FIREWORKS PISS US OFF!!!

As unpopular as the ‘voice of reason’ seems to be these days I’d like to give it a try.  This time it’s about holidays where we humans choose to shoot off fireworks and the effects it has on dog owners and their dogs. 

I never had dogs that had issues with the sound of fireworks prior to the dogs I have now and have had since 2010.  My two previous dogs, Zeus and Odin, never paid any mind at all to strange, or even strange and very loud, noises outside of our home.  Both of them even laid on the sidewalk beside our lawn chairs for many 4^th of July’s while we ourselves shot off fireworks and just seemed to enjoy being with us but never showed any fear about the noises.  When we got our dog Max and then Scooby that all ended because Max is afraid of any ‘strange’ noise around him no matter what sound he hears (even the notification chime on my cell phone can send him out of the room with his tail between his legs) and Scooby just seems to be afraid of the sound of fireworks. 

When Max and Scooby exhibited their fear of the sound of fireworks I jumped right on board the ‘I hate fireworks and they should all be banned’ train.  I started to get aggravated, in anticipation of what my poor dogs would have to go through, about a week prior to when the fireworks likely would start to go off in my neighborhood every year.  I wanted to shoot my neighbors and used to try to come up with ways to get them to stop the damned fireworks; all for the sake of my dogs.  I have even called the authorities to report those neighbors who felt that the ordinance against firing off mortar rounds was only for other people but not for them.  Yes I was totally on board with the hundreds and thousands or hundreds of thousands of other dog owners who posted their anger over and hatred for fireworks and the people who fire them off all over social media. 

BUT there was somewhat of a helpless and hopeless feeling that came along with that emotional response to a situation that I had absolutely no control over in any way, shape or form.  I don’t like feeling helpless or hopeless and feel that there is always a way to deal with just about anything that comes up in life.  I have grown to be of the mind that we all have a choice in matters like this and that I would consider only two choices when faced with things that appeared I could not change; first choice being to work for a mutually beneficial solution with others so the situation changes and the second choice being to just simply deal with it on an emotional level accepting that there isn’t anything I can do about it.

With my two ‘scaredy cat’ dogs I did neither for the last several years and simply got aggravated at other people thinking them idiots for doing what I myself had done not that long ago.  We are learning that the more we react to the fireworks the more our dogs do.  We are also finding that when we can remain calm and act as if nothing out of the ordinary is happening that our dogs get much less upset and are upset for a much shorter period of time. 

THINK ABOUT IT!!!  Our dogs look to us for instructions.  It is in their very DNA as members of the canine specie.  When we get pissed off, upset over or frustrated with the fireworks and the people who set them off we are TELLING our dogs as loudly and as clearly as if giving them a direct command like sit, stay or come to be afriad and they are following our instructions to the letter.  REALLY THINK ABOUT IT!  The dog doesn’t know what that loud sound is and they are afraid, then we become aggravated about it and they pick up on our aggravation which they can’t rationalize in the very least.  They don’t know we are aggravated with our neighbors because their fireworks scare our dogs; all they know is that we are upset about the noises and so they get even more upset about them.

If you would try an experiment you might find that you can help your dog’s much more than you ever thought possible.  I would suggest that you take your normal precautions, like a thundershirt or putting them in their safe place etc, and all the while you are going through those motions instead of being apprehensive about when the fireworks start or aggravated with people because their holiday celebration upsets your dogs and just remain calm and unattached to any feelings of any kind about the fireworks.  Even when the fireworks start and your dog is shaking or looking for a safe place to run REMAIN CALM and DO NOT under any circumstances feel aggravated or upset about the noise.  Go about your day/night no differently than you do on any other day/night when there are no fireworks.  I think if you can do this and continue to do this that as these fireworks holidays/events go on you will see a marked difference in how your dogs react.  Any improvement is a milestone for your dog if the dog is less upset or is upset for a shorter time, right???

In the end none of us have any right whatsoever to dictate to others how they celebrate the holidays when they set off fireworks.  You would NOT like it, in the very least, if one of your neighbors asked you to stop having dogs because they bark once in a while or for whatever reason…IT IS THE SAME THING!!!  We have NO right to ask and since they are going to do it anyhow the only thing any of us can do is to change our reactions so that our dogs reactions change/improve.

Bottom line is that people are going to set off fireworks and they have every right to do so.  We can’t stop them nor should we think that we should try.  We waste our time and further upset our dogs by being upset with fireworks and the people who set them off; it’s counterproductive and it doesn’t help.  THINK ABOUT IT!!!