We do not shoot off fireworks & neither do our nearest neighbors. Our dog is afraid of loud noises. More dogs get lost on the Fourth of July then any other day. Please keep your pets safe!

I don't have any pets, but I sure hear the neighbor's! Here in drought stricken Southern California, fireworks are mostly banned except for public displays. Last night the Indian Casino put on a big display, and tonight is the city display. They are loud for sure! Sorry for your pets.

OK, you have the law. Now how do you get it enforced? Have you registered complaints? If it's a new law, it may take more than a few visits by police to change the status quo.

Our city has an ordinance about barking dogs. The woman across the creek from us is a night owl. She'd let her pair of big dogs out at midnight and forget about them. Neighbors grumbled about it. I called her answering machine to complain and tell her I would be calling the police if it happened again. It took about four calls, and I did call the police. They gave her a warning, then issued tickets, then collected fines. She stopped doing it. They can't do anything without a complaint.

WEEKS ago we heard fireworks around 1 a.m. Nothing more. I think someone called it in.

Last night cars parked/cruised along our street to see the aerial display from a local country club -- about 20 minutes. Then silence. Then some DIY primarily aerial display from the conservancy behind us. Then silence. All over before 11 p.m.

So far, so good. Tonight we'll have a repeat performance when our city holds a celebration at a nearby park. Fireworks to begin at 9:40, following bands and a stage show. All over by 11 p.m.

DIY fireworks are illegal here, but there are always going to be a few of the self entitled who think the law doesn't apply to them.

Help your police help you. Call it in.

My little doggie doesn't like fireworks either. His tail goes down and he runs under the bed. Fireworks stands are up, but I haven't heard as many fireworks this year. Hopefully, we don't. Plenty of big firework displays around.

My little dog hates them. There were fireworks stands every where at the beach in preparation for this weekend. Of course people were buying them and shooting them off every night. They apparently had no idea what time it was and didn't care. It was going on a few times after midnight. I didn't care so much except for how upset she was. But we managed to get her calmed down and trying to ignore it by the time we left. Now it's going to happen here. My great Danes weren't too bothered by them.

It would be great if everyone adhered to the laws but it just doesn't happen.

Fireworks aren't legal in my town but rural areas where they are permitted are close enough to drive to for the those with a pyro-fetish.

Whether they're set off in your neighborhood or not, the organized displays that most people aren't too far away from will produce enough noise to rile sensitive animals. I feel sorry for them, luckily, it's just one or two nights of the year. My dog isn't bothered by it but I know many are.

One of my dogs is terrified of the fireworks (and thunder). We do have a city display, a county display and then another public display all over 4 days. Then the local knuckleheads do theirs constantly. I finally found a way to minimize Fred's fear. I close all the windows, put a floor stand fan on high and turn the tv up really, really loud. That works pretty well. Then we wait until about 12:30 am to go out to potty. You do what you have to do.

Our good size dog also does not like the fireworks. She will get in the middle of our bed and bury herself. We make sure she has been out earlier in the evening to make sure she has done her business and she is ok with that as long as she has a human with her. Oh she is so needy. But we do what we can to keep her calm.

I agree. They are illegal here too, but I also don't want to tie up the limited resources of our small police department. The neighbors are pretty good about ending things before 11:00pm. I would love to sit outside and enjoy the local fireworks displays, but not at the expense of my pets. It's no real sacrifice.

My dog is terrified as well. I also understand combat vets are VERY sensitive to the sounds and it is insensitve to set off firecrackers. I can understand the pretty, visual fireWORKS but not the fireCRACKERS.

My dog doesn't like them either. He goes and hide :-(

I've been curious about the Thundershirts advertised on TV. I've looked at them at PetsMart and although they are around $40, if they help it would be money well spent. Also would like to know if anyone has tried the Pheromone products for their calming affect?

