Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

A Little Respect Please

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Happy 4th of July everyone!!

I’m not sure how it is where you live, but beginning last Saturday, people have been setting off fireworks in celebration of this Nation’s birth.

Sadly, for a demographic of people and animals, these couple of weeks of celebration can be pure hell.

The 5th of July is the busiest day for Animal Control officers, because more pets go missing on 4th of July than any other day of the year.

Last Fourth of July, my cousin David’s dog, Heidi, went missing.

Heidi is a Black Labrador Retriever, rescued from Hurricane Katrina. Heidi is afraid of thunderstorms and fireworks.

My cousin lives in Maine, on a little five acre plot. Heidi has free rein of the property, and usually heads right for the door when the first rattle of thunder rolls in.

Last year, in the early evening while it was still fairly light out, Heidi was out in the yard, when a neighbor decided to set off a firework. Being totally unprepared for this sudden noise, Heidi took off.

She was gone for almost a week, before someone finally contacted David to let him know that Heidi had appeared on the woman’s deck about seven miles from home.

Seven miles.

A frightened dog can run extremely far. When my sister’s Jack Rat Terrier got spooked by gunshots a few years ago, he traveled over ten miles!

It’s not just dogs either. Plenty of cats get spooked, and I have know idea how wild animals deal with it.

Of course, there’s the human factor too. Many Veterans, especially those that have served in a combat zone suffer from PTSD. The loud noises from fireworks can flash them back to combat.

My nephew served a year in Afghanistan. After he came home, we were at my grandson’s birthday, and the staff moved a table and it made a very loud noise. My nephew almost hit the deck.

When you consider the statistics…

According to Veterans PTSD Statistics, of the 2.7 million veterans of the Iraq/Afghanastan wars

  • 20% have PTSD. That’s over half a million people, yo.
  • 50% of veterans with PTSD don’t seek treatment
  • 19% have Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI’s)
  • 7% have PTSD AND a TBI
  • Sadly every day 22 veterans take their own lives. Every. Single. Day.

In my opinion, that’s 22 per day too many.

If you’re one of those people who like to shoot off fireworks, I get it, but I think it’s nice to give some thought to others who share space with you in this world.

I happen to be one of those people who think you can always find a compromise. My suggestion is, if you are one of those folks who likes to light off fireworks, have a quick chat with your neighbors to let the know what you have planned.  I’d suggest letting them know the approximate times you’ll be lighting fireworks off, and how long it will last.

This gives them the opportunity to get out of the neighborhood if they so choose, or to make a safe area in their home.

Some quick tips:

  • Keep your cats inside
  • Take your dogs out early, and give them lots of exercise, so they’ll be tired
  • If you have to take your dogs out during the fireworks,  take them out on a leash
  • Make a safe area in your home where your veterans and pets can hunker down.
  • Make sure you have fans, TV, and air conditioners to help mask the noise.
  • There are also supplements that aid in calming/stress, both for humans and animals. For humans you can try some L-Theanine, or Valerian Root. For pets we use Valerian Root and a calming chew made by Vetriscience called Composure.

Above all, have a safe and Happy 4th!

Hope For Paws

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Week Seven in Kathleen Gage’s Community Challenge Post.

When you write a blog about pets, when you love animals, there’s bound to be a time when an animal in need comes your way.  I see so many animals that have been abused and neglected, and I try to help when I can because they all touch my heart.

And I applaud those folks who work in rescue. They are out there everyday seeing the worst of humanity, I mean some of the cases they see are truly horrific.

Every once in a while, you get the opportunity to meet someone who is really making a difference. Someone who talks the talk, and walks the walk. That happened to me at BlogPaws.

For a while now, I’ve been following Hope for Paws, a Los Angles, California based rescue, founded by Eldad and Audrey Hagar.

Hope for Paws records their rescues, and shares them on their YouTube channel, and Facebook page.

Honestly, some of these rescues are truly amazing.

Like the one where Eldad actually crawled 18 feet into a crevice, with a rope attached to his feet, in order to rescue a litter of nine puppies.

