#123 - Pet Firework Safety & Security Tips

The Fourth of July might be a favorite for humans, but for many pets, it’s more like a horror movie. From hiding in bathtubs to bolting through doors, the fallout from fireworks can be intense and dangerous. 

And hey, we know what you’re thinking: “Isn’t it a little late for firework advice?” Maybe. But let’s be honest. Most of us aren’t exactly winning awards for being proactive. So consider this your loving nudge: even if this year’s already gone boom, you’ve got a whole year to make next time better. Future-you (and your pet) will thank you.

In this episode of Enrichment for the Real World, Emily and Allie break down how to create a plan that helps your pet feel safe and secure when the fireworks start booming. With real-world examples of ways we keep our pets calm, simple tweaks that make a big difference, and how to prep ahead of time (because no one wants to be scrambling on July 3rd). If your pet’s fireworks motto is “nope, nope, NOPE,” this episode can help you prep for next year. 

TLDL (too long, didn’t listen): 

1️⃣ Prepping ahead matters – The sooner you start practicing safety and calm, the more options you have to support your pet.

2️⃣ Safe spaces are powerful – A thoughtfully crafted retreat can help your pet feel protected and in control during chaos.

3️⃣ It’s not just behavior—it could be pain – Noise sensitivities may be connected to underlying pain or discomfort. Don’t overlook what your pet might be trying to tell you.

For the full episode show notes, including additional resources, join us here.

Ellen's 4-week live course, At Ease: Safe Spaces For Home and On-The-Go, is enrolling! 

Head to petharmonytraining.com/safespace to learn more and grab your spot. 

Transcript

[00:00:00] Allie: So let's first talk about pets with sound sensitivities. the first step of this is to prepare ahead of time. Now, we released this episode after the 4th of July here in the United States, and so you might be like Allie, what the heck? Why are you telling me to prepare ahead of time and also did not give me the resources to prepare ahead of time? I'm gonna let you in on a little secret that's not so secret, friend. Humans are really bad at preparing ahead of time. And this is not a slight against any of those people because real facts, I do this too. We are all guilty of this. Being proactive is really challenging, and so we are taking a little bit of a different approach this year, and putting this episode out now that you're feeling the pain of the fourth and, and in hopes that you now have the entire year to prepare for next time 

Welcome to Enrichment for the Real World, the podcast devoted to improving the quality of life of pets and their people through enrichment. We are your hosts, Allie Bender...

[00:01:16] Emily: ...and I'm Emily Strong...

[00:01:17] Allie: ...and we are here to challenge and expand your view of what enrichment is, what enrichment can be and what enrichment can do for you and the animals in your lives. Let's get started.

Thank you for joining us for today's episode of Enrichment for the Real World, and I want to thank you for rating, reviewing, and subscribing wherever you listen to podcasts.

In this episode, you're going to hear Emily and I talk about pet fireworks, safety tips, angry guilt trips versus decades of tradition, Emily making sounds and I just omit information that would've made her stop because it delighted me so much. And also, you know how to help your pet when they have sound sensitivity issues to fireworks.

Alright, let's get into it.

[00:02:00] Emily: Okay. Having just survived the 4th of July and all of the shenanigans that go along with that holiday you may have either discovered or been reminded that your dog has a really hard time with fireworks. Welcome, join the club. So many people are in your shoes, in the same boat as you are in. So today we're gonna talk about keeping your pets calm during fireworks, as well as some general pet firework safety tips, so that next year we can be more prepared, better prepared, and maybe, um, have less of a hellish time on a, during a time that's supposed to be a celebration, but.

For some of us sometimes isn't. And before we dive into this topic let's have a little refresher about the difference between safety and security. We talk about this in our book, but, uh, and I think we've probably mentioned it several times in the podcast, but it's worth repeating.

So safety is the act of being protected from harm. Security is the feeling of being protected from harm. So you can be safe, but not at all secure. And conversely, you can be very unsafe, but feel quite secure in an unsafe situation. And, um, that distinction is really relevant to the topic of fireworks because sometimes dogs could be, super unsafe, but feeling quite secure, like when they wanna get all up in your firework lighting business and put an explosive object in their mouth. I'm definitely not talking about a dog that I lived with for several years who She was so dangerous.

We had to keep her well confined whenever we were lighting fireworks when I was a kid. And then other times dogs can be perfectly safe, but don't feel at all secure. Like when they're terrified of the sound of fireworks from the safety of your home. They're not actually in any danger, but they are perceiving. Catastrophic danger, right?