My furry girl, Icie, doesn't pay much attention to thunder and other loud noises (like occasional gunfire) but the big-booming type fire crackers scare her a lot. She gets in my bed and puts her head under a pillow until it's all over. ☺

I bought a Thundershirt for my dog Molly this year.She hates thunderstorms and fireworks. She shakes, drools, hides in corners, even gets herself wedged in behind the toilet. The Thundershirt was about $40 at Petsmart. But the box says it's guaranteed and can be returned for a refund within 45 days. My dog doesn't like having it on, she wiggles and gets it down around her butt. I found it yesterday caught on a bush- she "removed " it herself. Smart doggie. So I'll see if it works tonight (July 4). We live about 2 miles from a New York State Long Island Park /Beach. So we hear lots of noise from about 9 pm on. I'll let you know tomorrow...

My peke, who loves being around us, will go inside on the 4th if we sit on the back patio and watch fireworks...it's not close but there are people around shooting off fireworks so there is quite a lot of noise.

About 3 years ago, there was a house fire from fireworks. It seems that the owner had a open box of fireworks stored in his garage. No one is telling exactly what happened, but somehow an ember lit one of the fuses. That piece went off lighting more fuses and then it continued until the whole box was gone. Neighbors reported bottle rockets shooting out the garage door and across the street onto their property. Neighbors were busy making sure no fires started on their properties - It was too late for the originator's garage. - It immediately caught fire. By the time the firemen arrived, the garage was gone and a big part of the house was damaged.

Here's the kicker: That afternoon, they had completed the sale of that house and decided to celebrate the occasion. What a legal mess. I can't imagine how they dealt with their insurance They had sold and destroyed the house on the same day. One of their cars was destroyed also.

When we lived on a cul-de-sac in Lake Forest (Orange County, CA),a Huntington Beach police officer lived across the street from us. He supplied the illegal fireworks for the 4th of July block parties!

A few nights ago, someone down the street set off 5 firecrackers -- one right after the other. Sounded like gunshots. I hate it.

The thing I dislike the most, though, is the fire danger. We live on an L-shaped cul-de-sac (lay the "L" on its back and flip it so that the long side runs horizontally and the short side is at the left running vertically) and our house is right at the curve of the long end to the short end. So, our lot is five-sided (one side is the frontage to the street. Another is between our house and the house to the east, and another is between our house and the house to the west. The final two sides are to the back). There is a big greenbelt area with a creek running through it that runs behind all of the houses on our side of the street, and about 1/2 way up the short part of the "L." At this time of year, the grasses and bushes in the greenbelt area are always dry, even though the creek has water flowing in it all year. Well, kids just love to get in that open area with fireworks, and there have been several years when they have inadvertently started fires. About a dozen years ago, two guys set off some fireworks that started a huge fire that ended up burning half-way into our backyard. In case you don't know what it means when they say "four-alarm fire," it means that four fire trucks responded to the scene. This was a four-alarm fire, but the 4th unit was a fire department helicopter, dropping fire retardant onto our house and yard. The part of our fence that didn't burn down was knocked down by the firemen. It was horribly scary. By the following summer we had an in-ground pool, and the fire department knows that they can dip into it for water whenever it's needed to put out a fire anywhere in the area. Our lawn, front and back, is totally dead because of the drought, but the pool is full.

So, today we are cuddling our kitty to keep him calm, and keeping watch for smoke and flames.

I can hear them right now, probably 3-4 blocks away. Nothing phases our current dog, but in the past we've had dogs that were terrified. We're not worried about fires too much this year because we've been soaked with rain the last few days, but I expect that if the noise continues past 10:30 or so, DH will be calling the police.

Our police department issues a press release every year advising that they will not respond to fireworks calls, so don't even bother. They also will not respond to property damage calls (hit and run, vandalism, graffitti, etc.). They will take a report over the phone and give you a report number for your insurance company.

This is the first year that my 4 y/o dog was bothered by the fireworks. Strange, huh? And although I felt bad for her, it got me to thinking of all the wildlife and what a crappy night THEY had. We had more fireworks in the neighborhood than ever before. I used to enjoy them. Now, I'm not just crotchety, but maybe aware of more than my own self-indulgences. Dang, sure takes the fun out of it all.

angelaid - Maybe your town needs a new Police Chief.

