Dear Henrietta,
The Fourth of July is coming up, and I’m already getting anxious—because Sophie, my little teacup Yorkie, is afraid of fireworks. She gets so scared when she hears all the loud noises and she starts to shake, and if I’m really going to be honest, so do I. Fireworks totally freak me out. What should we do?
Signed,
Devoted Dog Dad
Dear Devoted Dog Dad,
It’s totally normal for dogs, and people, to become intensely uncomfortable with extremely loud sounds. This can be made worse by adding large crowds to the mix. Like many other holidays that we celebrate, what starts in the name of celebration and fun, can sometimes become very stressful, for both pets and humans.
Here’s my best advice:
1. Medicate. Go to your vet and get a safe dosage of a mild sedative for Sophie. Then head to ABC liquor and get a little something stronger for you. It’s going to be a long night.
2. Gather up all the blankets, pillows and sheets in your house. Use these items to build the coziest fort that you can imagine for you and Sophie in your bedroom.
3. On the evening of the fireworks, set up your laptop inside the fort, and put on some noise-cancelling headphones. They make them for both dogs and people.
4. Choose your movie carefully. It should be engaging but not overstimulating; visually interesting but still somewhat bland—something to continue to numb the mind. That being said, the best pick for 2022 would be “Dog” with Channing Tatum. If that doesn’t put both you and Sophie to sleep with the unimaginative script and mediocre acting, nothing will.
I hope this helps and remember: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so plan ahead!
Love,
Henrietta
Henrietta Craven was born and raised in New Bern and enjoys gardening, hunting bears and improvisational dance. She is a self-proclaimed expert on a wide variety of subjects including (but not limited to) fashion, mixology, and cooking. Henrietta resides in a lovely Victorian home in downtown New Bern with her five cats: Graffenreid, Bethune, Devereux, Stanton and Carraway.