4th of July Fireworks - No Problem Here...
 

So, are Lollie and Lacie the only two furkids that seem to get happy-excited when they hear fireworks? Some folks were shooting off pre 4th of July fireworks last night. Lollie, Lacie and I were outside enjoying the koi pond when the fireworks started. They got really happy excited, looked up and ran towards the pretty sparkling lights. I am so proud of them!!

I can't help but wonder if our over concern and worry about how they will react causes some of the anxiety that many of our furkids suffer. They read our body language and if we react with concern, then they will become more anxious than if we simply stay calm and act as if nothing is wrong. Same with storms, I happy to enjoy the thunder and lightning of a good thunder boomer and my girls don't fear them either.

My boys don’t get excited but they don’t get scared either they just kinda ignore it. Callie who is afraid of loud noises has gotten much better at staying calmer even with storms. The weird thing is Penny who is scared of nothing and the alpha of the pups gets very weird and shuts down. She doesn’t shake or pant but just shuts completely down and acts weird. My dad suggested I write a little note about fire works to put in all the neighbors mailboxes because we had someone on our street do them last year and they did A LOT of them. I’m glad yours don’t have any issues.

I have one who could care less, one who is terrified of them. Both raised the same. I think it's more of a personality thing overall.

Cali’s only concern is getting outside and “getting” whatever is making all that noise. So, we have to go outside throughout the evening to “patrol” the area. Cali is ver tuned into her property which she feels very responsible for knowing what is going on there🥴.

For my boys, it is a personality and maybe a physical structural thing. Max is unafraid of storms and fireworks despite his first year of watching me worry about terrible storms we had. He comforted me. :D


Teddy is scared of storms and fireworks although I have always acted happy and relaxed. He can sense storms coming a long way off and starts getting nervous. I think he is sensitive to pressure changes.

Fireworks never used to bother Tibbe when I was able to distract him with games, etc. at first and then he'd settle in and accept them, though he came to this house aged 9 mos. with a healthy fear of most things, especially routine sounds, odd noises, except thunder. He'd bark at thunder and fireworks. Now he's older, so am I, he's gotten arthritic especially in his left shoulder and sometimes they bother him a good bit, other times not.

He either accepts fireworks and goes on with what he's doing or goes into his hardshell carrier crate between the end of the den couch and the wall, comes to get by me on the couch pillow or goes to 'his' rug at the end of the hall, where he sometimes naps on hot days. It's very dark and cold there and he likes it as he acts as if he thinks I keep the den too warm on hot days and goes seeking the cold parts of the house. But I've found him there during fireworks shows but he's not shaking or nervous.

Thank you everyone for your replies. It's good to hear that we have many furkids who aren't phased by loud noises.

It is really sad reading posts from the various internet venues about dogs that escape from their homes and run away out of fear. The grief experienced by the owners is heart wrenching.

From his first experiences, fireworks and thunder have not bothered Bon Bon. I have a picture of him sound asleep and completely relaxed during the Fourth of July fireworks. We were out for a walk and the neighbors set off a bunch just down the street and he didn’t react.

Cody barks at nail guns, thunder and fire works, I calmly tell him it's ok, and he'll stop barking, I tell him good boyyyy, then he'll come by me and snuggle. No barking and lots of good boyyyy praise works for us.

My girls don't really seem to be too worried about storms or fireworks. If it is especially loud, they will start a little bit but then get back to whatever they were doing before.

Tibbe was totally unfazed during the first bouts of fireworks. I think our city or some other entity had its usual professional fireworks show last night
slightly before 9 but about 1 1/2 hours after that was over, the city seemed to explode with these interminable bouts of booms, both little and big, for the next couple of hours. They sounded far off but just kept on and on, sounded like war sounds in the movies! Dang! I was getting mad, I mean, there is a limit to how kid-like teens or grown men should act and I was getting worried Tibbe would start to get upset. Eventually he began to hold his ears back and round his eyes big(reading my body language) and I put him in my lap, started scratching his back. He went out like a light and was totally cool through other bursts of pure noise. Ugh! It's never been this bad.

Not so good here.

Pennsylvania "had" a ban on residential fireworks. Pennsylvania has fireworks stores every mile in my area. They sell to out of state only, you have to show your drivers license to purchase.

Last year in June 2018 they passed the law Pennsylvania residents can now buy fireworks. Since the law was passed in June 2018 many residents were not aware fireworks were now legal even tho there were huge signs / billboards all over. Last year in my community it was quiet as usual, last night starting at 9PM it was like a war zone here. Poor Cody was terrified, he was hiding under what ever he could. The sky was constantly lit up with flares, there was not as much as 2 minutes of silence until 10PM when it all stopped. This was Cody's first experience of constant explosions and it terrified him.

I see a thunder shirt in the very near future for my kid.

I have the same problem and I am DEFINITELY getting a thundershirt! I think he still has PTSD because he is suddenly a nervous wreck over every single noise!

Poor Bailey.
A day or so after the 4th we had 3 thunder storms in one day, Cody use to just bark at thunder as he does when he hears nail guns, that day we were sitting on the deck, he heard thunder in the distance and perked his ears, the next thunder was closer, he ran in the house and hid under the end table. That was not my boy, the two other storms that day he did the same thing. I was hoping for at least a week of no thunder to give him some time to settle down from the 4th. Tonight was the first thunder storm in 5 or 6 days, thank goodness no hiding just the barking.

When Cody hid under the table I told him "it's ok" in a soft tone as I always do when he would bark at thunder, I didn't try to coax him out or make a big fuss, doing that would have reinforced his fear making him think big boomers are dangerous and something to fear. Maybe my ignoring his hiding under the table worked. It's very hard to not want to swoop these babies up and press them tight against us to show them we will always protect them, it is better to not make a fuss over their fear if you can, that shows them there is nothing to fear. I do hope Bailey overcomes his jumping at every noise.