It’s a bit hard to watch at times, as the puppies are obviously scared, and stressed, but to leave them there would only lead to certain death. (FYI, it’s close to fifteen minutes long, so watch it after you read the post.) 🙂

For a while now, Eldad and his rescue have been on my radar. I mean, they’re on my wish list of people/organizations I want to donate to and support.  If you watch some of their earlier rescues, you’ll note that you typically don’t see Eldad in the videos. So when Chloe announced that Eldad was in the audience at BlogPaws, I had no idea what he looked like, but I knew I just had to meet this man who saves so many animals.

I also knew I would probably cry, because truthfully, I usually cry when watching the videos, just because I’m so amazed at how dedicated he is to helping these abandoned babies and seeing the transformation of these precious beings, just touches my heart.

At the conference we would get to see some of these amazing rescue videos during breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Apparently Eldad has been at every BlogPaws but one, and I never knew.  His goal is to work with bloggers in spreading the word about Hope For Paws. Due to the way Facebook continues to change their Algorithms, Hope for Paws has over a million fans, but only a very small percentage actually see the videos.

Truth. I stalked him. Everytime they showed a video, I’d look to see where he was so I could meet him, but he was ALWAYS surrounded by people!

Finally, Friday afternoon, I saw my opportunity and I took it.

I’m not gonna lie, I fan-girled all over him. I got very emotional and he was surprised that there were so many tears at BlogPaws. But I told him they were happy tears, and I thanked him for all the work he did to help rescue these precious beings.

I also told him, when I win the lottery, he’s on my list for a million dollars.

I got to hug him, and then I asked to have my picture taken.

Eldad Hagar, Hope for Paws

Shut up! That’s me with Eldad Hagar!! Seriously.

How can you help Eldad and Hope for Paws? Subscribe to their YouTube channel, and their Facebook page, and share the videos. Oh, and if you want to give up a coffee, any amount helps. 🙂

Community Challenge – Week Five

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Week Five in Kathleen Gage’s challenge to post about community.

The last four weeks, I’ve been writing about the community of BlogPaws. Most of those posts have been centered around the sponsors of BlogPaws and the programs they support. But there is another aspect of blogging that truly needs to be mentioned, and that is the community of blogging itself. That community is made up of the bloggers, as well as you, the readers.

Specifically, I’m writing about the generosity of others, and their kindness and thoughtfulness.

Whether it’s helping a fellow blogger out with technical issues, tips to help make blogging easier, ideas and tools that work for them, or passing along a resource or product they can’t use. I have specific incidences of all of these, but today I want to mention two of my fellow bloggers.

In both cases, the blogger had just lost a beloved family member, but knowing how Sampson was struggling with his CCL issues, both reached out to offer products their pets had been using.

The first was Joy from My GBGV Life, Joy kindly sent me Katie’s Dr. Buzzby’s Toe grips. For those of you unfamiliar with Dr. Buzby, toe grips look like Perler Beads, except toe grips are a wee bit longer and fit over the toe nail, to help a dog with mobility issues have better footing.

When a dog’s legs are unsteady, it can make walking challenging. The toe grips can really help give them a feeling of stability, and give them the confidence they need.

It was so kind of Joy to send these to me, and I’m not sure I ever thanked her properly, so Joy, thank you very much.

Then there is Ms. Bunny Allen.

A while back, Bunny put a post on Facebook about some socks she was using on Carma Poodale to help her with her arthritis.

Naturally I was intrigued, so when I had the opportunity to visit with Bunny and Carma in Myrtle Beach, I took it. Bunny told me all her tricks and was convinced that Carma felt better wearing the socks. Sadly, a short time after BlogPaws, Carma went to the Bridge, and in the midst of her grief, Bunny remembered that I was interested in the socks, and reached out, asking if I wanted Carma’s socks for Sampson. Bunny assured me that Carma would want Sampson to have them, as she was such a loving and giving girl.

So, for the last week or so, Sampson has been wearing Carma’s socks on his front legs.

I’ll probably do another post about the socks, but I want him to wear them for a while before I do.

Until then, I just want my friends to know how much we appreciate them, and thank them for their kindness. They truly help make Blogville a wonderful community!

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