aircatcher Posted June 30, 2015 Report Share Posted June 30, 2015 Thanks for the info. I'll avoid using Ace, I don't want to make things worse for Foxy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted June 30, 2015 Report Share Posted June 30, 2015 It's already begun here in upstate NY. Heard a couple of pops last evening and expect there will be a few more each night until the 4th, and then for a week afterwards. <sigh> At least I get another cuddler out of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medic09 Posted July 1, 2015 Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 Dear Doggers, "... like battling with attack sofas." Donald McCaig THAT sir, is the internet comment of the day! Maremmas? Great Pyrs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted July 1, 2015 Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 Dunno if there's anything new here but will post in case it's helpful for anyone: http://moderndogmagazine.com/articles/fireworks-fear/26498 Btw, I've also hugged Bodhi (a la Temple Grandin) in the past when he's come up for reassurance and cuddles during fireworks or thunderstorms. I don't have a Thundershirt, but I figured it might mimic it. It seemed to help. Obviously you'd stop immediately if it seemed to cause the dog any additional distress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Coyote Posted July 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2015 The insanity has begun. Each day we are getting more and more boomers. I am using the melatonin with the zanax and so far we are doing pretty good. Tommy is still digging in her crate at times. Zeke is good about just going in his crate and staying there but he won't go outside. No way. I will be so glad when all this craziness is over. It should really start to quiet down again by Sunday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Cressa Posted July 3, 2015 Report Share Posted July 3, 2015 Ik tell me about it. Im trying to figure out when it is safe for me to potty my dogs. I have already started hearing fireworks today and it is NOT even noon! the last couple of days they have started at 6pm and last till at least 1a. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Coyote Posted July 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2015 I get my dogs out early early on the 4th and let them stay out as long as possible. Stuff doesn't usually start here until about 10 AM. After that I just play it by ear. If there is a lull in the noise I try to get them out but a lot of the time I can't. As soon as I get them outside another boom goes off and they run back in. It's just hopeless. We just have to do the best we can. I just wait it out. A lot of times it is2 AM before the noise stops. Usually by then I'm completely crazy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted July 5, 2015 Report Share Posted July 5, 2015 Fireworks are blasting all around ATM. They seem louder than I remember them the last few years. I gave Bodhi 6 mg melatonin around 6:00 and turned on a noisy kitchen fan and a sound machine set up with brook sounds. He's sleeping quietly at my feet. Hope the rest of you are surviving it as peacefully as we are. Earlier though I was out, from about 4:00 till 5:30. I hadn't heard anything but he was really worked up when I got home. Had apparently tried to get out the front window and also had scratched at the back door. He was nervous throughout the afternoon yesterday as well, even though I couldn't hear anything until nearly 9:00. How could he have known what was going to happen later? I swear these dogs are telepathic. ETA: We had a rough half hour after I wrote this, but it still wasn't awful. Just in my lap and panting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urge to herd Posted July 5, 2015 Report Share Posted July 5, 2015 We had some sort of display yesterday evening, and the odd firecracker here and there throughout the day. Today has been very, very quiet. Perhaps it's the drought and the dangerously dry environment that's keeping things sane. We'll see what sundown brings. Ruth and SuperGibbs ETA - Of course, right after I posted this, we started to hear a few nasty noises in the distance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbc1963 Posted July 5, 2015 Report Share Posted July 5, 2015 VERY loud this year! And all of Friday and Saturday evenings and nights. ::Sigh:: I had brief hopes for a rainy July 4th... but the rain came through and passed with plenty of time for people to explode things. The new dog Cricket doesn't seem overly stressed, thank the universe. I tried to leave her loose in the house for her first night, though (she doesn't like being upstairs), but with the noise she was pacing and whining. When I brought her up to her bedroom crate, she ran in happily, as if relieved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Coyote Posted July 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2015 It'sbeen horrible here. Friday nite went on untl 2. Started yesterday at 9 and went on solid until 2 am. I'm using zanax and melatonin, have the house closed up and 2 noisy fans on. Sat am at 1:30 i was out screaming obscenities at the neighbors. That's the 1st time I've gotten crazy enough to do that. Yesterday I upped the zanax to 1 mg and the melatonin to 6. And my zanax to 1/2. That worked better. At least I could get them out to pee. And I stayed relatively sane. I hope today is better. These fireworks this year are just so loud. Fireworks are illegal here. In 35 years I have never seen a police car on my street on the 4th. I think they all go get drunk and wait for the craziness to blow over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnLloydJones Posted July 5, 2015 Report Share Posted July 5, 2015 After last year, which was truely horrible, we had a fairly quiet 4th, this year. Only one really major bang early in the evening and then it was peaceful enough to actually get some sleep. I still don't understand why; last year the streets were littered with burned out fireworks, but this