B***** Fireworks! - Page 3

"She was in fact 13 years old and a loved family dog, but every year frightened by fireworks at Halloween." If there was an established pattern of freaking out over fireworks, why was the dog loose? My American-lines dog doesn't like the town's fireworks display, so I put him in the house on the 4th of July when I go to see them. My yard is fenced and he would probably just go in under the back deck and hide there, but I don't take chances. This year he stayed in the house while I took the new pup along with me to see the fireworks, because I wanted to see how the pup reacted. He never even looked up even though the fireworks were just about going of over our heads, and spent his time sniffing the sand on the beach, on-leash, of course. So yes, it is a matter of nerves, and it seems I have "one of each" when it comes to fireworks and thunderstorms. Tens of millions of people enjoy fireworks displays every year, including myself. Why should we be prohibited from enjoying ourselves because other people don't take the proper precautions to ensure the safety of their animals?

Wow - Didnt think my email would get such heated discussion! It dosent matter what breed of dog it was does it? - weather it was nervy - wheather the owner was a prat for letting the dog loose during fireworks - or indeed it dosent matter how well Desert Ranger socialises his dogs! I felt I wanted to write about the situation - and I did. I dont have a problem with fireworks at big controlled events, what I have problems with is these fireworks in the hands of idiots, putting them through peoples letterboxes - throwing them in to gardens - stealing dogs/cats & doing god knows what to then with fireworks...I could continue............The noise of the 'bangers' scare the life out of me! have I been bred wrong or am I weak of nerves? Last year our neighbours had an inpromptu display (not in November)the fireworks landed on my dogs kennels! Not funny! And what about the numerous working dogs (hearing, guideing the blind, assistant etc... that get effected) yes, they have been trained to cope - but the noise of these bangers are deafening to us let alone these dogs.........Fireworks are not funny! they should be banned from general sale & left to licensed displays only.

Fireworks are illegal to possess or sell here in Massachusetts, but as a practical matter the police turn a blind eye to people using them on the 4th of July unless they receive a complaint. And despite the ban, people still manage to do some incredibly stupid things with fireworks, from blowing off their own fingers with M-80's to one case I know of where fireworks landing in a neighbor's dry mulch around their house wound up burning down the house later that night. Like many other potentially dangerous activities, problems with fireworks arise when they wind up in the hands of idiots. My general sense is that we need to take potentially dangerous instrumentalities away from the hands of idiots after they have proven themselves a menace in ther use, but not punish the majority who use them safely and responsibly by enacting activity-wide bans. Some people think the keeping of protection-trained or aggressive-breed dogs is also a dangerous activity because of a few idiots, which is why we see an increase in breed-specific legislation. Do we really want to continue down the road of increased restraint, or is it better to target those who don't behave responsibly with fireworks or dogs?

The problem with fireworks/fire crackers is not the 'proper' use of them but the fact that anyone these days can buy them , set them off and cause havoc. My dogs could care less when they are going off. Don't even bat an eye. I don't mind fireworks but hate fire crackers. What purpose do they serve? And the biggest problem being that the 'irresponsible' neighborhood kids thinks it's fun the make noise, scare people/animals and cause injury and fires. Most think you can do 'anything' in countryside and often it all happens. It is not just dogs that they bother. Milking cows, laying chickens, sheep and so on. You enjoy them, want to set them off , fine, but find a responsible place to do it and not in my backyard/acreage. I enjoy going to a display of fireworks as much as the next person. I don't enjoy having them set off in my yard without notice and by underage children who don't have a clue about safety. Halloween sees the most injuries to children/youth due to fireworks/firecrackers. Limbs missing, burns and so on. They announce this every year asking adults to take more responsiblity etc but still have the needless accidents.

Do we really want to continue down the road of increased restraint, or is it better to target those who don't behave responsibly with fireworks or dogs? I totally agree with all you said. The same can be said about anything! drugs - guns - nuclear bombs! I know what I would prefer - I total ban so the 'idiots' cannot get their hands on them - yep - to the detriment of us all - so I can sleep at night! Like I said before - they should be licensed. Anyone looking over 16 can buy them in the supermarkets here so cheaply.

My 2 live in the house and couldn't care less about vaccuum cleaners, TV movies (even Die Hard with a Vengeance!!), no reaction to gunfire, car backfires on the street, neighbours kids, or even all the firecrackers around here on Halloween. It is ME who hates the firecrackers! All day long and all night all around the neighbourhood. Where are the parents or do they just not care? Kids are out having a good time blowing up the neighbourhood, but at least they're not bugging ma and pa.

This is no different than gun control. It's not the guns it's the idiots who abuse them. Same as drinking as car, plenty of idiots everyday driving around almost killing people. Drunk drivers, jet-skies at the lake, I could go on and on. Are we going to ban everything we don't like or appreciate? Sometimes you just have to be a good neighbor and tolerate a few things, I bet if you checked you have a few neighbors who don't like you having GSD's in the area, if not that; then something else.

Lewis_hartley, PEOPLE WHO BREED UNSTABLE DOGS SHOULD BE BANNED! I love fireworks and would fight you people to try to take away my freedom from celebrating my beautiful country. I cannot help it if people breed theses unstable dogs whom they call "German shepherds" and that all of the puppies become nervey and is afraid of everything that moves.

Thank you Brittany..Good to see other people have a brain. Chey.. Guess what's much more dangerous than fireworks? Competative cheerleading by far.. Has many more serious injuries than football. LOL

DesertRangers, you quoted[[[[Guess what's much more dangerous than fireworks?]]] I say bad breeders are much more dangerous than fireworks.. It would not surprise me to hear more fatalities in dog attacks than fireworks.. checkout this link http://www.dogbitelaw.com/PAGES/statistics.html