Fourth of July - Part 2

As I noted in my previous blog, we were trying to get Sydney to not become as anxious as she normally does around fireworks. The vet gave us an over-the-counter herbal remedy to help calm her down. Sydney weighs approximately 70 pounds and received 10 drops, 3 times a day.

The bottle looked just like eye drops. The vet recommended two ways to administer the drops 1) adding it to her water or 2) giving it orally. Adding it to her water was not an option because my dogs drink out of each others bowl and I did not want Addy drinking it and diluting the volume Sydney was supposed to get. I could not make Sydney drink the water either. My option was to administer the drops myself.

Thank goodness there are no pictures of how I had to do this. I had to hold Sydney's head, open up her lips while I dropped 10 drops into her mouth. She would never open her mouth. She sat there, with her teeth gritted. She kept licking her lips to prevent me from dropping the medicine, but that just meant it took longer. In a couple of days we got to the point that Sydney would cower when she saw us go for the bottle.

Thursday, July 3rd...We only gave her 20 drops to ensure she did not have any adverse affects. In our neighborhood, Thursday was a very light night for fireworks and Sydney really did not react to the fireworks.

Friday, July 4th...Thank goodness for rain!!! It had hoped it would rain the entire day. However, once the rain stopped, it was like world war three was unleashed on our neighborhood. Stepping outside, all you could see was a haze of smoke and smell fireworks. Sydney did become frazzled and tried to go her 'den'. We did not allow her to go to her den but tried to keep her out with Addy. She did not shake. We were able to play with her. And, when it was getting later on in the night, she curled up on the coach and fell asleep. None of which she did before without the medicine.

Saturday, July 5th...I hosted an outdoor party for my husband's birthday. The dogs were in and out all day long with no problems. Around 7 pm, the first firework went off and Sydney bolted for the door. We let her in the house and she flew downstairs to her 'den'. However, when I checked on her about 20 minutes later, she was fine...as long as she was in the house.

Thus, I believe the medicine worked. We are begging to work on her behavior and hopefully we will not have to do the medication next year or during storms.