For people with dogs that are afraid of fireworks, the 4th of July has become a holiday to hunker down in your house and try to survive.
When I was a kid everyone in our neighborhood went to the local park and to watch the display. The neighborhood kids all found each other and we played together on the playground equipment until the fireworks started. Sometimes we met new friends. People got out to celebrate the founding of our nation together and we looked forward to it all year long.
I don’t know when it became fashionable for every person to set off a giant fireworks display in their own backyard, but that is the way it is these days. I guess it is a sign of the times and illustrates the loss of sense of community which is all too common now. It doesn’t help that I can go to the corner and buy items that just a few short years ago were not legal for me to have at my home (that is a whole other topic).
In our neighborhood the fireworks start about a week before the 4th and we still had them going strong last night. On the actual holiday we heard the first firecrackers at 9:30 am and they continued all night long. Yep all night.
The brown dawgs are hunting dogs, but even they get concerned with giant booms that make the house shake. I think part of the problem is that they do not know they are coming and so they are taken off guard. When they are hunting and hunt testing they anticipate a gunshot, but fireworks are a louder decibel and completely out of context. In addition to how the dogs react, the human members of the household miss out on much needed sleep since our neighbors can’t seem to remember that they have neighbors, (grumble grumble).
Still we had a three day weekend since the holiday fell on a Saturday so we might as well make the most of it.
Friday we entered Freighter in a dog show. It was a put on by the Michigan Sporting Dog Association and limited to sporting dogs. Another club had shows Saturday and Sunday but we only entered on Friday. We decided against wasting spending the entire weekend doing dogs shows.
Freighter needs one point to finish but Friday was not his day. We had a 8 am ring time which was early considering hubby and Freighter did not get home until 9:30 the night before. They had been out training and were both dragging in the ring.
Other than the show on Friday we made no other weekend plans except to get some things done around the house. We didn’t even plan any training. However, brown dawgs need exercise so early Sunday morning we got out to throw them some marks and run a blind or two in the local park.
Since it was early, we had the park mostly to ourselves except…
There were a few people out walking dogs, but our dogs are so focused on their work that normally they do not pay any attention. This is Freighter running the blind. He did a nice job.
It was warm and humid without much breeze so we kept training short. Freighter did do some drill work after running his marks and blinds. I will have more about that another time.
July 4, 2015 is in the books and we made it through and got a lot done around the house.
How did you survive the 4th?
I can’t believe it’s legal to have them at home! It’s been illegal in Australia for decades. Poor pup pals across the U.S. Bear’s fur would all turn white if he had to live through a week of fireworks! Glad the Brown Dawgs are okay.
Sparklers and small fireworks are one thing but the large ones are really too much.
Boy oh boy did you sum up my feelings. I was LIVID throughout the past week. It was the same in Farmington Hills. (I know I am not far from you so we suffered from the same problem). The fireworks started throughout the week. We were lucky though, on the 4th they started at around 9pm and went at least til midnight, maybe a little later. They were so close (because of idiots setting them off in their backyard) that i photographed some from our balcony. Poor Dakota. He was barking incessantly. I didn’t even try to stop him from barking. We tried to distract him a number of times with a treat ball, we turned up the TV, but for the super loud ones there was nothing we could do.
Fireworks being set off in people’s yards should be banned, PERIOD. Ready for this? The KMart across the street from us had a tent set up for a month where they were selling fireworks. That should NOT be permitted.
I totally agree. In my city they are only “legal” on the 4th, but as is normal, people do not care about following the rules or their neighbors. If it was only on the 4th and where it was safe, I would be fine with it, but it is just too much. I say make people buying those large fireworks purchase a permit or put a very heavy “sin tax” on them (say 25%) which would pay for extra cops to enforce local ordinances. I realize people could go out of state to buy them (which is why they loosened things here), but why make it easy for them by setting up a stand on every corner.
Mom would like to go back to having all the fireworks stuff illegal for private citizens. She and I aren’t scared, but the noise into the late hours keeps waking us up, Katie can’t hear well, so she is alright, but poor Bailie was terrified this year. So stupid, really, what is the fun of loud noise?
Fireworks can cause so much chaos for many, many dogs and, consequently, their caring and worried owners. I don’t blame dogs for reacting, either – one huge boom is enough to make me jump.
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My brother and I grew up with fireworks… our parents always bought us fireworks to shoot off. While we never did them in the neighborhood while I lived, we would do them at the lake where it was legal. Sometimes I will buy fireworks, but nothing crazy. And now, I don’t live in a neighborhood. I couldn’t see myself popping fireworks off in a community where people are sleeping or have pets that don’t like them.
I remember those days of going to the park to watch the fireworks and I am so sick and tired of everyone setting them off around the neighborhood. My dogs have been terrified this entire week and you’re right most fear is based in the unknown and unpredictability of the noise. We are having a very tough week. Zoe has been so upset that I’ve been having a hard time getting her to go outside to potty (she won’t walk and tries to drag me back inside) and she hasn’t been eating. We’ve had to really coax her to walk and eat. It’s awful. Next year I am getting heavier sedatives from the vet because I’m not sure how much more of this I can take.
I remember the days of going to the fireworks as well…I miss that too. We had close neighbors that would set off a lot for a few years, but thank goodness for the last couple they have stopped. But I complained about them going to midnite…I couldn’t imagine all night long! I’d be calling the cops! This year we heard some but they were further away so we were able to drown them out with fans and a loud TV, and it was done by 11:00. Luke, the little smartie, just goes to the basement at the first noise and stays there until it’s done. The girls normally pace around, so it was a relief to be able to drown it out this year, and they slept through it.
The only bad thing this year was random very loud booms throughout the day…as you said, you don’t know when they’re coming so they even scare the heck out of me! So we stayed close to home, and only played in the yard. We’re homebodies anyway so it’s fine with us really!
Glad you were able to get out and do some fun training!
Our neighbors went to the lake for the weekend so the Fourth was uneventful for us. We live in a rural area and fireworks are allowed in our county, but we didn’t have anyone next door (we only have 3 close neighbors and they’re still .5-1 football field away. I loved it. I hope they go to the lake every year.
I didn’t like our neighbor was mowing the lawn in his boxer briefs, but whatever.
Glad I live in the country and don’t have to hear all the fireworks, I love watching the stuff towns put on but not the neighbors junk. Wonderful pictures of some great exercise.
Honestly I wish fireworks were still illegal or the towns provided some central place for people to go to blow off steam. We have a neighbor two houses up that blows them off, and it usually sets the dogs off, BUT he typically starts them sometime around 9:30 pm and is usually done by 10. There were still a few errant ones that went off at random times throughout the night, but mostly we were able to settle down right before midnight.
Tough break about that judge and Freighter, but he will get there.
Luckily fireworks aren’t that bad around here. Some people do go down to the river side and set them off, but it is so far from us that my dogs don’t get bothered by them. I do love heading down to the community fireworks show though.
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Glad you made it through 🙂
I was concerned about our guys, since the neighbors were setting off mortars. Elvis spent the night in our closet, his Man Cave, and we put fans in the windows to help drown out the sound.