Fireworks and Doodles, Oh My!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I hate fireworks. I am not going to beat around the bush and start by saying I only hate some fireworks, maybe just the loud boom ones. No, I hate them all. As a kid I used to watch them and later when I had kids, we would drive somewhere in horrible traffic so we could watch an hour’s worth of flashes only to have to try and get back home before dawn in the bumper to bumper traffic. It was never my favorite experience and knowing me, I probably offered bribes to my children to make it more worth their while to stay home than to go.

 

Now that I have dogs that fear fireworks, I really hate them. We live at the lake and had I known that lake living means neighbors shoot off fireworks for days….last 4^th of July it went on for five days….I really don’t think we would have moved here. My daughter tells me I am getting old when I complain. Keep in mind, she is also the same daughter who has no problem saying, “mom, that’s not a good look for you,” on almost every Skype call. I have tried explaining that in order for me to look better on Skype, I would have to have ten foot arms and the ability to use them to hold the monitor a good distance away from my face.  All she ever says is,  “maybe dad can hold the monitor in another room.” Even my grandson now says, “Meemaw, show me your creepy face,” sometimes when we Skype. I make a big production of screwing my face up in all kinds of different poses, but I suspect with parents like his it won’t be long until he says, “No, Meemaw, make your regular face!”

 

I am fine being called old, but watching my dogs suffer during all the loud booms makes me sad and mad. This year I decided to get some medicine for Fudge to take the edge off of her anxiety, but realized after one night, that the vet needs to tweak the dosage because Fudge was stoned. And by stoned, I mean out of her mind. I had to bring her in from outside because she kept getting herself stuck under a washtub I have on our patio for growing vegetables. She was convinced something was just outside her reach under our fence and seemed to think pawing the space in front of her would make her imaginary prey appear.   Fudge also had the munchies. She is a dog that eats like a bird, but that night, she ate her food down so quickly that of course it made a reappearance later in the evening. She kept prowling around the counter where her treats were kept and I was afraid at any time she was going to jump right up on the counter to find something that satisfied her cravings more than kibble. Fudge also kept licking and sniffing Vern, something she never does, and walked right over a sleeping Vern several times when walking around the living room. If you fail to see something as large as Vern in your path, there is a problem. I didn’t know if there was some kind of “fifty shades of Fudge” thing happening or she really didn’t see him, but I knew right then Fudge would never get the same dose of medicine again. The next morning, after finding her licking the bed sheets and making a mental note to self to change all the bed sheets, I called the vet to adjust her medicines.

 

We have had almost nine days straight of fireworks and loud booms and we still have to get through the weekend. This means we have had nine days straight of trying to move freely around our house without a dog underfoot. Nine days straight of going to the bathroom with two dogs crowding into your space and making even getting to the sink a trek. Nine days straight of trying to find Fudge’s hiding place in the house and telling Vern he is a brave boy. Nine days straight of second-guessing whether we can go out for a bite to eat or if we should just stay home. Nine days straight of cursing our neighbors and dreaming of a quieter place to live. I can honestly say the 4^th of July is now my least favorite holiday ever. My worst memory ever of a 4^th of July incident at my sister’s party when some guy asked our daughter, Hayley, if he could use her fork when she was finished, has now been replaced by the loud booms of this holiday making it sound like we are under attack. I swear if someone really were attacking our house, I am pretty sure I could single handedly take them down just imaging they are the ones making my life miserable this week. I am not usually a violent person, but I have been shouting things like, “I hope someone sticks a firecracker down their pants and their horsetail blows off!” and “I’d like to stick a roman candle up their nose!” Nose has also been replaced with other body parts on several occasions. Can you tell I have been researching names of fireworks to see if they are all legal in our area?

 

Around here, it seems like this holiday is THE one. Two restaurants that we visited this week had closed signs when we got there saying they were closed for the entire week. A niece sent me a quote from someone she knew and I will clean it up just a bit, but it essentially said, “When did a one day holiday become an excuse for drunk people to shoot off fireworks for an entire month?” The answer is I don’t know, but I have had enough fireworks in my life this week to last me my lifetime.

[Stacy]

I could write an essay of all the ways I hate fireworks. I'm sorry poor Fudge has had such a rough time. I hope they're finished by now. 

