being tired
• Turning the head away, averting the gaze
• Ears pinned back, low body posture
• Shaking off even though he isn't wet
• Stopping or sitting down and not wanting to go on

And then the crucial sentence: what to do. Usually it's the same thing. Create distance, speak calmly, slow down, take a break in the shade. Above all: don't keep pulling when the dog stops.

👉 If you want to read these signs with confidence: Recognizing warning signals

The words he knows

Every household uses different cues. Whether it's "Here" or "Come", whether "Down" also means "stay there", whether there is an interrupter cue and what it is.

Without this list, the caregiver talks past your dog, and both can become unsure. The dog, because he hears words he doesn't know. The person, because they think the dog isn't listening.

A simple two-column list is enough:

Cue	Meaning
Here	Come to me
Wait	Stop and stay put until we move on
Leave it	Drop the object in your mouth
Go to your bed	Go to your spot and stay there

Eight to ten entries are enough. Write down thirty and the list becomes useless.

Veterinarians – more than one

Your regular practice with address and phone number. The nearest emergency animal hospital, because your regular practice is closed at night and on weekends. And, if there is one, the practice that knows the dog for a specific issue: the eye, the knee, the skin.

Add the number or the name under which he is filed there. Surprisingly often, it's different from what you'd expect – your partner's last name, for example, or your address from before you moved. Anyone who spends ten minutes searching on the phone loses those ten minutes.

A sentence about why each practice knows the dog helps the caregiver decide where to call. "Eye practice Dr. Lang, knows him because of the corneal ulcer in May" is better than an address with no context.

Who decides if you can't be reached

This is the question where most notes end before they begin. If your dog is in the animal hospital and treatment becomes necessary, someone will want to know who gives consent and who pays.

Write down who is allowed to decide and up to what amount treatment should go ahead without checking back. Add what you want in any case, for example necessary pain management. And list your pet insurance with the policy number, if you have one.

Two things about this, to be honest:

A line like this is not a contract and not a power of attorney in the legal sense. It is a statement of your wishes, and in practice it is exactly what clinics want to hear when someone is standing in front of them without you. If you want to go further, the AVMA recommends a signed veterinary treatment authorization for the person who cares for your dog in your absence – ask your practice whether they have a form for it.

And it doesn't replace a conversation. Talk to the person you name there before you need them. Someone who finds out in the waiting room that they're supposed to decide about $800 won't decide at all.

What doesn't belong on the sheet

What you leave out is just as important as the list.

Training instructions. Nobody is going to teach your dog anything while you're away. What you want is for nothing to get worse. So: rules, not exercises.

Personal data that's nobody's business. The sheet lies around, gets passed on and may well end up with strangers. Whatever isn't needed doesn't go on it.

Explanations about his history. That the dog came from a rescue matters to the caregiver only insofar as it affects his behavior today. The rest is storytelling.

Anything you don't know for sure. A guessed dose is more dangerous than a missing entry, because people believe it.

Where the sheet should be kept

In a place where someone will find it without searching. On the fridge, in the drawer next to the leash, or with the papers your family also knows about. Plus a second copy with the person who comes in an emergency.

A third place hardly anyone thinks of: with the dog himself when he's on the move. In the travel crate, in the luggage for the boarding kennel, in the pouch on the harness.

And when you go away: print it out once and hand it over, don't just talk it through. The boarding kennel will be delighted, because for once everything is on it and they don't have to ask.

Writing it once isn't enough

Food changes, numbers change, medications come and go. A plan that is wrong is more dangerous than none at all, because everyone relies on it.

Two points in time are enough:

Go through it once a year. Five minutes, ideally tied to a fixed date, such as the annual checkup at the vet. Are the phone numbers, food, medications and the emergency contact still right?

After every change that matters. New medication, new practice, new cell number, change of food. These are the points where an old plan becomes dangerous.

Write the date of the last review on the sheet. Then whoever reads it can see right away whether they can rely on it.

What a completed excerpt looks like

To make it concrete, here is the top part of a sheet the way we recommend it. The names are made up.

That's half a page. Everything else – daily routine, handling, cues and health – goes below it or on the back.

👉 In case your dog runs off: GPS trackers for dogs

References

American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). (n.d.). Pets and disasters. https://www.avma.org/resources-tools/pet-owners/emergency-care/pets-and-disasters (designate a friend or neighbor to care for your pets; keep vaccination and medical records and a signed veterinary treatment authorization; keep microchip and ID information up to date; contact list with your veterinarian and alternatives)

Boatright, K. (2024). White feet don’t treat: Considerations for dogs with MDR1 mutations. AAHA NEWStat. https://www.aaha.org/newstat/publications/white-feet-dont-treat-considerations-for-dogs-with-mdr1-mutations/ (MDR1 mutation most common in collies and other herding breeds such as Australian Shepherds, also found in mixed breeds; affected dogs can react severely to certain drugs; genetic test available)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2024). Be Prepared: Pet Safety in Emergencies. https://www.cdc.gov/healthy-pets/emergency-preparedness/index.html (records of vaccinations, prescription medications and medical history; register the microchip and keep contact details current; buddy system with a trusted neighbor)

Mealey, K. L., Bentjen, S. A., Gay, J. M., & Cantor, G. H. (2001). Ivermectin sensitivity in collies is associated with a deletion mutation of the mdr1 gene. Pharmacogenetics, 11(8), 727–733. https://doi.org/10.1097/00008571-200111000-00012 (description of the MDR1 deletion mutation)

Frequently asked questions

The essentials in brief

• An emergency plan isn't meant for vacation but for the day you are suddenly out of action
• The first page should hold: warnings, contacts, vet and emergency service, medications, feeding
• The question of who decides in an emergency and up to what amount is almost always missing – and it's the most important one
• Write down intolerances together with what happens, not just by name
• Write down stress signs and cues, otherwise the caregiver will misread your dog
• State explicitly what doesn't apply: no medications, no known conditions
• Check it once a year and note the date, so everyone can see how current the sheet is