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Fireworks And Dogs


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Just want to remind everyone that fireworks and dogs do not always go well together. A couple days before and after, it is good to be cautious.

Have a safe holiday.

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And they can hear stuff much further away than mere humans.. ;)

 

They may be barking or nervous about what seems like nothing.. but it is something to them.

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I'm very interested to see how Lil' Coy reacts to the celebrations. In recent years it's been pretty quiet around here but we recently had a couple of young families move into the neighborhood so we'll see how the new families celebrate the Fourth.

 

Ida learned some less than ideal behaviors/reactions from Elsy (as a pup Ida couldn't care less about fireworks or storms or anything like that but as the years passed she adopted Elsy's outward displays of fear as the proper reaction to the noise & now she's a wreck...) so I'm trying hard to interrupt the chain with Lili. Not sure how to do that but I'm going to try to keep her attention focused elsewhere as best I can. Ida is terrified of storms. Lili isn't. Ida is nervous when it's windy. Lili isn't. I'm hoping Lili will prove to be immune to fireworks too...although I'm not counting chickens by any means. She'll have to go through the day & we'll see how she does.

 

 

Happy Independence Day everyone!

Edited by Chinatola
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The first 'boom' went off this evening and Chief hid behind the loveseat, Tsaga ran upstairs and hid in the closet and Shadow just layed in the middle of the floor - totally unaware. I guess there are some perks to old age and being deaf. The little ones sense storms and hate fireworks. In Shadow's young years, she was the same way. All seven of our AIDS have always been extremely sensitive to loud noises and loud voices! There was never any yelling in our house - in fact, for the most part we can speak in above a whisper and they hear. Shadow is the exception now and it is so very sad.

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Yep, I think we are all looking to see how the pups will react that have never been through a 4th of July. Boo Gee is so deaf that she doesn't hear them any more. Tolinka has taken on her approach with no reaction. Two Step is another story all together. He definitely does his own thing. He is the door bell of the family, alerts me if there is someone coming into the garden, protects the car when I leave him there for just a few minutes, but most of the time he is just saying "hay there, hi." I just know that anything that sounds anywhere close to a gun, he will react. The other day there was a huge BANG and he barked for a half of a minute and high tailed it into the house :ph34r: . Tolinka stood his ground with his body in attack mode. B) It is going to be interesting as the sounds reverberate in the mountains and the river bed. I think I will have soft music on, have treats in hand and talk to them a lot.....with an occasional....... NO BARKING!

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I think we'll do the Miz Molly approach. It's too hot to go to the fireworks. When Shiva was a pup we took him to the fire works. Sat on a blanket amid a sea of people and had a grand time. I'm sure that since Baby Boy now thinks chain saw sounds are grand and tractor sounds are grand he'd learn to approve of fire works sounds but it's suppose to be quite hot and that wouldn't be fun for anyone. Michigan changed a law to allow people to use bigger fire works at home so for at least 2 weeks we've had booms, including the neighbor and right next to the walking trail. Waki did his usual alert and check to see if anyone cares. Since no one did he didn't. Will see how tonight goes, since Tara usually scolds the fire works as not part of the proper bed time procedure. If Shiva is quiet Baby Boy will ignore Tara, if Shiva joins in we may have a supreme bark fest. They are advertising Thunder Shirts for fire work fear. If anyone uses that let us know if it worked.

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The 4th of July is not my favorite holiday for many reasons, but I'll take any holiday I can!!

 

Especially, here in the Seattle area, we joke that July 5th marks the "locally official" start of Summer.

 

Sterotypical and true this year -- rain, rain, rain, July 4th Mixed rain/sunshine, Sunshine, Sunshine, Sunshine....

 

Be safe. Be well.

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I logged on to post about this very topic!

 

Danza did very well until last year, when our teenaged son walked down to the neighborhood fireworks party and left Danza loose in the house and people-less. It was disasterous, and we've spent much of the year getting her to calm back down. As soon as Cass showed up at the party, my husband and I looked at each other in alarm and Doug ran back home. By the time he got there, Danza had probably been alone for ten minutes and she had broken her way out of the heavy wood door, destroying it, and was tearing around the yard in hysterics.

