The 4th Is No Blast For A Dog
by Wendel Potter
June 29, 2005
Anticipating The Next Boom
This is the week before the fourth of July but there's no freedom ringing for my dog.
Dylan is a retriever (see photo above)and is, by nature, skittish. Bangs, pops, and especially booms send him running for cover in a mad furry
fury.
This is his 13th Independence Day (his 91st in dog years) and his reaction to the annual fireworks ritual in our quaint Nebraska city hasn't been numbed by age. Each year at this time, he literally spends a week of his life cooped up in the garage, his only safe haven from the discharging of the heavy artillery.
Of course the week leading up to the 4th is also traditionally one of the hottest in our state. This year has done nothing to change that. Temperatures are soaring well into the 90s.
In this weather, outdoor dogs have enough to worry about just trying to keep cool. They don't need the anxiety that's brought on by a non-stop barrage of explosions that begins at eight o'clock in the morning and continues until 11 at night, the hours during which this city has deemed it legal to sell, buy, and shoot fireworks beginning one week prior to the 4th.
Each year, on the morning of June 27th, the snap, crackle, and pop begins right on cue. My God, it's like living next door to Iraq.
So the canine share of this city's population jump, fret, panic, pace, and even bolt and run. Sure, the veterinarian can give us tranquilizers to calm our dogs. But I don't think it's fair that we should have to drug our dogs to get them past this period in their lives. Tom Cruise would agree with me on this one.
Now a dog needs to romp daily, drinking lots of water and eating a nourishing meal. About 15 times a day, the dog needs to poop and pee.
He can't comfortably do these things when a string of firecrackers or a pop bottle rocket is blasting away as though the neighborhood was a cluster of little Hiroshimas.
How would we feel if we sat down on the toilet and a cherry bomb went off in the bowl? Naturally, there are some guys who would claim full credit for the explosion. Most of us, though, would go through the ceiling.
I'm not against fireworks altogether. A day or two would be just fine. A week, however, is ridiculous. It also gets to be nerve-wracking as well as unsafe.
The 4th of July is about America. We celebrate our independence. Our family dogs are a part of our American culture. They deserve to enjoy some freedoms, too.
Copyright 2005 Wendel Potter
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