So we're gonna talk about both of those scenarios, but we'll certainly be spending a lot more time on that latter category of dogs who are safe, but don't feel secure since that is. I think by far in a way, the more common experience of people who live with dogs during the 4th of July.

And I wanna say that I, I used to love playing with fireworks as a kid and I still, being a human being am enchanted by shiny, sparkly things. So I totally understand why people insist on fireworks being a part of their holiday experience, and as frustrating as it may be, expecting the rest of the country to be considerate and give up their fireworks because of the many ways that they can cause harm to humans, and pets, and wildlife is just gonna set you up to feel even more frustrated.

Trying to convince the world to make decisions that work in everyone else's wellbeing over the long term is not the work of overnight, we're not going to win those battles on social media, or on next door by yelling at our neighbors. That's not how human behavior works. So angry guilt trips are not going to magically make decades of tradition go away. We will be more effective at affecting change if, if we accept that it's a long game. So in the meantime, what can we do to protect our pets?

[00:05:18] Allie: So, as Emily said, let's first take a look at that security part of things, because that's realistically what a lot of people are looking for. I, I think we all get the, I don't know about y'all, but I think for years I've gotten those, like email newsletters for my vet that's like, make sure your dog has tags, all of the safety stuff.

So we'll cover that at the towards the end of this episode. But I think really those of you who are listening here. Today want the security element of it. So let's dive into that first. And y'all, even though we're doing a lot of dog examples, this is true across species.

So this, this can also, if you have a cat who has a sound sensitivity, every time we say dog, just like rewrite that as cat in your brain. So let's first talk about sound pets with sound. So let's first talk about pets with sound sensitivities. the first step of this is to prepare ahead of time. Now, we released this episode after the 4th of July here in the United States, and so you might be like Allie, what the heck?

Why are you telling me to prepare ahead of time and also did not give me the resources to prepare ahead of time? I'm gonna let you in on a little secret that's not so secret, friend. Humans are really bad at preparing ahead of time. To the point that since Pet Harmony has been putting out content, whether it's the blog or the podcast, I think every year for the last eight years, we have put out something before the 4th of July of how to prepare your pet for this upcoming holiday.

Here's the, the steps to take action if you know your pet has sound sensitivities, all of that, and inevitably, every single year we get a flood of people looking for help after the holiday, after they realized how terrible it was.

And this is not a slight against any of those people because real facts, I do this too. We are all guilty of this. Being proactive is really challenging, and so we are taking a little bit of a different approach this year, and putting this episode out now that you're feeling the pain of the fourth and, and in hopes that you now have the entire year to prepare for next time also.

For our UK friends, you have enough time to prepare for a Guy Fox Day at this point, like we're perfectly aligned for, for preparing for Guy Fox Day. anywho, so the first step is to prepare ahead of time.

There are so, so many ways that you can prepare and we can't get into everything in this episode, especially because the nuances are very dependent on the animal and the household, but we can break this up into how severe your pet's sound sensitivity is. If your dog has just a, a mild aversion where they're like, Ugh, I don't like it, but they're not to the point where they're like running and cowering inside a bathtub or shutting down or won't eat or something like that. If they're just like, Ugh, I don't like it, then sound masking may be all that you need. We had a great episode with Eileen Anderson that talked to all about sound masking. So go check out that episode. We'll post that in the show notes.

And to be fair. I also don't love the sound of booming fireworks for hours on end, and so I usually end up doing sound masking for myself.

I turn the TV up loud or listen to music louder than I might normally, so I usually do sound masking for myself in addition to sound masking for Oso, and we both appreciate that a lot. Now if you have a pet that has more moderate to severe sound sensitivity and that can look like they shut down, they won't eat, maybe they won't go outside.

we also get an influx of clients whose pets will no longer go outside after it gets dark right after the 4th of July. So there are a lot of things that might be related that aren't seemingly related, so keep that in mind. I did legitimately have a client whose dog would go and hide in the bathtub. I think I've had a few who hid in the bathroom, but one in particular specifically did the bathtub. I was like, yeah, I mean, that's tornado rules, so you're not wrong. if that's the case, working with a professional is going to be your best bet. If it's possible, work with a veterinary behaviorist medication can go a long way with stuff like this, especially because we're talking about some situations where we don't get a lot of notice for that.