 

I've been very apprehensive about the 4th, but so far she is doing great. The noises started a few days ago, and if she hears one that is close she gets up and paces a little, but she is not coming over to me for reassurance and is staying her version of calm. (This is remarkable.)

 

Judy, I share your sadness over your dog's hearing loss. Roscoe hears very little now - his deafness really showed me how much I talk to my dogs. I feel silly, talking to a dog who can't hear my voice, but it is such a habit that I can't stop. I talk to Danza of course, and I know she's appreciating the sounds I make.

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It is extremely sad. She's 14 going on 15 and has given us everything that she has. She is a wonderful pup and I know her time with us is very limited. The young ones know something is going on and they are usually with her - one lays on either side of her - they lick her mouth and touch her all the time. To not have her with us will be extremely sad but we can't keep her going for our sakes. We'll appreciate what time she has left.

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There is something so sweet and heartbreaking about a very old dog. I appreciate Roscoe so much, and want him to know it. He still has good days in him, but he's got bad ones now, too. I don't know where that line is.

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Yep, you're right, Karen -- that line is very fine!!!! Shadow knows she has been loved and still is!!!!! She is sweet when at one time she ruled with a very heavy foot!!!! She's trained many pups -- Joe, Bleu, Zi, Tsaga and Chief. Willie was her #1 Stud so when the time comes, they'll all be waiting at the rainbow bridge for her.

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I worried for nothing. Danza has been a real champ all evening. She is sacked out next to Roscoe while the booms go off all around us. (I have no idea why people want to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to set off fireworks in the woods. The beach at my dad's, I understand. 4th of July fireworks are a truly communal affair, with people with money competing to outdo one another. It's a great show.)

 

Anyway, go Danza! I'm very proud of you.

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It's funny- Jas is concerned by things like roofing nailers and wood chopping, but fireworks? Meh- He just sleeps through, and if they are super loud (our 2nd door down neighbors put on an annual, Highly Illegal, show on the street right outside our house!!) he rolls over and moans- because they woke him up. LOL

 

Judy- you are not alone. We too, have an aging dog. After so many years, we can't imaging Not having Mina around. She has helped us raise several different critters, Jasper included. She has touched so many lives, just by being herself. It really reminds one to try to truly appreciate all the time they can give us. :)

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Well that was a surprise...actually not much of a surprise really given what she's showed us since she came out of the live cargo holding area at the Delta terminal at O'hare in February. Hard to believe it's only been five months that she's been with us.

 

This little dog takes new experiences right in her stride. Historically we have a very active neighborhood on the 4th but this year wasn't quite up to typical standards. Even the new families were not very active (I think maybe one or both were out of town) as the noise level from the front of the house to the back of the house was drastically different this year. Usually the noise levels are pretty equal front to back as the majority of people in the area have some type of gathering or party or whatever but I guess with the heat the general feeling was 'let's stay inside where it's cool & save the displays for another time'. The back of the house won the loudness contest this year as that part of the neighborhood said, "Damn the heat...let's party!"

 

Not that there wasn't much happening around here. We had several families that apparently purchased surplus WWII anti-aircraft batteries & were having serious radar problems or bad command structure or maybe there truly was an air raid on or something because they lobbed shells into the air at a rate of 2-3 per minute at some points during the day. That was fun. Not. Nonetheless they continued, mostly at random, well into the evening. It wasn't too bad as they were physically about a half mile away (couple of blocks maybe) so it wasn't ridiculously loud or anything it was just...well, unexpected.

 

There was the usual assortment of firecrackers, bottle rockets, sky rockets, flares, fountains, Roman Candles & other various things that were presented all during the day with a grand swelling of activity, naturally, right around dusk. The "Screaming Mimi's" from across the cul-de-sac lit the requisite sparklers at sunset along with a few fountains & other things but Dad didn't appear interested in large scale explosions like he had in years past. The "Mimi's" are three little sisters that I'm guessing are now pre-teens that have a wonderful way of disturbing a Sunday morning with high pitched squealing, shouts & yelling as they make their way through the world.

