Would you leave your dog home alone during fireworks

[Tiggeroo]

I have a three year old corgi. Fireworks never bothered him. My town has them several times a year. Lat night a local town had them and several kids set some off. He was upset. It was tough to get him to take a walk and he wanted to stay near me and really wanted to be in my room. It was probably worst because we were on a walk when they started. Tonight are my towns. They launch around six blocks from here and out over the water. Dh and I planned to walk up and watch. Now I'm wondering if he'll be home alone all upset. Any thoughts.

 

[Shel]

Does he have a crate or a "safe" place? Maybe you can put him in there, turn on the tv or music for distracting noise.

Please don't take him along. Just in my town alone, 4 family's dogs ran off last night during the fireworks display. So sad.

 

[clh2]

We adopted a dog that was 8 years old. Got him in September. It NEVER dawned on us that there would be an issue when July 4 th rolled around.

We just replaced the door that had been damaged. It was the door from the house into the garage. ~$800, all said and done. The new door needed to be fire resistant for 20 minutes, had an odd size frame, etc. The new door is metal, old door was oak.

Riley is no longer with us, but we do not leave our current dog alone during the weekend of the 4th at night.

 

[minkydog]

My DH is in the hospital so I've been with him the past two days. My poor pooch is pretty upset anyway, but trying to get him to go outside last night took some effort. People on my neighborjpod were ay it until almost midnight.

 

[design_mom]

I would/have/did. I left them at home, where they're familiar and left a radio on to add some noise. They seemed to do fine.

On the other hand, I would not take them to the fireworks, nor leave them unattended outside even for a short time when fireworks are being set off (even though they're normally fine for short amounts of time in our fenced yard.) Our local humane society said that more dogs "get lost" on the 4th of July than any other day of the year.

 

[usnuzuloose]

Not unless I have to.

 

[disykat]

I have. Last night was our first 4th with a new dog who is still adjusting, so we stayed home though. We were glad we stayed home because we had fireworks a lot closer to home than in the past. She did fine and we won't have too many qualms about leaving her in the future.

In the past, we left our old dog in a safe room with her crate open for her to hide in, left her a new chew toy, turned on a fan and a television for white noise and left. We think the noise covered it up because she always seemed fine, despite generally HATING fireworks.

 

[rszdtrvl]

I would. Of course, fireworks don't scare him at all.

We had super loud booms and they didn't phase him in the least. He is a Beagle, and not even remotely "gun shy" (as they use the phrase in the south - he is a spoiled northwest dog who has never hunted in his life).

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Yes we do.

Alot of 4th of July's they were boarded or left alone. This yr and last yr we were home and while it is no picnic with the fireworks, they are OK to be left alone.

People are lighting off firecrackers right now and one of my dogs will growl and shake her ball if she is outside. She is not bothered by it in the house so much. She does that during thunderstorms here.

That being said she will sleep in the laundry room & hall bathroom when we have bad storms.

Other dog could care less. He is not scared of storms, fireworks, or anything loud. On the other hand watch out for the evil trash can, vacuum, or any other object that may jump out and get him.

 

[aprilgail2]

I always left mine alone, he was very afraid of fireworks so I would drug him with a tranquilizer (from the vet) every 4th of July. He would sleep the night away.....

 

[theworldneedscolor]

Yes, we always do. We have a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and he has no problem with fireworks. Our town's fireworks aren't near us, so those aren't an issue, but the bottle rockets and other big ones people set off in our neighborhood don't phase him. In fact, last night he came out with us on a leash in our front yard while we set off ours. Otherwise he would have barked at us nonstop.

 

[WDWBarb]

No way I could leave my dogs. It's sheer terror... and it makes me so sad to watch them suffer through it. But I hold them and comfort them as best I can.

 

[pixiewings71]

Yes we did, we were gone from noon until about 2 am, the dog was perfectly fine. Luckily we don't have to worry about the fireworks scaring her. Not all dogs freak out. Our friend had to leave early to bring her dog inside though, she knew she would be afraid.

 

[Colleen27]

I would, but neither of my dogs are upset by fireworks in the least and they're often in the yard with us watching neighbors' displays. Once the older one came to the town fireworks with us but she doesn't like that kind of crowd... between wanting to play with each and every child and wanting to keep each and every unfamiliar adult away from "her" kids she was a ball of nervous energy. She's much happier at home.

Both of our girls are hunting breeds, though not trained to it themselves, and I always wonder if that has something to do with their total lack of fireworks fear.

 

[rszdtrvl]

Both of our girls are hunting breeds, though not trained to it themselves, and I always wonder if that has something to do with their total lack of fireworks fear.

I think it is embedded in their DNA. Seriously. Our female Beagle was never scared by fireworks. However unfamiliar things drove her batty (an orange cone in the backyard, a new toy that moved, a bag flying around outside).

But loud noises never bugged our female and don't bug our male Beagle.

 

[Piper]

One advantage of having a service dog is that she was trained to ignore loud noises. She is usually with me and we were both home last night. She slept through most of it and didn't pay attention to the rest. I have a friend who has a dog who is afraid of thunder. If she knows ahead of time that we are going to have thunder storms, she brings him over. He just cuddles up beside Lucy and is very calm. I guess that Lucy ignoring the sound tells him that everything is okay! His owner and I drink a cup of tea and have a good chat!

 

[Tozzie]

I sometimes have to as I usually have to work on the 4th of July and firecrackers go off all day. I knew the big shepherd and the little dog weren't affraid nor were the cats but up until Thursday night I didn't know how the puppy reacted to thunder let alone fireworks, Thursday we had storms and the puppy girl didn't flinch from tormenting my cat with 3 legs so she was fine yesterday

 

[The Mystery Machine]

One of my dogs is now in the laundry room. People are lighting off a lot of stuff. We have a stand about 1 min. away from us.

 

[JVL1018]

Yup..never even give it a thought. My dog isn't bothered by fireworks, thunder, anything at all.

 

[LilyWDW]

Please don't do it if you live in an apartment and your dog barks at everything. Because then the people who live upstairs are going to hate you forever because they can't sleep due to your stupidity. You know the dog is afraid of everything and barks at anything that goes on when you are not there. You have been warned by the complex to stop leaving the dog if you can't be sure he won't bark. So stop being morons!

Can you guess what I had to deal with?