Pets need special attention to cope with holiday fireworks

Mary Chapman of Pioneer Square hasn't gone to a fireworks show in years. Her dog Sprocket won't let her.

Like many pets on the Fourth of July, Sprocket can't handle the fireworks. The first year Chapman had him, the 85-pound Rhodesian ridgeback was so scared he ripped apart the furniture in her living room.

"My couch looked like something out of Freddy Krueger," she said. "He's not normally by temperament a skittish dog, [but] definitely fireworks freak him out and scare him."

Sprocket now crawls into Chapman's lap every year, where she soothes and pets him when the noisy fireworks begin.

Animal shelters and animal-control agencies are imploring pet owners to do as much as they can to minimize the harm pets might cause others or themselves over the holiday weekend.

"People are unaware that their very gentle animal can become like a Tasmanian devil around the Fourth of July," said Don Jordan, executive director of the Seattle Animal Shelter.

Pets left outside are at greater risk of jumping fences, breaking their chains or getting lost, said Jordan, who's heard of birds becoming so stressed by loud fireworks that they pull their own feathers out.

"Once, this dog jumped from the sixth floor of an apartment building on Capitol Hill, and this was on the Fourth of July," he said.

Stephanie Garlichs, a veterinarian at Eastlake Veterinary Hospital, said animals are afraid of fireworks primarily because they can't figure out the source of the noise.

"We can explain to ourselves, and we can understand that the lights go with the sounds," she said. She added that the increased frequency of fireworks in the week leading up to the Fourth causes pets to become more and more stressed.

The day after the Fourth, the Seattle Animal Shelter takes in twice the lost pets it normally gets, and receives an influx of calls from people asking whether their pets have turned up, Jordan said. The calls increase as days pass and the animals haven't returned home.

Many pets taken in at King County Animal Care and Control have traveled miles from home trying to escape the noise of fireworks, said Tom Brown, assistant acting manager of the county program. They have a greater chance of being reunited with their owners when they're properly licensed.

Sylvia Moss, of West Seattle, isn't worried about her dog Whisper, who is deaf. But she is afraid that her dog Rufus will jump the 4-foot fence at her home and run away. Rufus is fearful of loud noises, especially thunderstorms and fireworks.

"I'm a big advocate of playing music or putting on the TV as loud as possible or giving him something to chew on," she said.

Arla Shephard: 206-515-5632 or ashephard@seattletimes.com