A dark subject matter

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cliffdog

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Okay, this is a real bummer of a subject, but I was thinking about it, and I thought it might make an interesting thread... something to think about.

I've got a slightly-more-than-casual interest in survivalism and I'm beginning to put together a bug-out bag (BOB). Basically it's just a bag with simple survival items in case I need to escape from home in case of an emergency. A humorous and unrealistic example people often bring up is zombie apocalypse. A more realistic example is a need to escape from local riots, terror attacks, etc. Not likely, but it can serve as something very handy in practical situations, such as if your car breaks down or if you get lost while hiking.

Anyway, I was thinking... if I was in a serious scenario when I had to "bug out" (escape from the immediate region, possibly even into the wilderness), it would be impractical to believe I could keep myself and multiple dogs alive. One dog would be an inconvenience and the more you add on to that the less practical it gets.

Without using a cop-out answer ("I would just stay and die rather than leave my dogs" or "I would take them even if it lessened my chances of survival"), if you were in a situation where you could only save yourself and one of your dogs, which of your dogs would you choose? Would it be a purely emotional decision (your favorite) or would you pick the dog that would be the most practical choice such as if you have a dog that is smaller and won't need as much food or a dog that can hunt or is less susceptible to weather-related issues?
 
easy Id take Blaze. Ryan would take solo. Blaze is my sole dog, and solo is ryans lol.even though we split costs for them, both of us walk each , take to dog parks, car rides ect. when ryan has to go back to his family home to dog sit, 9 times out of 10 he takes solo ect. If I can only bring one dog with me to a outing. I bring blaze, he comes to work ect. as he is mine lol.

So this is easy for me. both would be saved. though by different people. Both could easily catch their own food. both try to catch fish both have caught mice, chipmonks, squrrials ect
 
Honestly, my plan includes my dogs. They can help carry stuff and help me feel protected. Not that I have a real plan, but my friends and I have planned for zombies....even who we would eat first etc in a joking way. I have a couple places where we could go and I feel confident I could at least start with all the dogs.
 
I'd take all 4 between my husband and I and see which ones were able to maintain weight/health and be the most useful in general; if all four could maintain themselves, they would be welcome to. If I saw one not being able to keep up or feed themselves I'd be forced to "put them down" as humanely as possible, but I'd have to do that at the very beginning if I only took one per human anyway; this way I'd be assured of having the most useful companion in said apocalyptic setting. Of course I'm not prepared for the apocalypse myself so this is all pure conjecture. :p
 
I have thought of this while watching disaster movies. My solution is to have several bags of high quality dog food, which if necessary, I could also use as a food for myself. :) I taste test all my dogs' foods, BTW. (Except the EVO in the can.)
 
Considering 4 of my dogs together equal under 20lbs total, I'm sure my husband and I could manage with all 5 of them! I'd put 2 chihuahuas in a backpack and walk one, and my husband could put 1 in a backpack. Then he'd walk Rory.

I'm not sure how useful they'd be when it comes to catching food, though! The chihuahuas are good at catching things like lizards, and Rory's never caught anything before in his life!
 
I'd be better off keeping the zois alive. They don't require much food for their weight, and really are an asset to hunting. Individually they take down smaller game like raccoons, rabbits, and squirrels (Strider has done solo coyotes too). Together they could bring down much larger stuff, like deer. Strider chased a cougar once, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be hard to turn them into treeing dogs just by hunting them in dense forest. They end up doing that with coons half the time anyway.

That, and a lot of the danger at that point would probably come from other people. Having a big low maintenance dog would be a good deterrent for casual muggers. I could feasibly train them to pull the bike trailer and load my kids in it too.

My 72 hour kit includes those natural balance wet food chubs.
 
I think four of mine would have a fair chance.. I'm not sure the usefulness Tsuki could provide, but I'd stick her in a back pack.
 
I could easily carry Chulita in a back pack and let Jose` run along side me. Chuli would slow me down. Neither of them would fare well on their own. But they're tiny dogs and wouldn't be too much of a burden. I just couldn't leave them behind.
 
In the spirit of the question, I'd take Knox. He's the biggest, he's shown hunting aptitude, he's the one most likely to defend, and he's much more of a deterrent against thieves than the others.

But Indy could fend for herself quite well, as could Ozzy. They've both killed small animals before, and would have no problem eating them. Enzo might not make it. She's clumsy, loud and Ozzy probably wouldn't want to share with her :p
 
Yoshi would come with me. She would probably carry the water and some food. She is pretty fast And good at catching small animals so she would probably end up helping me more than me helping her.
 
