New Year's Eve is one of my least favorite holidays. Of my last 6 dogs, four have been freaked out by fireworks.
And boy does my neighborhood like fireworks. This year they started around 7 and went to 12:15. Last year they started at 5:30 and went to 1:30.
Yeah, I don't get much sleep on January 1st.
Currently I have two dogs. Angel is the Belgian Malinois/Great Dane mix and is almost 12. Bogie is a Great Dane and is 7 1/2.
In year's past, I've had to hold Angel (all 100 pounds of her) and reach to pet Bogie.
For some reason, in 2018 Angel decided fireworks no longer bothered her. Yay! Going deaf? I don't think so. She can still hear the pantry door open from outside.
I don't know which of the several things I did helped Bogie this year, but he did better than he has since I got him.
1. I increased his evening dose of CBD oil in the hopes it would calm his anxiety.
2. I kept the door closed to keep him from running outside to bark.
3. I put a series of movies on with the volume louder than usual.
4. I sat on the floor with him most of the night, petting him, and holding him tight when he tried to jump up in response to an extra loud boom.
Mostly I think the solution was 1 and 4.
There were definitely fireworks. I could hear them, even over the TV.
But Bogie was a lot less stressed. And that made me a lot less stressed.
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