Anyone else nervous about leaving their dogs today?

[disykat]

We're leaving our dog for the first time on the 4th today. We've been trapped by our pyro neighbors and have never been able to do it before. It was simply too noisy. Now they've moved (YAY) and the neighborhood will probably just have a few modest displays going off. We're finally able to go to a party a friend throws with a view of the local displays.

We're petsitting so we have an extra dog right now. I feel like we have all these elaborate plans for them. We are feeding them early and then taking them on a long walk around the neighborhood to tire them out before we leave. We plan on shutting up the house and leaving them closed in the family room with a fan running and music on.

Is anyone else worried about their dogs today?

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I hope they do ok! Our dog freaks out more for the thunderstorms than for the fireworks (which are illegal where we live, but people still shoot them, anyway). We've had a lot of thunderstorms today, though, so our scardycat-dog (hmmm, that didn't make any sense ) is hiding.

 

[CJRN]

My dogs hates any type of thunder/fireworks. Poor thing shakes so bad, that we say if you put a cup of milk on her head you would get a milkshake.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

I have pyro neighbors too. I only can hope that mine move away!

Last night they were popping the big starburst kind and the debris was landing on our roof. What a bunch of morons.

DH (who's a firefighter) walks over and before he can even say anything, the DAD (yep, we expected his punk of a son to the idiot popping them in the backyard) asked if the debris was hitting our roof. Apparently the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. Now I can see why his son is a no-good... sorry, can't post it here.

The jerk knew it was raining down on the surrounding houses, but figured he'd just keep on. DH asked if they'd kindly take it out to the street and we never heard them again.

Anyway, Chloe is very, very scared of them. I always have to be home with her and I always have to make plans to get her to do her business before they start. Once they do, she will NOT go outside. You can make a 115lb dog move, when she decides to put it in park.

She will be glued to my side and when I get up to walk, she'll walk in between my legs with me. She's huge and I'm not. At 5'2", when she does that and decides to sit, she almost knocks me off my feet.

I honestly hate this time of year, closely followed by NYE and this is why. We have an 80% chance of thunderstorms and I hope it pours outside.

Aren't I patriotic?

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

I hope they do ok! Our dog freaks out more for the thunderstorms than for the fireworks (which are illegal where we live, but people still shoot them, anyway). We've had a lot of thunderstorms today, though, so our scardycat-dog (hmmm, that didn't make any sense ) is hiding.

Chloe's scared of those too! Anything loud, really. She's the biggest sissy.

 

[EEYOREMAMA]

My pyro neighbors moved for awhile, but they couldn't sell their house and moved back in

I wish it were illegal around here, but every 100 yards there is a fireworks tent selling the little sparklers, so you know we live in a pyro zone. We also live in the lightening capital of the world. Talk about a scary place to raise a dog (we have 2). Both of them shake in storms and 4th celebrations. They lose so much hair, we own 3 vacuum cleaners.

I can't do too much about leaving them in storms because they generally happen every day and come out of nowhere. I try not to leave them when the neighbors are partying. I am their support group.

 

[Talking Hands]

They are already shooting off firecrackers around here and have been for 3 days already. Poor dog has been whining. She hates fireworks. Hope it pours and no one can shoot them off. But then they'll do it tomorrow.

 

[ericamanda01]

My BFF has a dog that is so scared of fireworks that she will hide for days. The previous owners of her house were also the dogs previous owner. They were very cold people. They decided that the dog wasn't "right" for their family after 5 years and were going to put her to sleep when they sold the house to my friend. Patty is not a troubled dog in anyway. She is very mellow and sweet and has never bitten or growled at anyone. This was straight from the previous owners mouth. Well my BFF has a heart of gold and adopted Patty on the spot. Turns out the previous owners used to leave Patty tied up out side everyday, including the 4th of July, so now the poor dog is too scared to go outside if she even hears a car backfire.

 

[crz4mm2]

My crazed Jack Russel is deathly afraid of loud noises of any kind. She is laying on my legs right now shivering so much she could be a massager
Poor thing. I feel so badly for her.
She hates thunder too.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

They are already shooting off firecrackers around here and have been for 3 days already. Poor dog has been whining. She hates fireworks. Hope it pours and no one can shoot them off. But then they'll do it tomorrow.

That's what my DD16 said. She was like, "Duh, Mom - they'll just do them another night when it stops raining."

I hate it when they're more logical than we are.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

I just did my best Cesar Milan act and walked her on a lead, like he shows people how to do it. I walked around in my backyard for about 20 minutes. About three times some idiot started popping them and she'd jerk loose and head for the door.

I was persistant though. I literally walked the you-know-what out of her. Never could get her to pee though.

Boy, it's gonna be a fun night.

Here's our local radar. Come on rain!

 

[pumba]

we took our two year old dalmatian to the kennel last night. It is out in the outskirts of town and there are no fireworks around her. Today we spent the day at bil's house near the ocean and were gone quite a bit of the day and we knew she would be better off at the fat farm. Tomorrow is another day out of town and she will be fine at the fat farm still.......We will pick her up Thursday Morning even though we miss her so much.

 

[Jen_in_NH]

My dogs don't mind the smaller fireworks that people have at home. The older one really doesn't like the big fireworks shows though. The town show is from behind our house, and that freaked her out last year. The puppy hasn't seen any of the larger ones yet.....

Jen

 

[disykat]

They survived. No signs of any upset other than them being EXTREMELY glad to see us when we got home. All my worrying for nothing!

Boy, I'm glad we don't have thunder storms around here like some of you do. Those are very rare here.

 

[golfgal]

Our dog did very well on her first 4th. We were at a picnic at DH's parents house all day yesterday and people were firing off things all day around their town (no one at the picnic). There were 3 dogs there and they all did well (the other two were a little scared at first but calmed down quickly). Our dog has gotten used to the noises over the past week or so. We could even see and hear the big town fireworks from our house and our dog didn't even bat an eyelash at them.

In the street behind our house one family was setting off some HUGE fireworks that were very loud and fun to watch and the dog didn't even bark. Now, today is garbage day and all those vicious garbage cans are on the corners and she is barking like mad at THOSE .

 

[Crankyshank]

The fireworks we were going to last night were cancelled because of thunderstorms and hail knocking out power. I'm glad too because one of my beagles has been a basket case since thurs with all of the fireworks. He won't leave my side and has taken to digging at the area rugs and wood floor because he's stressed. If I left him I'd be afraid I'd come home to a huge hole in my floor!

This year has been particularly bad for him. Neighbors spending a good 8hrs a day lighting off fireworks hasn't helped. I don't know where they get the money for all of their fireworks and I don't know why the cops won't come out.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

The fireworks we were going to last night were cancelled because of thunderstorms and hail knocking out power. I'm glad too because one of my beagles has been a basket case since thurs with all of the fireworks. He won't leave my side and has taken to digging at the area rugs and wood floor because he's stressed. If I left him I'd be afraid I'd come home to a huge hole in my floor!

Chloe is just now recovering from a tail injury and she's been furiously digging at the carpet and the floors too! It goes on and on!

Now that she's feeling better, she's stopped doing it. I had no idea that was a stress reliever!

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

In the street behind our house one family was setting off some HUGE fireworks that were very loud and fun to watch and the dog didn't even bark. Now, today is garbage day and all those vicious garbage cans are on the corners and she is barking like mad at THOSE .

Dogs can be so strange,

You are lucky that yours showed no signs of distress! You did the right thing, by getting her used to them now. I wish I had done that!

Chloe freaked out just like I thought she would.