Today I received an e-mail from a good friend who is distraught about her lost dog. The dog, Tilley, has been lost since July 4th, the night of the holiday fireworks display in Tehachapi, CA.
I sent an e-mail out to my friends asking for prayers and positive energy in my friend finding Tilley. In a beautiful display of support, another friend, who recently lost her 12 year old black lab, shared a story of a dog in her town who was lost for a week – and then found 28 miles away. So there is still hope!
But back to fireworks, I was reminded of something that happened many years ago, with my boyfriend at the time. His parents were away on vacation and he was to go to their house everyday to check on and feed the dog. Halfway through his parents vacation, he arrived one day, which happened to be the 5th of July and found the dog dead. She, a beautiful red setter whose name escapes me, was hung up on the fence tangled in her lease. She was trying to run away from the fireworks and in her frenzy hung herself. Isn’t that awful? My boyfriend was a mess about it, feeling guilty, helpless and sad, as were his parents when they returned. Selfishly, I was glad I didn’t go with him that day.
This year, I went to a fireworks display in a neighboring town and although there were no dogs allowed, there were plenty of little kids and babies, screaming their heads off. I am mixed about fireworks – they pollute, stink, scare animals and kids to death, (literally sometimes) are a fire hazard and cost a fortune. Then again they are beautiful, magical and remind us of our childhoods, waving flags, parades, local fairs, cotton candy and ring tosses.
But, if there were a vote about whether or not to ban them altogether, I’d vote no.
How about you, do you think fireworks are ‘worth it’?
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Yes, fireworks are pretty and I suppose they are a traditional way of celebrating July4th, but after seeing how painful it is for many dogs to endure the sound, I have lost my appreciation for these little bombs we use to celebrate our liberty.
I lived close to a park where they have fireworks every year. One year, I forgot to get out of town on that night and at the last minute ended up running from the house with my dog black lab Shakespeare. I’ll never forget the look of terror in his eyes as we ran from the area. He looked back and as the colors bathed his body and the sky, I could only imagine what it might have seemed like to him — like the sky or his entire universe was falling.
I don’t know if the answer is to end fireworks completely. Obviously lots of children and adults enjoy them. But they create a situation of sheer terror for some of our beloved canine friends. I think as a responsible dog owner, we need to be aware of firework events and be sure to get our dogs out of the area when they take place.