Maybe your million dollar idea could be doggy earplugs. I'm always looking for my million dollar idea!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Gail and Bailey, I swear I saw a comment by you and now it is gone! Am I nuts? LOL

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Nancy, I guess you have found the silver lining when it comes to fireworks :) I am long past that stage and now curse the people that shoot them off. We had them this weekend, too. It is ridiculous. It does make both dogs jump in bed with us, but depending on how much room you like to have when you sleep, that may or may not be a good thing :) Glad your dogs, for the most part, are fine. That is a real blessing.

Bonnie, Thank you! Thankfully, knock on wood, New Year's Eve is not bad around here. We have lots of people that have vacation homes here on the lake and come down just for the weekends in the summer and ruin it for the rest of us. They must stay home on New Year's Eve :) Sorry about Owen. I know how hard it is for our dogs.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I hate firecrackers, but truly love fireworks - sort of a birthday celebration since I have  July birthday.  My dogs are only affected by the nearby ones - stupid neighbors. It is the one and only time during the year that Ned sits on my lap, Clancy is at my feet and Charlie is right beside me.  I feel sorry for the reason, but can't help my pleasure at having three snuggling dogs at the same time and for several hours.....

[Bonnie and Kona]

Miraculously the fireworks here were very short for the 4th. Unfortunately New Year's Eve was a week-long war zone. The street was filled with debris and smoke drifted through the nights into the mornings. I sympathize with you completely and wish we had a solution. Owen has developed fear of fireworks since moving here. He didn't have a problem before this. They sell fireworks at the drug store here! The whole thing makes me nuts. I hope the vet is able to make Fudge comfortable with a different dose and not totally stoned. 

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Nancy, I am so glad Georgia is not affected by fireworks. Fudge never was, until we moved to this lake. Vern was always the fearful one, but he is actually better now than Fudge. I have tried so many things with her....not acknowledging that I hear anything, talking calmly to her, calling her a good girl....she is too far gone, I think, to even hear me. We did just get a Thunder shirt. So far, I can't see that it helped. Found her in it last night, just shaking up a storm. I made her snuggle with me on the bed and actually put a bed pillow on top of her and we fell asleep that way. I just feel so badly that my once confident girl is a basket case. Thanks, Nancy!!

[Nancy and Georgia Brown]

Poor Fudge, and poor you. I'm so sorry you had to deal with that. Yeah, get the medicine fine tuned for next time. 

I'm okay with the one glorious show put on by the city that lasts an hour or less, but I don't care for all of the firecrackers and other noises going off at random times by regular people. I can't imagine 9 days of it. 

Lucky Georgia has no issues. Of course I work across the street from a train station, and there is always a lot of construction going on in the neighborhood, so she's used to loud and unexpected noises. Every once and a while when we are outside the train releases a burst of steam (at least that's what I think it is) and we both jump. I purposely make sure my energy is calm and tell her in a lighthearted voice that it was scary and she's a good girl. Sounds silly, but I feel like it might help ward off any fear if she had it. But she's back to sniffing the ground and ignoring me.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Karen, Yes, the one neighbor who shoots them off has a grand dog that visits and he was to have drugs and a thunder shirt. I don't get it. I really don't. I hate ALL fireworks. They do the lake fireworks on our lake and we had debris all over our yard. And when I wrote this blog, it had nine days. They actually have gone on from 6/28-7/9 and we have another weekend coming up :(

F, Oh no...Penny escaped. How scary. Glad the police brought her home :) 

Adina, LOL...I am thinking even those wimpy fireworks would scare Fudge :)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I had a dog years ago who was absolutely terrified of fireworks and I know how it feels to watch an animal you love suffering the most intense fear and anxiety imaginable and being powerless to do anything to help her. I also know how that feeling can make you have violently angry feelings towards those responsible. 

While I admit that I have always enjoyed the colorful beauty of a good professional fireworks show, I have nothing but contempt for the immature, inconsiderate idiots like your neighbors who feel they have the right to make other people's lives miserable. Don't any of these people own dogs? 

[F, Calla & Luca]

I sympathize. I was dog sitting for Penny, my son’s tiny beagle for 10 days. She, having been shot by a pellet gun before she was rescued, is terrified of loud noises. After we heard a few firecrackers on July 3, she refused to go out after dark for days. Sadly that didn’t keep her from escaping and being brought home by the police. She remained on parole, ie. a leash, until he came back for her.