Acclimating Dogs to Tents and Survival Shelters

Dang guys, it has been an awesome day in the bluegrass. We're out here testing survival equipment. I got my buddy Neil out here. We're shooting a few guns, training a few dogs, and what Neil's working on right now is getting him a kit for his truck where he can bail out of that truck, say there's an EMP or some other apocalyptic event, and he's got a pack and he's got the supplies for his dog and he can get home because he works so far away from home. And so what we're gonna work on is him and his dog getting in a shelter and we're trying to narrow it down, see what kind of shelter he wants to carry with him in his pack. And so we're gonna get him in a shelter and we're gonna simulate a rainstorm, okay? And that's gonna be Trump right over here. It's gonna be Trump's first experience being in a shelter with a rainstorm. And so like anytime we're working on a new skillset, we prime the pump by going over an old skillset. All right, so Neil, go ahead and do this small challenges course and let's get him ready. Let's get him used to working with you. And so Neil's just gonna walk him around like I'm always walking him around. Perfect, perfect. And then over the course of the night, because we're gonna be out here a couple hours, we're gonna be able to fire and shoot some guns and stuff. And over the course of the night, we're gonna gradually raise the distraction level. Very good, that's a good job, Neil. How much weight you got in that pack, Neil? 37 pounds. 37 pounds, he says. Which means, to be honest with y'all, because you know how men are with numbers, they always inflate them numbers. That means he's probably got about 15 pounds in there. What do you think, Eli? I'd go with like 20. 20 pounds, all right. And I'm gonna start poking Neil with this spear, right? This is my shakazulu spear. Practice jabbing things in the neck. Very nice. Neil's dog is looking perfectly compliant. All right, that's awesome, that's awesome. All right, let's go over here and look and see what we have for shelters. Neil, you can just go stand in between them shelters right there. Now, what we have over here, guys, is a real good value, I think. This is a NATO pup tent. You can get these for about $50 shipped from a lot of military surplus sites. But this is one of my favorite shelters for carrying in a pack. This is a USGI poncho. And then what I've done is I've taken tent poles and I've cut them to 96 inches so I can run them crossways like that there and make an improvised shelter. This is called an alpha shelter. And man, I tell you what, I can't remember where I got this idea, but he's an awesome guy and I'm gonna try to find that and put it in the notes, make sure I give him credit. But this is an awesome shelter. It doesn't weigh much and it's really good, really good to carry around with you because you can just wear it as a poncho, it goes over your backpack. And like those tent poles there, they're aluminum, they don't weigh much. All right, so let me go over here and get our simulated rainstorm maker. Neil, you can go ahead, take your pack off, get in the pup tent and we're gonna test it out first. Eli, watch him get in there and see which one of these shelters he has more trouble with. How's he coming over there, Eli? All right, well, it's fixing to start raining in there, Neil. Now I'm not sure where that tent was manufactured. When I bought it, I thought it was a French tent, but then somebody else told me it was actually a NATO tent, so I don't know if it's waterproof or not. But Neil's in there with his dog. This brings up a good point, guys. Like, you'll think about going camping with your dog and you'll go out in your yard and you're trying to acclimate your dog to the tent, but sometimes you don't think about the fact that it might rain or it might be real windy while you're camping. And believe me, you do not wanna put a dog in a shelter of any type if they've never been in a thunderstorm or a rainstorm or a windstorm because they will tear it to shreds quickly. How's that working in there, Neil? You all right in there? No water? Dang, all right. Very nice. Okay, now come on out of there and get in your alpha shelter. Look at Buddy helping out. Well, hello, Trump. Hello, Neil. Now remember, it's gonna be raining when you put your shelter in, survival situation, so you gotta be hurrying. You see what I'm saying? You're spoiled, thinking that it ain't gonna be storming. There you go. That's what I like to see right there. Get that big body in there. Buddy, get yourself out of there. All right, how's that working, Neil? Uh-oh, your dog's carrying your pack off. Oh, you better hold it down. Ha ha ha. You might wanna stake that shelter down. Ha ha ha. What if it becomes a hurricane, Neil, and the water starts rolling in from underneath? How's that working for you? Your pack's out here in the rain, son. You can't leave your pack out in the rain. Reach out there and get it. Ha ha ha ha. All right, all in all, come on out there, Neil, and give us your thoughts. All right, so which one's the better shelter? Okay, so why would you maybe choose, why would you maybe choose the Alpha shelter, even though it's not quite as good, over the Commando tent? Lot lighter, and to be honest, sure. Now, it's a lot lighter, it's a lot more portable, and to be honest with you, if you would've took and staked that down, it wouldn't have moved around on you. And probably the third or fourth time that you put that dog in there, he's gonna lay in there a lot better. All right, so let's go ahead and get a couple more repetitions, and let him get more acclimated to that activity. A big mistake people make is when they go into a situation making assumptions about how their dog's gonna behave. I don't care how much training you've done in your yard or at your training center or anything like that, if you don't go out and practice in real life, you don't know how your dog's gonna act. So what we talk about here is this is what we call yard work. And so we don't want the first time that we're in a rainstorm in a tent to be in real life when we've saved up our workdays and our money and we've took the family camping. Because a dog can tear up a tent in about 10 seconds. So go on, get back under that alpha shelter and let's practice a little bit more. Gotta be a trooper. I like the way you can just flop that alpha tent around myself. Now see how your dog's like, I don't wanna go under there, Dad. There you go, be patient with him. There you go, nice, very nice. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Now you worked your way around where your pack is not in your alpha shelter. There you go. Other than the water coming underneath the shelter though, how are you doing? Oh, I'm dry. The tent's dry, all right. Is the dog starting to settle down? Starting to, yeah. Starting to settle down, that's good. And then how you handle this, guys, is you go ahead and think in terms of journaling your results. You put your dog in there on a Monday, simulate your storm, write down how long it takes the dog to settle down, and every day just aim for incremental progress. All right, that's real good. Okay, get out. There, Neil, you're done. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Love on that dog, he needs some love. He got scared getting caught out in a tsunami. Are you starting to like the alpha shelter a little more? Once you get the hang of the alpha shelter, I think you'll like it a lot. Pan back over there to this tent here, Eli. Now, go ahead and grab your tent, or grab your bag and your dog and get back in that bigger tent there. This is obviously what you keep in your car, but that weighs seven pounds. And so seven pounds, if you had to carry it very far, that'll wear you down. Just so there's, Neil, how tall are you, Neil? 5'11? 5'11. 5'11, 290. And he fits in that tent just fine. Zip a bottom of it up there. Look at Buddy, he's wanting to get in there too. Let Buddy in there if he wants to come in there. All right, now we're gonna go, I'm gonna put some Hurricane Force on the front of this tent where that zipper is. We'll see if it leaks. All right, come on out there, Neil, and give us your final thoughts. The dogs are gonna stay in there. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Ah, that's funny. All right, you can just let them go now. All right, so what I'm thinking, Neil, is you throw that NATO pup tent in the truck. Maybe get two or three of them, considering you got some kids and some friends that are with you a lot. Leave that in the car, and if you ain't got a walk for it, you take that. But maybe every member of your family, go ahead and get you a military poncho, and we'll cut down them tent stakes so that you all have an outfit shelter if you need it. What do you think? I agree. Yeah, yeah. Right, quick and easy. Structure and strength and room and convenience versus quick and easy to set up and lightweight, most important. All right, show them again how fast you can pull that over top of you. And here comes the downpour. Look at that. That's awesome. What do you think, Eli? Awesome? Quick and easy. Dang, can't beat quick and easy. That's what Eli's girlfriend says, anyway. All right, I'll see y'all later.