I had a neighbor who thankfully, has since moved out, um. But I had a neighbor that would just shoot off a random firework just every couple of weeks throughout the year, and I don't know why, but I just know that a random firework would happen at, you know, like on a Tuesday night in March for no reason.

[00:10:26] Emily: We have a, a neighbor who does that too, and it's pretty annoying. I wanna, I wanna, I wish I knew who they were so I could go to them and be like, whatcha doing? can I help you with another way to entertain yourself so what I do now, because, uh, Miley has no fears that I've been able to determine so far, um, she's fearless. She's also five months old, so give it time. But copper, bless his soul. Poor little baby man. The older he gets. The more sound sensitive he gets and the, the firework going off has been a big boom.

So I'm just using it as an emergency recall queue. And every time we, the neighbor puts, like, explodes the firework, I go Mango. 'cause that's his, his. His, uh, emergency recall queue, and then he gets a snack. So just saying like, you can still work with that even though it's annoying and terrible. If you like, Allie and I have a neighbor who does that.

I'm just doing a new queue, old queue pairing of firework boom, saying the emergency recall queue giving copper, his emergency recall snack, and it's worked well so far.

[00:11:34] Allie: Yeah. So, in addition to being able to do things like associating boom equals emergency recall, all of that one of the nice things about working with a VP in addition to sometimes fireworks just happen. Randomly and, uh, situational medication can be really helpful for that. Your VP can help you with that.

The other thing that Emily mentioned that I wanna expand on is that there is a, a high proclivity for pain, and GI issues, and skin issues to happen alongside sound sensitivity, Emily mentioned that as copper is getting older, IE, he is experiencing more pain because that's how bodies work. It's not Emily's fault or anything like that, it's just that's the way bodies be bodying.

Um. So it's really helpful to work with a VB to also explore the medical side of what may be contributing to sound sensitivity. We've seen that with oso too, of his not necessarily fireworks or thunderstorms, but wind has become a big sound sensitivity issue for him, and we've seen it as he's gotten older and, and, uh, increase as he, as we have had to increase his pain management tools.

So work with a VP if possible. If that's not possible, which we totally recognize, it is not possible for everybody. We get it. Y'all at least work with a behavior consultant who has experience working with sound phobias to build a plan. And even if you are professional listening, we've said this a million times, we're going to say it a million times more.

You can't be your own behavior professional. You are just too. Close to the situation and that it goes for us. Emily, I think you had a, a chat with Ellen literally last week talking about copper and Miley, because you're like, I can't be my own behavior consultant right now. So that is true even for us, where we still reach out to one another when we need help with our personal pets because.

So frequently I'm like, oh, so why are you, and Emily's like, you know why he is.

[00:13:43] Emily: Yeah, I mean it, yeah, like, like you said, I just last week, maybe last week, time has no meaning, but let's say last week, um. Picked Ellen's brain in Pet Pro so everybody could watch our conversation. And she brought up things that I had knew from past, things that I, it hadn't even occurred to me to apply to this situation.

And also she just helped me to like, normalize the situation and be like, this is, I. Like you're doing a good job. Like it's okay. Like what you're doing is like, okay, and if you wanna do other things, you can do other things. So it might feel scary as a behavior professional to ask behavior advice from another professional, but I promise you it's worth it.

[00:14:26] Allie: Absolutely. And. And as we're talking about preparing ahead of time, your behavior professional, whether that's a behavior consultant, a veterinary behaviorist, whoever it is that you ends up working with, should be helping you thi with things like finding safe spaces that your pet knows how to use in order to complete their stress response cycles, finding tools for them to de-stress in general. Maybe helping you find sound masking options, maybe helping you explore the intersection of medical and behavior issues with this and just generally helping you and your pet gain skills that can help you both navigate that situation. Um, knowing that, yes, we want them to be comfortable and also that's not realistic a hundred percent of the time. There. There are some, especially for like, I know we're talking about fireworks, but like, let's switch to thunderstorms for a second because very similar.

There are some thunder claps that scare me, like when the house is, is rattling, I'm like, oh gosh. Like and I love thunderstorms, but if I'm not comfortable a hundred percent of the time, there's no way I can expect that of oso. So in addition to your behavior of professional helping your pet feel more comfortable with those sounds, they should also be helping to onboard skills for when comfort is not a possibility.

[00:15:47] Emily: And I will say that if neither a VB nor a behavior consultant is within your budget, you can still get help from your regular vet. Sometimes talking to your regular vet at the bare minimum can be helpful as well. But um, yeah, in general, seek the support that is available to you regardless of what you're able to do, seek support.

