Prepare Your Pets And Home Now For The 4th Of July

The 4th of July can be a very scary time for pets. I've heard tales of dogs getting so frightened by the noise that they break out of yards or hurt themselves trying to hide. I've never had a dog that was scared of the celebratory explosions, until now. We have an 8 month old puppy, but don't let her age fool you. Meg is a poodle and mastiff mix and weighs 110 pounds and she uses that weight to get her way sometimes. We've noticed over the last few days as the premature celebrators are setting off fireworks every night that Meg has been hiding under our camp trailer. I'm assuming it is due to the noise since it is a new habit and thankfully she hasn't tried to break through a fence to escape yet. But just knowing that right now she is stressing lets us know that we need to prepare for the 4th of July weekend and have a safe place for her.

The Twin Falls Animal Shelter has some suggestions for those, like me, who don't really know what is the best way to calm a dog during a night of fireworks.

Our Meg usually sleeps in our house in a room with a fan on to block out extra sounds and help keep her cool. That seems to be really helping her this week, when we bring her in at night she goes straight to that safe place. The Twin Falls Animal Shelter also recommends you make sure your pets microchip and ID tag info is up to date in case they do run away. They have already had a number of dogs show up at the shelter this week waiting for owners to find and claim them.