Storm season stays
What happens during a hurricane at board and train?
Hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30, which is half the year and most of the summer. A family booking a stay in August is right to ask this question, and the answer should be concrete before the deposit is paid, not improvised on the day a storm turns toward the coast.
Last reviewed September 29, 2026 · by the Best Dog University Team
The short answer
You are called first, the dog's paperwork is already packed, and you choose between collecting and staying.
Storms give warning. When forecasters start talking about a storm heading for the upper Texas coast, our team watches the National Weather Service and Ready Harris the same way you do. Before anything is decided, you get a phone call. That call covers the forecast, the options and what you would prefer, and the decision is made with you.
Two things are settled before the season even starts. Every dog's vaccination records and your emergency contact are on file from drop-off, and every dog has its own food and medication with it in the house. That means a dog can be collected, kept or moved without anyone hunting for paperwork on the worst day of the year.
- A phone call before any dog is moved
- Records and an evacuation contact on file from drop-off
- Food and medication already with the dog
- Collection is always your choice
Before, during, after
What a storm looks like from the training home, from the first forecast to the first quiet morning.
In the days before landfall, training carries on while the weather allows. The house is a house, so a dog that has been learning place and crate calm is well prepared for a day indoors with rain on the windows. If you decide to collect early, the go-home session is not skipped: our team walks you through the essentials so the time already spent is not wasted.
When a storm passes, the first days after are often the hardest. Fallen branches, standing water, fire ants flooded up onto higher ground and a neighborhood without power all change where and how dogs are walked. Walks wait until the streets are safe, and you hear from us about how your dog is doing and what the plan is.
A storm appears in the forecast: our team watches the official sources
Families are called with the forecast and the options
Each family chooses to collect or to leave the dog with our trainer
Collecting families get a short handover of the essentials
Dogs that stay keep their routine indoors through the weather
After the storm, walks resume only when the streets are safe
Booking in storm season
A stay can start in hurricane season; a start date that meets a forecast can be moved where the calendar allows.
There is no reason to avoid June to November. Most weeks in that stretch bring heat and afternoon thunderstorms rather than a hurricane, and summer stays already run on an early-morning and evening schedule with the middle of the day indoors. If a named storm is forecast for the week of your drop-off, call or text our team, and the dates can be moved where the calendar allows.
Pack as if a storm might come, because that costs nothing. A copy of the vaccination record and the rabies certificate in a zip bag, a few spare days of food and medication, and the name of someone outside Houston who can be reached if phones in town are down. Ready.gov and Ready Harris both publish pet checklists worth reading before August.
- Hurricane season: June 1 to November 30
- A forecast storm at drop-off: move the dates early
- Spare food and medication for a few extra days
- An out-of-town contact on the form
Storm-shy dogs
A dog afraid of thunder is exactly the dog a calm house helps, and the updates will show it.
Plenty of Houston dogs pant, pace or hide through summer thunderstorms long before a hurricane is involved. In a stay, a storm is one more thing that happens while the dog holds place or rests in a covered crate in an interior room, with a trainer who does not fuss over it. That calm, repeated through a season of afternoon storms, is part of how storm-shy dogs improve.
Tell our team on the call if your dog is afraid of thunder or fireworks. A dog with real storm panic, drooling, trying to escape or hurting itself, needs a plan from the first day, and sometimes a conversation with your vet. July 4 falls inside hurricane season too, so a summer stay often covers both.
What we do at Best Dog University
Gold and Platinum run through storm season, and the plan for a storm is part of the booking conversation.
Gold, two weeks at $2,500, and Platinum, three weeks at $3,750, both run all year, with summer schedules and storm plans built in. Platinum is the right fit for a dog whose storm fear has spread into reactivity or anxiety, because it adds behavior modification and unlimited private lessons afterward. VIP, six weeks at $10,000, includes transport home and an in-home handover.
The honest fit: if you know you will be away during a storm and cannot be reached, tell our team who can make decisions for you, and write it on the form. Families from Katy, Spring or The Woodlands who cannot easily drive to Cypress can add the $250 transport service at booking so the return trip is already arranged.
The programs
Programs that run through storm season.
The same curriculum from June to November, with a storm plan agreed before the deposit.
Asked and answered
Questions people ask about this.
Will you evacuate my dog without asking me?
No. Our team calls families before any dog is moved. If a family cannot be reached, the dog stays with our trainer, its records and its food, and evacuates with our trainer if it comes to that. That is why an out-of-town contact on the form matters, and why you should watch your texts when a storm is forecast.
Should I pick my dog up early if a storm is coming?
That is your call, and our team will give you an honest read of the forecast and where your dog is in the program. Many families prefer to have the dog home. Others would rather the dog stay in its routine. Either choice is fine; the important part is deciding early, before roads fill.
Where should I check the forecast and evacuation zones?
The National Weather Service Houston/Galveston office for the forecast, and Ready Harris for the county's evacuation zones and current guidance. Both are linked below. Read them in May rather than the week a storm forms, and make sure the contact you put on our form knows your plan for the dog too.
Does a storm add days to my dog's program?
A quiet storm day is still a training day indoors, with place, crate, doors and obedience. If a storm or an early collection genuinely costs days, talk to our team about how the rest of the program and the go-home session are handled. Nothing is decided without you.
What should I pack for a stay in hurricane season?
The usual list plus a margin: food for the stay and a few spare days, medications with written instructions and a few extra doses, the vaccination record with the rabies certificate in a zip bag, a flat collar with ID and a six-foot leash, and an out-of-town emergency contact on the form.
Keep reading
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Booking a stay between June and November?
Ask our team about the storm plan on the free phone consultation, before you pay anything. A $250 deposit holds the dates once you are comfortable.