I loved fireworks a kid. I would look forward to the day that fireworks lit up the sky. Fast forward to my adult years, not so much.
Since I have been married, I have only watched a public fireworks show four times. I do have a couple of reasons. Usually my husband is working on the Fourth, so I don't want to go alone. The second reason is my dogs. My dogs are afraid of loud noises.
When Blitzkrieg was a puppy, he was very afraid. He has mellowed out since he has gotten older. Kelly on the other hand is much different. When we adopted her from the Humane Society, she was the mellow one. Now Blitzkrieg's and Kelly have switched roles. Blitzkrieg is mellow. Kelly is scared of everything loud.
I stayed home last night because my husband was working and I had to work today. The neighbors actually started lighting off fireworks during the afternoon. Kelly didn't freak out too much because my husband and I were both home to reassure her she was going to be alright. I went to bed around 8 p.m. and that is when the trouble started.
The neighborhood fireworks were going off consistently during the daylight hours, but picked up aggressively after the sun finally set. It sounded like a war outside. I put on Kelly's Thundershirt earlier in the evening to help calm her down. That didn't work at all. She sat as close to me as possible and soon would calm down. As soon as I would doze off, she would start whining and jump on me. I set her back on the floor and tell her she would be alright. That obviously didn't work.
I put her in the bathroom and shut the door. She likes to sit in the shower. For some reason, sitting in the shower calms her down. As soon as I laid down, she was clawing the bathroom door to get out. So desperate to get out of the bathroom, Kelly ripped the doorstop out of the wall and chipped a door on our bathroom sink vanity. When I saw what she did, I felt so bad. She destroyed our vanity that was replaced when my husband remodeled the bathroom a few years ago. I texted my husband to let him know about it. He tried to make me feel better saying we can replace it. I know we can, but I hate that we have to spend extra money to do it.
No matter what I did to help comfort Kelly, it wasn't working. I locked Blitzkrieg and Kelly in the kitchen. Blitzkrieg sat on his bed and Kelly was whining and clawing the gate. She wouldn't stop. I thought in her endless clawing, that maybe she was clawing the cabinet doors too. I didn't want her to ruin more doors, so I let them out of the kitchen. I was so so frustrated at this point. I have barely slept since 8 p.m. and it was close to Midnight. My alarm was set to go off at 2:40 a.m. That didn't give me much time to sleep before heading into work.
My husband came home for lunch before Midnight. With him being home, I could go back to bed and actually sleep. Before drifting off to sleep, I heard Kelly whining at the fireworks that were still being set off. I probably got less then three hours of sleep. Not good. I know I will be ready for a nap later this morning.
My neighborhood has been lighting off fireworks for months. I'm sure the daily/nightly fireworks show will continue for the next couple of months. My husband and I have been talking about solutions to help Kelly. I think after last night's fiasco, we will be buying her a cage. She shouldn't be able to escape a locked cage. I hope. She does know how to open doors. Hopefully she won't know how to open cage doors.
Between Here and April, Deborah Copaken Kogan
