Grand Avenue by Mike Thompson for July 03, 2022

Stupid fireworks.

We have a dog like that. Sheela gets tranked all weekend.

Our little town, in its infinite wisdom, decided to have their fireworks display on Thursday night. I get up before 5:00 for work, so I have an early bedtime. I was jolted awake that night by what sounded like a full blown fire fight in my back yard. I didn’t sleep much after that, but I did find out that there is an upside to having the dog go deaf. The lights woke her up, but that was all.

What’s with all the cartoons about dogs being afraid of fireworks? You do know that you can train them not to be scared, right?

Fireworks and vacuum cleaners.

My dog loves everyone, except he had his first serious growls at the guy begging at the stoplight.

It’s not that a dog is afraid of fireworks, it’s more that their ears are so sensitive the noise hurts their ears.

As far as training them “not to be afraid”, it’s more that they are taught to ignore the pain until they go deaf.

It’s not just dogs. My cat hides under the bed during fireworks (and thunder!).

Is Compassion a lost art?

My brother-in-law had a German Shorthair that was great at finding pheasants but was terrified of gunfire. He tried tying her to a post and shooting his shotgun to get her used to it. Nothing helped. It got so bad that if he held a stick the same way he held his gun she would run off. He finally gave up.