 

My neighbor Jim thankfully took the holiday off this year. Jim's a good guy, great neighbor kind of guy but he gets a little exuberant on the 4th. He's always good for extremely loud incendiary devices but all was quiet in the land of Jim yesterday. A few years ago he got his hands on the industrial grade, large, category 4 professional shells & started firing them 'downrange' as it were. As you can imagine there was one....there's always one....that didn't quite, let's say 'meet the safe altitude requirements' if you know what I mean. He was lucky if the thing made it ten feet off the ground! This shell went off and large fireballs probably a foot to two feet across shot out at a thousand miles and hour spraying hell fire in every direction....The noise was deafening. Everyone...absolutely everyone came out front to see what had happened. Jim had some 'splainin' to do!

 

This year though....piece of cake. Not to hear Ida tell the tale though. She was her usual basket case self trying to get as small as possible to fit into the nearest air vent because, c'mon, it's gotta be safe in there, right? She's goofy but it's sad to see her go through that. She usually ends up in the laundry room as it's completely enclosed within the house & I think it's a good insulator of sound because this is her go to spot when storms come to visit.

 

Liliko'i was very interested in what was making Ida nervous. Sure, she acknowledged the fireworks, especially when they got loud later in the day, but generally she was disinterested in the noise. At one point though, in the early evening we went out in the yard together & there was an abundance of activity both near & far away and this seemed to slowly build up her anxiety level the longer we stayed outside. She made the call to come in which is unusual for her. Lili's biggest challenge yesterday was trying to determine what was causing Ida's distress. She never made the connection.

 

Gotta say, life's grand when you have at least one dog that isn't bothered by fireworks. When Elsy was alive she was beyond terrified of anything noisy like fireworks, thunderstorms....even the flash from a camera set her off....she was a nervous little thing. Ida became nervous as the years passed but I don't remember her being skittish about loud noises as a pup. Lili isn't a fan of loud noises but she's not panic stricken for several minutes when they occur either and that's a good thing. Hopefully she'll hold on to that trait.

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There is something so sweet and heartbreaking about a very old dog. I appreciate Roscoe so much, and want him to know it. He still has good days in him, but he's got bad ones now, too. I don't know where that line is.

 

Judy, somehow I came to the conclusion that they know better than we, about where that line is. Boo Gee lets me know what kind of day she is having by the amount of sleep, lack of movement, and level of energy and participation at any given moment. I find myself watching her very carefully. Every time I pass her, I check to see if she is still with us. It's now a habit. My vet said she probably wouldn't last through the winter....that was 2 years ago. What amazes me about my 16 year old boarder collie is that even though she is almost stone deaf, partially blind, with a leaky heart, and lungs that don't function as well as they used to, she gives it her all when it comes her time to play ball. She still thinks she is a puppy. She gets all bouncy with anticipation of the play. I can't refuse her, so she comes along with the rest of us. She runs after the ball, will jump a little, grab the ball, run some more, sometimes she looses her balance and falls and rolls and skids, breaths like her lungs can't get full of air, coughs, and is still all bouncy over the whole game and wants more. When her day comes, it will probably be out in the field chasing her last ball. What a gal. The drive in these oldsters is amazing. Yes, she sleeps for most of the day, and sometimes misses out on the ball play as she is still napping. But when she decides to play, all of her gears are full speed ahead. I love this old gal, she has determination that doesn't quit. :wub:

 

About the 4th of July and the pups reactions:

Last night there were very few 4th of July explosions happening in the valley forest. The few that did go off, prompted a few barks. Both Tolinka and Two Step quieted at my asking and talking to them about what the 4th was all about. The rest of the evening there were low muffled growls from deep in their throats, but they remained thankfully calm and fell asleep at my feet. :wub:

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