Keep a close eye on pets as fireworks go off today
Many frightened pooches find ‘miraculous’ ways to escape when left outside during thunderous fireworks
Fireworks get the dogs running. When the blasts begin, dogs often flee without identification and end up lost on the streets or in fields, or stuck in cages at an animal shelter.
Experts say dogs’ ears are sensitive to sharp sounds like fireworks and thunder.
“And with some dogs, it’s just about being anxious,” said Murad Kirdar, a spokesman for the Santa Fe Animal Shelter & Humane Society. “… They just don’t know why they are running.”
Every year during the week of July Fourth, Kirdar said, the shelter sees an influx of animals found running at large.
“People say, ‘Oh, he’ll never leave the house,’ but those fireworks inspire fear,” Kirdar said
Last year, Kirdar said, the shelter took in 59 dogs during the week of the holiday, while the shelter’s average weekly intake is 28 — city and county dogs combined.
More canines than usual have started showing up at the shelter this week, he said, most likely driven from their homes by early celebrations. Among them: a sad-eyed, short white terrier; a gabby Chihuahua; a pair of black-and-white mutts that appear to be siblings; and a big, white male dog with eyes that suggest he’s some sort of Siberian husky mix.
There’s no proof, of course, that blasts from fireworks sent these animals scampering, but Kirdar and others say it seems likely.
Barbara Tebbel, a kennel supervisor at the Española Valley Humane Society, said her facility also sees an increase in dogs after fireworks celebrations. Last year, for example, the Española shelter took in 41 stray dogs between July 4 and July 11, an increase of 15 from the previous week.
“A lot of people make the mistake of leaving their dogs outside to go see the fireworks, and they come
back to find the dogs missing,” she said. “Under those circumstances, dogs can be capable of miraculous feats of escape.”
Both Kirdar and Tebbel said owners must ensure their dogs are inside on a night when fireworks shows are expected — even canines that are strictly considered “outdoor dogs.”
It’s also important to create a safe room or space for a dog somewhere in the house where they can be preoccupied with chew toys, along with soothing music or some sort of white noise, such as a fan, to cover the sound of pyrotechnic explosions.
The good news, Kirdar said, is that about 90 percent of dogs that come into the shelter around Independence Day are reunited with their owners.
Not all dogs are affected by such disturbances, said Dr. Kathy Dobesh, an animal doctor at Smith Veterinary Hospital in Santa Fe. “Every dog may respond to something differently.”
Some dogs, she explained, “are completely laid back and they are not affected by noise at all.”
Though the shelters might see a slight bump in cats during the holiday week, most people believe it has little to do with fireworks. Dobesh said that’s because cats generally don’t experience the same kind of fireworksrelated stress as dogs, and if they do, their response may seem like normal behavior to their owners:
They’ll just duck into a dark closet or scurry under the bed — places they would usually go for some time away from humans.