July 4th, celebrated all over the United States and is a huge celebration here in our great military town of San Diego. Celebrated with family, food, parades, barbecues, carnivals, picnics, and fireworks.
Most of us dog owners think of our pups as family and include them in all family activities. Including them in some of our 4th of July celebrations can actually be terrifying for our furbabies. Last year a family took their beautiful furkid to watch the fireworks in DelMar and at the first “boom” their pup took off. I remember week after week seeing pleas of help to find the dog, unfortunately I’m not sure he ever made it back home.
I totally get the love and wanting to have your furbabies with you but the sound of fireworks so close will scare any and all dogs to the point where they will take off. I recommend all the JenLovesPets family members keep their pups small and large at home when attending festivities with fireworks or loud “booms”. And if you fear you’ll be gone for a long period of time then feel free to schedule your local beloved pet sitter to check in and/or stay with your furbaby.
As a dogmom of four I can tell you July 4th evening can be tricky. Two of my dogs could careless about the faraway booms, the other two shake and whine so I spend time early in the day to make sure my house is ready for the noises. My house always has someone home for Independence Day so we keep the living room and bedroom tv on (different channels to drown out additional noises) The pups go potty outside and we shut all doors and windows before firework time. We turn on fans and cuddle on the couch with blankets. But it becomes a bigger problem when our neighbors start lighting fireworks right on our street. This is when Hobo becomes anxious and starts barking and shaking uncontrollable. There isn’t much I can do be love and calm him at this point, he has radar hearing and nothing will drown it out.
It seems my family isn’t alone, I just saw a post on NextDoor where a neighbor asked our community to keep our dogs in mind when celebrating and how stressful it is for dogs. Hence this blog. Thank you neighbor!
Dog Parents
*Keep dogs home if watching public fireworks
*Leave tvs and fans on, close all doors and windows
*Make sure pup is wearing collar with name tags
*If pup has severe anxiety or you will be gone for a long period of time schedule your pet sitter to sit with pup
*Dogs with severe anxiety will run and will crash thru windows and gates to get away from the noise
*Natural Anti Anxiety meds help
*Know your dog and where he’ll be more comfortable, ie: crate
Neighbors
*Celebrate neighborly
*If you see a loose dog do what you can to help get it back home. (know your limits and ability in working with fearful/lost pups)
Every year there are multiple postings of lost dogs during July 4th weekend let hope this year there will be less to none.
Have fun! But don’t forget to protect the furkids! Yes cats too xoxoxo
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