Here's something I'm gonna say too. As a neuros spicy individual for whom time has no meaning, I often have intentions to be proactive and then time is rude.

And suddenly I ran out of time to be proactive because suddenly it's time to do the thing. And that has happened to me so many times and I'm getting better at that. And also, I am still nowhere near being like really perfect at proactivity because. If this happened to me like. Last week. So, so I'm just saying like, I love that like right now we're feeling this sense of urgency because we just had this pain point of 4th of July happening and we're talking about proactivity and Allie just gave you these like beautiful sort of options for.

How to prepare ahead of time. And if you're listening to this, you're like, oh yeah, I'm gonna do those things. And you feel quite resolved and you might even feel excited that you have a plan to move forward. And then life is gonna life hard because that's what it does. And time is gonna be rude because that's what it does.

And suddenly it's July 3rd, 2026 and you're like. Gosh dang it. So I'm gonna just do you a solid and recommend that you do what I do when time to, to pro, to protect myself from time being rude to me. And that is, I will put in my calendar red, like. All caps exclamations, like start doing the thing on a date that I feel like is actually reasonably proactive.

And then I will set that calendar event to give me an alert. You do not have to use the exact. Modality that I use. If you've got a journal or a day planner or you use a project management software, whatever you use to keep track of your life I recommend starting this in. April, so that you have three months, like beginning of April, so that you have three months to work with your dog and your support team, whoever's on that team to prepare for the thing.

So put an alert wherever you keep track of time and tasks. Put your alert to start working on this at the beginning of April, and that should give you enough time to adequately prepare you and your dog for the big event. So preparing ahead of time. Allie just talked about that.

Let's talk about what to do on the day of, now obviously, if you're working with a behavior consultant and you have a plan or a VB either way, um, you will probably have a plan for the day. But I'm just gonna give you some of my like, pro tips for how to survive July 4th with my sound sensitive doggo.

I always plan to start work late on July 5th because I know I'm gonna have to stay up late with my dogs until all the booms stop, which. Everywhere I've lived hasn't been until after midnight, but in this neighborhood, it's it doesn't end until 3:00 AM a little bit later, like bordering on four every year.

It gets a little bit later because. People scream at each other on next door about like, stop using fireworks. Why do you use fireworks? And then the firework users, um, just kind of digging their heels and do it later every year. I'm pretty sure they're doing it. I mean, this is a construct, but I, I don't think I'm wrong here.

I'm pretty sure that the reason they keep pushing it later is because of the people who scream at them on next door. Um, or in the, the white center, like social media groups. Um, so. We've got some people who just keep pushing it later and later, which means that I go to bed later and later every year on July 4th, which means I wake up later on July 5th.

So I plan for that so that I'm not starting July 5th, stressed out and sleep deprived. I. I also cut back on regular meals for my dogs in anticipation of the dogs getting lots and lots of snacks on July 4th, so they get a smaller breakfast because I know they're going to get so much food while we're surviving the fireworks.

I also set up a safe space and for me, that's my nest. That's where my dogs like to hang out and snug with me. That's where they feel secure. They like to be under the blankets pressed up against me when the, when the booms are real loud. Um, and knowing that that's our safe space and that's our plan and how we get through the fireworks.

That means that when it's still daylight outside, like between the end of work and dusk, I will take the dogs out. I will get all their wigglys out. We will do scent work. We will play in the yard. We will go around, we will do an adventure walk, we'll explore, um, we'll do whatever we need to do so that all of their other needs are met so that we can just snug on the nest and, and be okay with being there for hours and hours.

Um. And then if it's real bad if your dog cannot handle it, if you have a dog who gets extremely distressed and, um. Starts self-harming or in some other way, poses, uh, actual safety risks because their fear is so acute and extreme. Then if at all possible, take your dog out of town and stay somewhere that fireworks aren't a thing out in the middle of nowhere. In a town where fireworks are banned, go somewhere that, um. You can get away from the fireworks if at all possible. I know that's harder to do on the east coast because the east coast is basically just one giant string of burrows that are like attached to each other and there's not a lot of wild spaces.

But do the best you can to get as far away from fireworks as you can. So that's how I prepare on the day of what Allie, what do you do?

