Posted on 07/02/2009 10:50:29 AM PDT by JoeProBono
t’s a doggone shame, but it happens during thunderstorms, when trucks backfire and when kids set off firecrackers.
And Dawn Randazzo anticipates that her dog, Coocoo, will go cuckoo during Saturday’s fireworks extravaganza.
The 6-year-old Shih Tzu is one of the city’s many mutts that are sensitive to loud noises.
“He’s a real scaredy-cat dog and always has been,” says Randazzo, 26, a receptionist at a Staten Island veterinarian’s office. “But it’s gotten worse as he’s gotten older.”
Signs that he’s freaked out by noises are easy to read. The pint-sized pup runs to a corner to hide, then shakes, pants, drools and sometimes wets on the floor.
“If he gets really scared,” she says, “he paws me as if he wants to get under my skin.”
To help ease the symptoms, Randazzo medicates her dog, as advised by her vet.
Noise sensitivity is common in dogs, according to Dr. Joanna Nortmann, a New York City veterinarian. “We can see it in any breed.”
Requests for sedatives for sound-sensitive canines rise in summer, according to ASPCA spokeswoman Gail Buchwald, whose own dog, Josie, takes a prescription drug for the condition.
“She’s gotten worse as she’s gotten older,” says Buchwald. “She’s 10 years old now, with cataracts, a little-old-lady gait and intensified fear of noise. It’s frustrating and heart-wrenching because this creature is clearly suffering.”
To help calm her, Buchwald puts her into her “safe room” — a windowless bathroom — and talks softly to her. “And now,” says Buchwald, “she’s got meds on board.”
To reduce stress, animal organizations recom-mend leaving your dog home and indoors when you go to fireworks displays.
Also be sure to close the windows in your home, then turn on the radio or TV. “The Dog Whisperer” or “Lassie” reruns might be good choices.
Last year one of my Labs picked up a huge spouting fountain and took off with it.
His bother also tries to join in on the hunt.
Melatonin is safer.
I gave my Papillon 1 mg. She slept a bit and was very calm even through the loudest noises.
She weighs 15 pounds.
“She is a very skittish dog that also seems to be afraid of the dark, and hates the water!”
LOL, a YL that hates loud noises, the dark and water. She’s lucky to have found you.
Her sire may not be so lucky.
That is cool.
See how capitalism creates a good solution for a problem? And whoever came up with this, did not do so at someone else’s expense (ie the pie got bigger, they didn’t take money away from someone else). It isn’t a zero-sum, closed system. This is a new product, a new idea, that creates new wealth and proves the ‘pie’ gets bigger with new ideas, and that the market is an open-ended system with really no limits for good, new ideas.
See Barry? See how capitalism is good you stupid marxist apostate pres-ent?
I’d advise you get a real dog sedative from the vet.
I can’t speak for dogs, but I know with cats, NOT jumping out from around corners and subjecting them to an “air horn attack” has a soothing effect.
BTW, I often tell this anecdote to friends. We have had 3 Golden Retrievers over the years. The first two were exceptionally clean animals. Avoided mud, rolling in stank etc. If you threw their ball within proximity of poop they would gingerly go over and try to kick the ball away before grabbing it to retrieve.
How animals within breed can vary, our latest GR is anything but clean as rather than avoid, she’ll kick the ball outta the way to eat the poop.
I had a lab like that once. She was a great pet but a terrible gun dog. Didn’t like cold, water or gunfire. My chocolate has good hearing but is oblivious to gunfire. He lives to retrieve.
The black is much smarter, but won’t retrieve. OTOH he has a wonderful nose and is Search and Rescue trained. We went to New Orleans after Katrina. He’ll never have to prove his courage in any other way.
No I didn't really do that to him, I used Photoshop.
The white one is Turbo, and he is a Chihuahua and Maltese mix, and the grey one is Bonkers, Shih Tzu and Yorkie mix.
We’re lucky. Our Lab-Ozzy mix is a wuss, but as long as we’re beside him he sucks it up pretty much. Not living in a thunderstorm area, we don’t know how he would respond to boomers, but his hearing is great. His best work is as an alarm dog. Definitely not a fighter.
You right. Mine tries to hide under the couch but only his head will fit. His butt is still sticking out.
Dang fool.
My lab is funny that way. He would challenge a 100lb rotweiller or put the fear of God in any intruder in the house, but cowers like a little wimp at a thunderstorm ten miles away.
He even freaks out at the Public Broadcast System test. eeeeeeeerrrrrkkkk eeeeeeeeerrrrrrkkkk eeekk eekkk. He hates that thing.
I had an Alaskan Malamute/German Shepherd mix that would watch television, especially if horses came on the screen. Her favorite was Bonanza, no kidding, she would actually sit on the rug in front of the cabinet and watch the show with rapt interest.
110 lb. Shepherd/Sharpei won't eat the chewables, so I dose him with the Homeopet Anxiety Formula Drops. This is the one you definitely want to keep calm or he will climb up in your lap, clawing your legs the whole way. Unless you knock him out, you won't get any sleep that night either. He is a huge wussy.
Our 65 lb. Collie/St. Bernard loves chasing fireworks and barking at them so our only problem with him is keeping him from hurting himself.
LOL good one......
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