year, none. No laws changed; it wasn'r raining -- very odd. But we're thankful for the calm, regardless of the explanation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katenjim Posted July 5, 2015 Report Share Posted July 5, 2015 I will be needing meds or melatonin for my guy next year. He was fine till last year and is now progressively worse with fireworks and thunderstorms. He will dig the carpet, walls, drool, and scratch the in the bathtub. I don’t want him to hurt himself, I crated for the first time and he tried to dig his way out. Very upsetting to see. I now live in the suburbs and fireworks are not just a one night thing. On a side note, having border collies since the early 80’s and have had a few. I noticed they all don't start being concerned or overly anxious till after 8 years old. ( at least mine) My guy now is 12 and only the last 2 years started having problems. Kate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted July 5, 2015 Report Share Posted July 5, 2015 I've noticed that some aren't too concerned about them when they're a year old but by 2 or 3 definitely are, but I've never personally known one who wasn't affected until it was 8 years old. There must be a variation as to age of onset. Maybe particularly loud booms set things off in an older dog who wasn't very anxious when younger? Or more sound sensitivity in some older dogs? I know I'm very much more sound sensitive now that I'm older than I was when I was younger. All just guesses of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nancy Posted July 5, 2015 Report Share Posted July 5, 2015 Dixie got really upset last night. We stayed in and watched "Yankee Doodle Dandy" - 1942, starring James Cagney, with fantastic dancing - which is my personal Independence Day tradition since ~1958. Then I took her out for her potty walk. We heard fireworks. And she tried her best to drag me to them. If they'd been in our neighborhood - heck, even the one down the hill, I'd have let her. But they were across a rather busy road, with no sidewalk, and in a neighbor with a distant entrance. I was not going to even see if we sat on the busy road we could see stuff. So I dragged her home. What a sulk! I must have the only border collie who LOVES fireworks. Well, she is a mix. And best guess for 'with what" seems to be jackal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katenjim Posted July 5, 2015 Report Share Posted July 5, 2015 I've noticed that some aren't too concerned about them when they're a year old but by 2 or 3 definitely are, but I've never personally known one who wasn't affected until it was 8 years old. Let me clarify, my dogs were "concerned" at a younger age- lay in a dark corner, under a bed, but not visibly shaken. But then years later leading to digging the carpet, jumping in the bathtub, panting, drooling, jumping at a window to get out, etc . Very different scenario. K. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted July 5, 2015 Report Share Posted July 5, 2015 That sounds like it's just a matter of degree then. It would be explained by increased sensitivity to sound, as I suggested before, or just accumulation of increased stress reactions over time. Still, my current noise phobic dog is doing better as he ages. He'll be ~10 this summer and the past couple years he's been less panicked than he was when he was younger, both for fireworks and especially thunderstorms. I've been using melatonin for years, so that's not an explanation for the abatement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbc1963 Posted July 6, 2015 Report Share Posted July 6, 2015 I know I remember reading a book about treating difficult dogs (maybe by Nicholas Dodman?) where they specifically discussed the sudden increase in thunder and fireworks phobia at the average age of 7. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Coyote Posted July 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2015 Tommy is 6 and she'sgetting worse. But the zanax and melatonin together really helped this year, And what was odd was that yesterday was quiet. There weresome far away late but the dogs just seemed unconcerned by then. Thank dog we have made it through it another year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbc1963 Posted July 6, 2015 Report Share Posted July 6, 2015 OMG. Some local kid lost a hand playing with fireworks today. And the local news stations are all saying things like, "Now, authorities want to know WHERE the boy got the explosives!" Um. He got them from his dumbass parents, who drove over the New Hampshire border 10 minutes away and stocked up on a summer's worth of explosives, then put them in the shed where the kids could get at 'em. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borasaurus Posted July 7, 2015 Report Share Posted July 7, 2015 OMG. Some local kid lost a hand playing with fireworks today. And the local news stations are all saying things like, "Now, authorities want to know WHERE the boy got the explosives!" Um. He got them from his dumbass parents, who drove over the New Hampshire border 10 minutes away and stocked up on a summer's worth of explosives, then put them in the shed where the kids could get at 'em. Wow, that's awful. It's not like the kid really knows any better and he loses his hand over it. It's so frustrating when people don't think about that kind of crap. He won't get hurt! That just happens to other people! Kieran barked up a storm the entire day. It was constant throughout the whole day, too. Who even lights fireworks during the day? I'm sure you can totally see those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Coyote Posted July 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2015 Half of Kansas City lights fireworks all day long on both the 3rd and the 4th. Strangely it was quiet on Sunday. Then last nite we were hit with a terrible storm - one of many this summer - so I had to drug the dogs up once again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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