PAWS DOWN FOR FIREWORKS

“Almost all humans with canines in the U.S. declare this day [the 4th of July] the worst day of the year for their dogs,” states a guest post on dog trainer Victoria Stilwell’s blog.

Humane societies report more dogs are found wandering loose on July 4th than any other day of the year in the U.S.

Unfortunately, I have my own story about this, with ANOTHER COLLIE TO LOVE—THAT WE ALMOST LOST.

My parents found Duke wandering on the road on the Fourth of July…Now a single mother, I bought another house and built a fence so Duke could stay with my kids and me. It was then we found out how frightened he was by fireworks.

Duke was out in our now fenced backyard as dusk fell one summer evening in early July. I didn’t think much about it until I heard him fussing. I looked out the upstairs window and saw him running back and forth across the yard. I called for him before making a dash for the stairs, but he didn’t hear me over his terror.

He crashed through the fence and was gone before I made it downstairs. Then it hit me: my parents found him wandering in the road on the Fourth of July. I should have known fireworks would terrify him.

Beating myself up for not making the connection earlier, we searched frantically for him. No one nearby had seen him, so we finally came home.

I feared we wouldn’t see him again, but filed a lost dog report at the local humane society, contacted dog control, and posted an ad in the local paper.

That ad paid off.

A woman called and said she might have our dog…Her house was a couple miles away. I didn’t think he would run so far–more lessons for me. She said she found him lying on her porch, obviously sensing he would find safety with this kind woman. She also said he hadn’t made a sound in the few days he had been with her. Until he heard our voices.

Filled with gratitude, we took him home–definitely wiser. No more dogs out on the evenings when fireworks might be going off, and all our fencing would be reinforced.

Nowadays, my favorite way to spend the 4th of July is tucked safely at home with my dogs.

However, for those who are planning to celebrate and leave their canines at home, this blog post is an older one, but still offers some helpful suggestions.