Neurotic Dog + New Year’s = Vast Quantities of Alcohol Consumed

Jan
1
2008

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Alli

As mentioned previously, one of my dogs is fucking neurotic. Needless to say, holidays in which people celebrate by creating fake wars1 are not among her favorite. In fact, she usually spends a several weeks surrounding that holiday2 hiding in the basement.

For some reason, she’s obsessed with my bedroom tonight, rather than her basement. She usually hates to be in my room and she’s afraid of my bed. Now she’s spent the last three hours pacing in my room, shaking like a leaf, panting continuously, and (now that people have gone to bed) has passed out on the floor. It’s really a pathetic thing to witness. Worst part is nothing you do can comfort her.

Chewy

All the while my other dog, Chewbacca, sleeps on.

I really need tranquillizers that will fully knock her for the night out because she just drives herself mad. We’ve tried a over-the-counter type before, but it seemed to make her more scared because she didn’t know what was happening to her.

Anyone else have an animal terrified of fireworks? Any remedies besides drugs? And if drugs are the answer, what knocks out a 70 pound dog?

  1. Have you ever listened to fireworks and realized how it sounds like a gun fight? Lovely way to celebrate, right? ↩
  2. People in my area go a bit overboard on the pyrotechnics. They go on for months. ↩

10 Responses

  1. On January 1st, 2008 at 8:32 AM, Sarah said:

    I only have a cat who seemed quite nonchalant throughout all of the fireworks my neighbours set off. However, I was kept awake until the early hours by a dog who wouldn’t shut up barking over something or other. I don’t even know what it could have possibly been aggravated by though as it was 4am and all of the fireworks and crazy drunks returning home had stopped hours ago.
    Ah well, I hope you had a good new years =D

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  2. On January 1st, 2008 at 14:49 PM, Kiera said:

    My puppy was indifferent to the all the noise. He seemed to enjoy barking at the fireworks through my bedroom window.

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  3. On January 2nd, 2008 at 12:18 PM, Britney said:

    Aww, poor scared doggies. I’ve never had a dog. I own a cat though and she’s afraid of kids lol.

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  4. On January 2nd, 2008 at 13:30 PM, Exene said:

    Make them watch the fireworks or distract them with a funny dance.

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  5. On January 3rd, 2008 at 7:13 AM, Lexie said:

    My Labrador didn’t even bat an eyelash when the fireworks started. He just slept, just like Chewy. :D It was his first New Year’s eve. My Dachshund on the other hand, started panicking and jumping on furniture. Good thing he’s small.

    My suggestion, for the next time that you need her calm, is to take her to a veterinarian and explain that the fireworks make her panic and you need to keep her calm or asleep for the duration of the night. The vet will be able to give a proper dosage, and a drug safe for dogs (because there’s a number of medications that are fatal to dogs). :D

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  6. On January 3rd, 2008 at 15:50 PM, Donna said:

    Our current vet told us to go to a pet store and get some fake tranqs off of the shelf and they didn’t do crap except make her eyes glaze over and make her more scared. *facepalm* Next time, I’m going to a new vet. She gets terrified if we even go near that street so I think it’s time for a change anyway. ;)

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  7. On January 6th, 2008 at 17:23 PM, Emily said:

    If only I knew the answer to this. Our dog has a nervous breakdown when she hears either a) fireworks, b) gunfire or c) thunder.

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  8. On January 13th, 2008 at 5:28 AM, Kristina said:

    My budgie’s fine with fireworks. Then again, I’m not sure if it affects birds as much as cats or dogs. :S

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  9. On January 14th, 2008 at 14:20 PM, Isis said:

    My dogs don’t seem to mind fireworks, I guess every dog is different (I have 7). However, one of my dogs, her name is Latte and she’s a pitbull, is extremely neurotic. When she’s nervous, she’ll bite her paws and chew on them etc. She also paces around my room and won’t get on my bed until it’s too cold for her without blankets.
    Chewbacca is such a cute dogname. Haha I have a Chewbacca USB (it looks like a little doll, my dad got it for my birthday)
    Also, I had never thought of fireworks as gunfire but now that you mention it…*shifty eyes*

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  10. On January 18th, 2008 at 2:29 AM, Donna said:

    Hee, I love Chewbacca. If it’s a USB hub you have, I so want it. I’ve been looking for a new USB hub too. :D

    I particularly love how many war victories are celebrated by…creating a fake war! Seems counter-productive, or something. ;)

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