[00:21:49] Allie: I currently have actually a very easy day of 4th of July to the point where in 2024, I went and watched fireworks with a friend and left Alex at home with Oso. So, um, so my 4th of July has now become very easy, but. For all y'all who are jealous, it took time to get there. Don't worry, I didn't have just like a super easy time. One of the things that happened, within the first month of me adopting Oso was somebody set off a firework, during the daytime while we were outside in our parking lot for a potty break. And I, and it was like that kind of dusk but it was light enough that I did not expect fireworks to happen. And so, Oso was afraid of fireworks thanks to that situation. He was afraid of, of thunderstorms prior to me adopting him.

And he has a. Very strong aversion to popping sounds, which I've learned through him how many different types of sounds actually sound similar, like gum popping, and breaking a stick, and your firewood in your fireplace popping, all sound similar enough to elicit the same behavior from Oso. So he came to me with sound sensitivities and then had a firework issue within the first month of us adopting him, unfortunately. So we did have to work on this. Um, and so for him I was able to get away with sound masking and counter conditioning and safe spaces and him being able to choose where he was and choose to participate and all of that gets sort of stuff. Actually, while I gripe about that neighbor who would just randomly set off fireworks, I think that was one of the things that helped us get to this point because I had so many opportunities to practice with fireworks.

The really nice thing about that too was that neighbor would only do it. at night, like during the dark, so I didn't have to worry about the daytime. It was far enough away that if Oso was out in our backyard during the nighttime, it wouldn't have been as scary as it was during that parking lot incident.

we just got a whole lot of practice in, and I think that was actually one of the things that helped us get to the point where he doesn't care about fireworks anymore. We do still have some of those other sound sensitivities That because they were scar scarier, we've had to rely more on him being able to choose to move away and sound masking and all of that sort of stuff versus like a, a simpler counter conditioning approach.

But yeah, Oso currently does not care about them. Uh, knock on wood. We'll see. He's getting older, we might see a resurgence of that behavior. but now we just leave the TV on loud for him. And last 4th of July, I came home. TV was not blaring, but it was louder than we would normally listen to it with some inane.

Game show that I ended up staying watching until 2:00 AM with him, and he was just like snoozing on the couch when I got home. Yeah, that's, that's currently our 4th of July setup is loud tv. I don't even have to be there and I am the, the comfort person, so it's a big deal that I don't have to be there.

[00:25:21] Emily: I love that. I also love that a game show works for you because copper is really it really does matter to him that the lower register sounds are a part of that. Sound masking. So like I watch shows that have like deep rumbling, like Interstellar because like it has all of the like deep rumbling tones in it.

And that really does make a difference for copper in terms of his sound sensitivity. And I don't think of game shows as having low register sounds. I think of them as having the like high tinkly, like bloop ringy sounds, you know, I don't know why I needed to just go like full sound effect there,

But like that's what I think of as game shows, right? So again, this, this really like emphasizes how important the individual is and making sure that, that you're meeting the needs of the individual. Because I could not get away with a game show with. Copper, but like Interstellar is his jam.

And also, oh, inception is another one that has like loud, deep rumbling, like throughout the whole movie. There's like, and it's like, part of it is the soundtrack, right? Is that like, oh, I dunno why I'm doing sounds, what is wrong with me today? But like, you know what I mean? Like it just has this like. Foreboding, low register rumbling, vibrating tone that for some reason really works for Copper.

[00:26:37] Allie: Yeah, Oso is like, I see the general guidelines for sound masking and, mm. Now, like even when I was doing his like. Having sound masking with his counter conditioning protocols, we would listen to the xx, which for those of you who are not familiar with that band, it's like a indie

emo Yeah. Like, it's not a lot of percussion. It's not like it would not be the thing that I would normally choose for sound masking, But 

[00:27:05] Emily: here's my hypothesis as to why it's different, because we know that oso doesn't like the popping sounds, which are high register sounds, and so all of those, like tinkly, blippy, glitchy thing sounds are, I won't subject you to any more sound effects.

But those are like probably better at masking the popping sounds. Whereas with copper, he's really sensitive about the low vibrating sounds, which is probably why Interstellar and inception are more effective for him when I play them like at a really loud volume. So it's about like sound masking also is building awareness of what sounds your dog is sensitive to and finding sounds that mask that, those types of, that, that quality of sound. 

[00:27:53] Allie: That's a really good point. Yeah. It, it's, it probably helps with the thing that was scarier for him about fireworks

[00:27:59] Emily: That because you miss the sounds, I'll do them for you. The part of the fireworks that are probably scary to him are, they're like, boo, those sounds not, not the low rumbling boom parts.

