It’s Always July 4th!
Every Thanksgiving, it seems we are bombarded with messages about people not having a turkey on the holiday. Don’t get me wrong, this is real, and considering that we are one of the wealthiest countries on Earth, it’s unimaginable that people go to bed hungry on Thanksgiving or any day! But this got me thinking about dogs and fireworks, because, similar to raising awareness of starving people on Thanksgiving, we raise awareness about dogs (and other pets) being frightened of fireworks on July 4th!
I’m no different in that I’ve chimed in every year at this time to remind my clients about how to prepare for the fireworks. The sad truth is that some dogs and other pets are terrified, not only of fireworks, but also vacuum cleaners, the beep of a microwave, alarms, trucks, airplanes, thunder storms, doorbells, phones, and a host of other noises, on a daily basis!
In 2005, the author of a wildly popular book, (rhymes with Harley and He) described his dog’s panic attacks during storms. His “remedy” was to lock the dog up in some kind of containment, where the frantic dog kept trying to escape.
So the take home message was to restrict the dog’s “inconvenient” behavior instead of getting him the appropriate medication! This and other detrimental advice from the uninformed community of “dog lovers” advising dog parents not to”coddle” their dog because the attention will reinforce the dog’s fear, and then there’s the other group that feels medication carries a stigma, so they dismiss their poor animal’s fear and let them suffer. And suffer they do, because the emotional pain of anxiety compromises the dog’s quality of life, and if not addressed, it will get increasingly worse!
There are some wonderful resources for learning how to reduce your dog’s anxiety. One of my favorites is Dr. Patricia McConnell, Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist. Her website, patriciamcconnell.com is a treasure chest of dog-behavior information.
Additionally, your veterinarian can provide the right medication and dosage to help your ailing pet, and that along with a behavior modification plan written by a knowledgable professional trainer or behaviorist, can help your dog or other pets lead a quality life, because when your pet is stressed, every day feels like July 4th!
HAPPY TRAINING & ENRICHMENT
© Fran Berry CPDT-KA, UW-AAB all rights reserved 2023
