Fourth of July - Part 1

I know this is a little late but I have to talk about how the girls, aka Sydney, survived the July 4th weekend.

Sydney is terrified of thunderstorms and fireworks. We are unsure of when exactly her fear started. However, when she was a puppy, we let her outside 'to go'. She was out playing in the rain when there was a huge crack of thunder. It was the fastest I had ever seen her run. Even today, if it looks like it is going to rain, she won't go outside. Upon hearing thunder/fireworks, she will tuck her tail & head for the nearest 'den'. If there is a lot of thunder, she will shake, refuse to eat and will not play.

Obviously, I did not want to put her through this for the long 4th weekend. About 2 weeks out, I started researching my options. First, I found that my husband and I were to blame for some it. We had both tried the behavior modification before - ignoring the loud sounds, not consoling her, etc. None of that was working. Second, I found that the behavior modification wasn't going to work in the short amount of time we had. Third, there are pheromones you can release that acts to calm the dog down. Finally, there is a myriad of over-the-counter and prescription drugs we could give Sydney to calm her down.

I went to a couple of the local pet stores and really did not find what I was looking for - a week passes.

The Tuesday of July 4th week, I took the girls out walking. We have a route we do around the neighborhood and the girls know it better than I do. On this occasion, we got about 10 feet from a house in our neighborhood when a teenager steps out of the garage and shoots off an M-80.

Saying Sydney freaked out is an understatement. With her tail tucked, she sprinted to our house. She pulled on the leash so hard that my hand felt like it was going to break. She broke off our route trying desperately to get home. Since I had been reading about the behavior modification, I acted like nothing happened and I walked right past our house. I used Sydney's normal commands to keep her from pulling on the leash. Only after we pass the house and she realized we were not stopping, she stopped pulling and walked behind me with her tail tucked the rest of the way.

At that point, I was desperate. I could not watch her go through it. Finally, I called the vet the next day (Wednesday). I spent almost 20 minutes on the phone with the vet. She asked me questions like "Is she anxious?", "Is she nervous?", "Will she hurt herself?", "Do you have a cage or place she can go when she is frightened?", "How long does it take her to calm down?". Some of the questions, 'how long does it take her to calm down?' and 'does she hurt herself?', I had never thought of before. We decided since she wasn't going to hurt herself, had a place to go when she was upset and had a fenced in yard that we would use an over-the-counter herbal medicine.

So how did Sydney do? I'll post the follow-up later this week so check back then. I should note Addy was not fazed a bit.

Note: I volunteered at the Floyd County Animal Rescue League (FCARL) golf scramble this past Saturday at Chariot Run Golf Course. It was a great event and we had 76 golfers who participated. If you would like to volunteer with FCARL click here.