HAPPY NEW YEAR ! New Year's Eve was certainly celebrated with a bang in our area. We had fireworks going off intermittently from around 6.o'clock. The Curate and I intended having a quiet night together as he had landed the early service plus rural morning service the next day. Now I know - 'quiet' wasn't going to be very likely and the fireworks do seem to have got louder and louder every year. In previous years we have put the dogs in the back of the car and driven around until the fireworks were over. I had prepared The Collie for the evening by giving him a good walk and we had pheromones wafting around the room from a room defuser from early on in the evening. These are suppose to calm and relax your dog. (Shame they don't work on humans!) Both The Lakeland and The Collie were suitably laid back until the first random bang. The Collie started panting and scratching the floor. He tried to hide under the settee or any tight corner he can get into. Squirts of pheromone spray into the air didn't live up to its claim of being 'the secret to a happy dog'! Eventually a very unhappy dog climbed up onto an equally unhappyThe Curate but still he didn't really settle.
Now The Lakeland slept through all this - she is either deaf or too old and experienced to be bothered by a bit of a bang. Only when she noticed that The Collie was being allowed to climb onto the settee, did she decide that she ought to be included. So I ended up squashed by a couple of dogs - a very cosy New year's Eve!It surprises me that the dogs sat and watched the London fireworks, The Edinburgh fireworks, The Moscow Fireworks and all the others featured on the midnight news, without flinching. We settled them down after this and headed for bed - only for someone, somewhere, to remember they had fireworks too and at 12.50, they set them off and set off our dog all over again.....It seemed a very long night and a very tired Curate for the early service!
Do you have the solution to firework fearing dogs? We would appreciate any advice!
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| The Collie (who looks bolder than he is). |