We have a new Police Chief, and a new Mayor. Somehow they found money in the budget for a fleet of new police cars, and money to paint the rest of the fleet to match the city's "new colors", but not enough to hire anymore LEOs. Interesting!

In my opinion fireworks should be abolished worldwide! No one ever talks about all the pollution to the air and water from them. What purpose do these huge displays serve? Surely we can celebrate the birth of our nation without them. It seems that every little celebration lately ends in a fireworks display. The end of a ballgame, a graduation party, the county fair, etc, etc serves no real purpose...and it is expensive. Make a celebration of donating the money to a worthy cause instead. It won't pollute anything.

I don't mind fireworks during 4th of July when they are done under controlled circumstances like a community program. I wouldn't even mind them at home if people were smart enough to follow the rules of their local municipalities. Some of my favorite memories as a kid are from 4th of July celebrations and watching the fireworks. My problem is when people don't follow the rules or have consideration for the people (and animals) living around them. Here the stop time is 10:30 pm, they were still going at midnight and I am sure some of the fireworks used were not legal. AND since they are now legal here, one neighbor in particular thinks it's ok to use them whenever they want. They also don't seem to understand there are rules for fire pits either. , Now that I know there are rules for both (something I just found out) next time they arbitrarily decide to blow fireworks or burn leaves, I'm going to file a complaint and have a Sheriff's Deputy come talk to them.

Thankfully, the Xanex worked for our girl last night. She stayed close to me, but not in my lap and she was alert, but not shaking or scared out of her mind.

the thundershirts are wonderful...I wouldn't have cared what it cost...we've had one for our Abigail Blue since they came out...amazingly the fireworks really don't bother her...but let a thunderknocker come up...we get notice about 30 minutes before we even hear it...she starts whining and shaking...we put the thundershirt on and voila...calms her right down! We let off a few fireworks just for the grandson last night...it was pretty quiet by 10pm!

One winter weekday afternoon a house half a mile from us (and from our DS's school) *exploded*. It was in the middle of a block, and it took out the houses on both sides of it.

Gas explosion? Nooo...the (suddenly deceased) owner had been running a little fireworks factory in his basement! No one was home at the adjoining properties.

As the neighbors always tell the TV news reporter, "This sort of thing doesn't happen in our neighborhood." LOL

We went to one of the local displays last night. We were sitting by one of the duck ponds and the ducks were out. They were so scared when the fireworks started. I've never seen them move like that.

My dog was scared, but he did better than usual. He actually came out to greet me when I walked in from the fireworks show. I put him on a leash to go outside to take care of business. I didn't need him running away. He hung out in his safe places all night and is back to normal today.

I don't really like dogs, but saw my FB feed blow up with everyone bitching about fireworks and their dogs. Has anyone ever tried to train their dog NOT to be afraid? This website might help your dogs during fireworks and storms

the hospitals are swamped with burns and accidents of all kinds due to fireworks.

And yes, pets take off which is why you make sure all cats and dogs too have their ids and their collars on and also make sure they have chips and up to date ones as if they have the chance will take off.

Our toy manchester dog when we were kids, he was terrified of noise and thunder storms just freaked him out. One time we went out and one started up and we came home and poor dog was freaking out under the bed, I feel so bad for them and wish they didn't have them allowed and let them go off in neighbourhoods.

My last dog we would hear butchard gardens fireworks that go off in the summer on saturday and all we would hear where the house was boom, boom, boom and he would look at me and start shaking and I stayed calm and he would too.

When we first moved to that house in the country, one of the neigbhours lit off fireworks and our springer spaniel was freaking out bad and the neighbours phoned us on other side and asked us to stop them as their two dogs were freaking out. I said I'm not setting them off and our springer spaniel dog is freaking out, she said she will take care of it and soon quiet.

kathy