Tankstar said:
easy Id take Blaze. Ryan would take solo. Blaze is my sole dog, and solo is ryans lol.even though we split costs for them, both of us walk each , take to dog parks, car rides ect. when ryan has to go back to his family home to dog sit, 9 times out of 10 he takes solo ect. If I can only bring one dog with me to a outing. I bring blaze, he comes to work ect. as he is mine lol.

So this is easy for me. both would be saved. though by different people.
Click to expand...

This exactly.

Tango is mine, however, he's most likely to get me killed in the event of a Zpoc type situation because he isn't a quiet dog. Then again, he alerts when he sees anything remotely human around to that could be useful.

Izzy would eat more than Tango but she at least eats raw meat. Tango won't touch the scraps I've offered him. I could cook it but that's a bit of a pain. I'm not sure about either animal's hunting ability though I have seen both go after flying bugs with intense interest so at least they have prey drive. I'd like to see them take something down though.

What about the cat?! Jade is terrified of the outdoors but I think she would be able to adjust if we had some sort of home base area.
 
Matrix would be a real hinderance to be honest. I would take him with me, but only to the nearest vet clinic to have him put to sleep.
 
DH is super into this kind of stuff, and he has actually made me pretty interested as well.

For the dogs right now, we would have no problem taking both. Both have great endurance and both can add to helping us out. Harlow, even though not huge, is quite protective and quite a few people see her as "dangerous" as most think she is a APBT instead of a Boxer. Ryder has a very high prey drive and I can see him being either self sustaining and/or helping us catch food.

As for future dogs, because we are weird, we only choose breeds that are useful. For example, I will end up with either a Koolie or an ACD that works cattle, he wants a Catahoula to both use as a herding dog as well as a hunting dog and possibly even a tracking dog for deer and other food sources. Also, in addition to the Boxer, we will also have an American Bulldog, who is a very good deterrent and will help drag in deer or other big kills. We have one hydration pack from Ruffwear right now, and eventually we will add another and then add two packs that you can carry actual items in (which will probably be a handful of dead chickens). All dogs will be taught to stay close on horseback as that will be our means of transportation, and the Koolie or ACD and the Catahoula will trail probably about 5-10 cattle along our route.

Until we get the Catahoula, which will be after Ryder goes, Ryder will be taught to retrieve ducks, and hunt rabbits with a human. He already shows great interest in both.

I know that is way longer than you were probably expecting, but that's the plan for the dogs! Haha.
 
For practical and somewhat emotional reasons I guess I'd choose Riot. She could hunt, she is small, and she would protect me.

However, if this really did happen in real life, I wouldn't be able to do it. Life wouldn't be worth the guilt.

I would say the best way to phrase the question to avoid emotional answers would be: If there was such a thing as doggie survivor, who would you take? LOL. I know I'm not the only one who simply could not choose just one of my dogs.
 
For me, I would probably bring Malyk. He already kills prey animals and brings them back to me. The other dogs don't have a lot of vital survival skills. And while it may seem horrific, if it was a serious survival situation, I would likely kill the other animals and take the meat and organs with me. There comes a point in those situations where you have to put aside emotions and just do what needs to be done.
 
I can't say that I've honestly ever thought about it and as I sit here now, I really do not think I could choose between any of them. I don't know what I would do. So hopefully I never have to be put in a situation to choose. I'd bring them all somehow. As for who would be more useful: Nobody has any outstanding qualities (survival wise). The Dobes would serve as protection, and Dance is a good alarm. Other than that, I suppose Dance could retrieve something for me, as could Ripley. And Keira has a lot of prey drive, so if she had to she could probably catch food, but she certainly wouldn't bring it back. And all three of them could keep me/eachother warm. I would really fail miserably myself if I had to live in the wilderness or something though. My dogs, eventhough none of them are particularly useful, might even survive better than me.
 
Well if I didn't have much food to share, it's even odds that Kim and Webby would run afield and just check in or leave me entirely to fend for themselves. Maybe/maybe not but I'd at least take them with me initally to give them a shot. Kim in particular would be just as likely to survive on her own as with me...she's cautious, observant, can and will hunt for food or scavenge, etc. She wasn't the only surviving pup out of her litter for no reason. She was the one who watched and figured out when to hide and when to seek food and how to find it.

Webby is similar but less cautious. He'd likely jump into a situation without considering consequences and that wouldn't end well. But I doubt I could keep him with me long in a nomadic situation.

So I think Mira would be the one who chose to stay. Assuming I had my gun with me she'd at least be helpful flushing and retrieving game, as a deterrant to problems, and an early warning system with the sense to not make noise unless it's warranted. And she'd be with me til death did us part of her own volition.

How long that would take, well...hard to say. Probably depends on how quickly we were able to join/form a community. No single person can be on watch forever.
 
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