Keep Your Pet Safe During Fourth Of July Fireworks

We look forward to celebrating the birth of our great nation each July 4th and we often times do that with fireworks, but those fireworks can cause anxiety among our pets.

I know that when fireworks go off in my neighborhood my dog gets freaked out. She'll run to her kennel and hide out in there while they're going off and all the time she'll have a nervous shake to her. Most of the time she will hear them going off before we do and when we realize what is happening, we'll of course make her feel better but we'll also turn on the radio or a box fan or something to drown out the noise from the fireworks.

Dogs just can comprehend what is happening. Last year Jen Austin wrote about why your dog is scared of fireworks, among those reasons are:

• they're loud
• they're unpredictable
• they pose a threat
• they make them feel trapped

Knowing that firework season is here and there will be a lot of them going off over the next few days, you can take some easy steps to help protect your dog (and cat) to make them feel safe as we celebrate.

• make sure your dog has current id tags on their collar
• take recent photos of your pet, so in case they get out and run off, you'll have a current pic of them
• surround your dog with familiar things - toys, blankets, stuffed animals
• have background noise - radio, tv or fan

For those pet owners who have an outside dog, it would probably be a great idea to bring them in to the house during this time so they don't feel the need to escape and run off. Also remember if you find a stray dog in your neighborhood, they're probably not too far from home. Do what you can to help that pet find its way back home.

Have a safe 4th of July and protect and make you pet feel comfortable as the fireworks explode overhead.