It might be fireworks season, but not everybody loves fireworks. Especially four-legged everybodies.
“This is a really awful time of year for a lot of dogs,” said Helen St. Pierre, a Concord dog trainer who has written an e-book about how to deal with pets that overreact to loud or unexpected noises.
That can make it an awful time of year for dog-owners, too.
“I can’t tell you how many people put their dog out in the yard, a firework goes off, it jumps the fence and it’s gone,” said St. Pierre, of Concord’s No Monkey Business Dog Training.
At Cilley Veterinary Clinic in Concord, Dr. Jane Barlow says behavioral problems caused by fireworks exist for “conservatively … 10 percent” of the dogs that are patients.
The problem isn’t just the noise, she said, it’s the lack of predictability.
“It’s not a normal thing, an everyday thing, that dogs are accustomed to. It’s very situational – they get startled,” she said.
As for her own dogs, Barlow has a different problem.
“They’re bird-hunting dogs. They actually like fireworks – they think it’s shotgun shells. They get excited about it, and they’re looking around for a dead bird,” she said.
That, of course, is not the norm. Worse than momentary fear causing dogs to run away, hurt themselves or even turn on the owners in misplaced panic, fireworks can sometimes lead to long-term changes in behavior.
St. Pierre said she has seen this often in her 15 years of working with owners of dogs with sound sensitivity.
“It can grow. First, it’s snow falling off the roof, a snowplow, then skateboards, then nailguns, and it can develop into generalized anxiety,” she said. “Once you flip that switch, it can be really, really difficult to unflip it.”
The problem of fireworks causing dogs to run away, hurt themselves, or take on bad habits after being scared by fireworks is well-known.
The American Veterinary Medical Association, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and a host of private pet firms publicize lists of pet safety tips for July Fourth holiday period. Some kennels even run special Fourth of July sessions, boarding animals away from public displays and installing systems such as constant “white noise” generators to dilute or mask any neighborhood fireworks.
Dogs aren’t the only domestic animal affected, of course. Horses can be easily spooked, and since a panicked half-ton horse can do a lot of damage to itself and others, owners have long known to make sure their steed is in its stall and made comfortable if there’s any chance of fireworks nearby.
And what about the reaction of that other popular household pet? “I have gotten no calls about cats,” St. Pierre said.
(David Brooks can be reached at 369-3313 or dbrooks@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @GraniteGeek.)
