It's that time of year again. Celebration of this country's independence with bbq's, picnics, reunions, parades and yes, fireworks. Not to mention, well, I have already in previous posts, the plethora of thunderstorms and accompanying weather conditions in at least parts of this country in this still very young summer season.
Now there may be those for whom this time of year evokes warm fuzzy memories or not such great ones but the activity of living through another Independence Day Holiday may be:
Do I or don't I
go to the parade
go to the picnic
go see fireworks
remember to take along my umbrella
remember to take along my bug spray
Other ________
There are those dogs for whom this is no big deal and the biggest thought bubble is whether or not that errant hot dog or even hot dog bun might make it near my oral cavity.
But then there are those dogs for whom this holiday evokes terror, horror, anxiety, dread and massive discomfort. It is for those very dogs this entry exists.
And for those with those dogs I say:
Leave them home. If you can stay with them, and be calm, do so. If you need or want to go out, put them in a quiet place, draw curtains, keep space safe (if your dog is comforted by a crate, crate your dog.) Play soothing music or the tv -- perhaps Animal Planet, maybe Cartoon Network or C-Span. Whatever most comforts the dog.
And be safe, have fun and take stock in the freedom this holiday represents. And don't forget to give your dog a thanks for the interplay of dependence and independence (s)he gives you.
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1 comment:
It's been a miserable night here with the fireworks.
Huge exploding colors and sounds that I suppose you could think are beautiful if one of your dogs wasn't huddled under your car, 2 were hiding in their crates and one (who I panicked and could not find -a 90 pound lab) was latter found in my bathtub.
It's been dry here. Fireworks seem like a hazard to me and I wonder how good they are for the environment? Not too good for my household environment. Even the dogs who aren't normally panicked are panicking because the other dogs are.
Although it did just occur to me, maybe it's the Enya I'm playing that has them panicked?
I have fans going and air purifiers as white noise but I really do think it's something in the air.
It's not even the 4th yet, so tomorrow should be really fun. (I'm going out to get bully sticks for all.)
The only thing I could think of to do to the people shooting off fireworks was to shoot them. But for every one you shoot another one just pops up and it's just too time consuming, I want to hang with the dogs.
I think I'll look up ways to counteract the buzz in the air they feel. Maybe kryptonite...
zentrainer
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