The 4th of July: A Postscript

I used to really enjoy the 4th of July.  As a kid, it meant swim parties, hot dogs, and staying up late to watch fireworks.  Our family dog, Tosh, didn't care about fireworks at all, so we could be home or gone, he was always just fine either way.  As a grad student, I had Shadow, my border collie mix.  She, like Tosh, wasn't fazed by fireworks. In fact, she seemed to be fascinated by them!  I took her with me to the big, town fireworks display provided every year at a city park by the Davis Fire Department.  She would sit or lay on my picnic blanket, surrounded by college kids and snacks, and watch the proceedings.  It seemed I was on a roll as the next few dogs also didn't care about fireworks.  All of that changed, however, when Desi became a senior dog.

While Desi was unfazed by fireworks for the first several years we had him, he became agitated with the fireworks, pacing and panting the year he turned ten.  From then on, he'd need to be inside with fans going, the A/C on, the TV on, and people there to comfort him when needed. Ozzie seemed more worried about Desi than he did about the fireworks, so I figured he was okay.  Funny thing though...Ozzie was fine until he turned ten, and lo and behold, the fireworks bothered him as well.  As his hearing diminished, it seemed his agitation grew with the booming feelings he felt inside of his body, more than the sounds or lights. While he'd watch with interest the lights from the fireworks you can see from my yard, the booming vibrations that seemed to fill the air after some of the stronger ones, really upset him, causing him to pace and pant, just like Desi.  Henley who had never been bothered by them was suddenly hyper-vigilant about them too, coming to get me as soon as my neighbors started setting them off in mid-June, and becoming fixated on looking and listening for them every evening as the 4th of July became imminent. 

The year Ozzie turned ten, I researched ear protection for dogs as his behavior after the fireworks on New Year's Eve was enough to make me want to do something preemptively before July rolled around.  Why ear protection if his hearing was going?  Because I knew he heard some things and I knew I could control what he saw by keeping him indoors with the blinds closed.  All that would be left was waiting to see if removing what he saw and heard was enough to overcome what he felt if there were visceral level "booms."  I figured getting Henley used to wearing ear protection now was a good idea as well since it seems my run of "my dogs don't care one way or the other about fireworks" was over.

I spent a bit of time every day for several weeks, putting the noise canceling headphones on Ozzie and Henley, pairing wearing them with high value treats and praise.  It didn't take long for them to acclimate to the headphones, with both dogs just falling asleep while wearing them.  I knew that the headphones really worked when I opened up food containers in the kitchen nearby and neither dog came to investigate!  What they couldn't see (they were in the other room) and couldn't hear, wasn't happening.  Success!  By the time the 4th of July rolled around that year, both dogs had been wearing their headphones in the evening for a couple of weeks.  If I kept the boys inside with the blinds closed and their headphones on, they were fine, sleeping the festivities away on their beds.  That was until this year's 250th celebration.

This year, the fireworks were of the sonic-boom variety, going off for several hours from before it got dark until well past 2 a.m.  While I can appreciate that my community wanted to celebrate, the air was filled with smoke and many dogs in my neighborhood were clearly agitated based on the barking and howling, not to mention my neighbor who is a veteran of the Iraq war. He told me the next day that his PTSD was off the charts and I felt awful for him.  When he bent down to hug Ozzie and tell him he knew how he felt, my heart broke into a million pieces.  I know my dogs and my neighbor aren't the only ones who suffer and that makes this a big deal.  We need community education beyond the obvious "fireworks are illegal in Contra Costa County" signs and messages.  A move on a bigger level to drone displays would go a long way to change people's minds about fireworks.  A move to drones would also mean less haze and air pollution and reduce fire risk in our already compromised state where fire season never really ends.  I've seen drone shows and think they are spectacular.  Let's all hope that they are the wave of the future.

As always, if you questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.

Here's Henley on the 4th of July relaxing on a dog bed while fireworks are going off outside.  He kept them on all night, even when he hunkered down in his crate in my bedroom to sleep. It's sad that he has to wear them, but a relief that it works for him nonetheless.