A Quick Note About Fireworks

We just now had our big fireworks display of the year in Watertown. Yes, the Fourth of July and all, I know, but in Watertown that's not the biggest fireworks show. The big one is now, a month later, at our annual local festival which, here, we call Riverfest. You probably have a similar festival in your hometown at some point during the summer; this one just happens to be ours.

Towards the end of the show, which I watched from my roof, I saw a dog, with some kind of metal jangling- might be a leash, might be an ID tag- scampering across the neighbor's yard, then under one of our cars, then across our yard, and then around the street corner. I went downstairs to see if I could retrieve him, but by the time I got to the front yard- as the grand finale was going off- the dog was long gone.

This is far from uncommon. Cats and dogs, dogs especially, have very sensitive hearing. This, while a benefit in other aspects of a dog's life, proves highly stressful during fireworks displays, which generate massive pulses of noise for the length of the show, which can typically run half an hour to an hour. As a result, some may break loose and go running, scared out of their wits.

If you have a dog and your town is about to have a fireworks show, it's a very good idea to take precautions to keep them calm or at least in your possession. If you're unsure as to what precautions, here's a handy checklist.