With the 4th of July coming up, we’re all excited to heat up the barbeque, throw a burger on the grill, meet up with our friends and watch the fireworks! For our dogs, barbeques may bring in tons of treats and opportunities to snatch the hot dog off the grill, and with a bunch of people around, they’ll be drowning in love and getting pet until their heart desires. But, we can’t forget that we still need to take steps in order to ensure their their safety this 4th of July season!
With almost 30% of dogs getting “lost” and at least 40% experiencing noise anxiety, July 5th becomes one of the busiest days of the year for shelters.
So how can you help your pup out, and keep them home and safe this 4th of July?
1) Keep Identification Tags Current
As simple as it sounds, making sure your dog is microchipped or has a proper I.D tags is very important! We like the Pet ID by Pethub, a form of digital identification tag that allows you to create a profile for your pet, and a 24/7 Found Pet Hotline. On the slight off chance that your dog does escape from you, it’ll be much easier for you to find them and bring them home!
2) Do NOT take them to the fireworks show
As beautiful as the fireworks may seem to us, they can be frightening and cause anxiety for our pets, especially being so close to it. Instead, it’s safer for them to stay in the comfort of their home!
3) Dog calming techniques
Even if your dog is left at home, it is very likely that the sound of fireworks will still scare them, so there are a few dog calming techniques you can try at home to comfort your pup!
Here at Dog is Good, our favorite is the Canine Calm Wipes from Earth Heart! All you do is wipe is against your dog’s ears, face and body with the wipes, and the aromatherapy in the wipes will calm your dog down in minutes!
Some more techniques to try could be: giving your dog warm or chilled chamomile tea, giving your dog Benadryl (check for correct dosage), or playing calming music!
4) Stay calm yourself
Seeing our best friends freak out can be scary to us too! But, it’s important to make sure that we stay calm and be there to comfort our dogs in any way that we can. The best thing you can do is remain calm, and give your dog a safe, and quiet (as possible) environment.
5) Don’t feed your pet “Table Food”
Leaving your pet outdoors without watching them can lead to them picking up food laying around on the ground, like beer, chocolate, onions, salt and avocados. As much as we love our dogs, and want to slip them a treat every once and awhile for being so good, this can actually make them sick [as a dog] and can be possibly hazardous.
