We live on 9+ acres, 2 1/2 acres of which are ours to run on. Krissie and her sisters, Belle and Dove, love to chase the squirrels and rabbits that come up in the yard. The problem around holidays that involve loud noises such as 4th of July is just that, the loud noises.

So for our 4th of July, we stayed at our house and tried to alleviate some of the anxiety and stress for our dogs by just being there for them. We offer them hide outs such as the guest bath tub for Krissie, who thinks that it will save her. We will probably not even see fireworks again this year. We haven’t seen fireworks since she came into our lives. We typically wouldn’t go to fireworks shows before, but we sure don’t now.

I don’t have a problem with the cities who put their fireworks shows together, I get it. What I can’t stand is men who feel like it is their right to shoot off fireworks in their yard or right in their driveway/street. Yes, I am calling out men, because most of the time its a man wanting to shoot off the largest set of fireworks as possible instead of letting the professionals do it. This is something I have never gotten behind because there are multiple reasons for this not to happen – people with PTSD, animals who can’t handle it, unexpected fires started due to the embers, etc. This is what I just can’t handle anymore. Not since we lost Big Bubby and I am learning the impact of PTSD and what goes with anxiety.

One of these days, it would be nice to enjoy the 4th without having to worry about someone who thinks he has the “right” to shoot off illegal fireworks within the city limits. I sometimes miss seeing the fireworks shows but not enough to leave my furbabies at home to suffer by themselves.