[00:28:10] Allie: precisely.

[00:28:11] Emily: Are you.

[00:28:13] Allie: I'm so happy. Uh, it to the point where it wasn't even like a beep boop, boop game show. It was like some, uh, y'all, I learned that like Jerry Springer hosted this like really terrible dating game show in the what nineties Maybe. I had to look it up because that's what was playing on Game Show Network by the time I got home.

And it was. Terrible. And I, and of course I stayed up till 2:00 AM watching it with Oso sleeping next to me soundly. And so it, it wasn't a beep boop, boop game show, but I didn't wanna tell you that so that you would keep making sound effects.

[00:28:48] Emily: I feel manipulated by you, but I'm not mad about it.

It's fine.

[00:28:52] Allie: Sorry, not sorry.

[00:28:52] Emily: Interesting. Regardless, there's something about that show that masked whatever sounds, he objects to. All right, cool. Um, okay, so now that we've spent a lot of time talking about the security part, let's talk about the safety part. Because there are some dogs who feel quite secure around fireworks and not at all safe.

There are also some dogs who feel neither secure nor safe around fireworks, and so they will try to attack them. So regardless of how secure the dog is feeling. Dogs aren't always safe around fireworks. So if you're in a place where it's legal and it is a part of your family's tradition to light your own fireworks at home, or if you have neighbors who are lighting their own fireworks, keep your dog away.

Keep your dog. Safely confined in whatever way you know that your dog is going to be s safest has the least chance of escape. We don't want to have a lit firework in our hand and have a dog run up and try to take it from us, and then we're trying to wrestle a lit firework out of our dog's mouth.

That's definitely never happened to me before. I don't know what you're talking about. Why are you looking at me like that?

I was a child. Okay. Cut me some slack. Alison J Bender. So keep your dog separated from the fireworks, either in the house or the backyard, wherever is the most secure space to keep them where they will also be, the least distressed. Um, so that they can't physically access the fireworks unless you are absolutely sure that your dog is not stressed out by them, and also won't try to interact with them.

If you are absolutely sure that your dog is both safe and secure around fireworks, then you do you, but I just don't know many dogs. For whom that is true. So even still take all the safety precautions that your veterinarian has probably posted in their clinic or in their newsletter or on their website or whatever, wherever.

So those precautions include, make sure that your dog is wearing their collar, their collar fits securely. And it has an ID tag on it and make sure that your dog's microchip is up to date and has your current contact information so that even if a big boom does scare your dog off and they do run away, you'll have the best chance of finding them again.

I can tell you, having spent a few decades in animal welfare, including VE veterinary clinics and shelters, that after 4th of July is when we get a lot of dogs who have just been found roaming the streets because they got out and they ran away, and then they couldn't find their way back home. So make sure to keep your dog safe so that.

The 5th of July is not a terrible, terrible day for you and your dog, right? Safety and security, they work together in harmony. I do not apologize for everything that I am.

[00:31:37] Allie: I couldn't make you, even if I tried.

[00:31:39] Emily: It's true. Okay.

[00:31:40] Allie: Alright, so today we talked about pet firework safety and security, and that includes what to do if you do have a sound sensitive animal, AKA, prepare ahead of time, set an alarm for April so that you get it done when time attacks you and just sneaks up on you and suddenly it's April, uh, on the day of, you have several options depending on.

Your situation and how your pet handles big firework displays nearby. Um, for me it's leave the house and let my partner. Turn on the tv. So my, my dog can watch Jerry Springer host a game show. And, uh, if it's Emily, it's a little bit more involved. So, you know, you have anywhere in between those options, essentially and, and beyond.

And then of course, general safety tips, like making sure that, uh. They're wearing their collar. You have an UpToDate ID tag. Their microchip is up to date and registered in your name. All of that good sort of stuff.

 I hope you enjoy today's episode and if there's someone in your life who also needs to hear this, be sure to text it to them right now. If you're a pet parent looking for more tips on enrichment, behavior modification, and finding harmony with your pet, you can find us on Facebook and Instagram at Pet Harmony training. If you're a behavior or training professional dedicated to enrichment for yourself, your clients, and their pets, check us out on TikTok and Instagram at Pet Harmony Pro.

As always, links to everything we discussed in this episode are in the show notes. Thank you to Ellen Yoakum for editing this episode and making us sound good. Our intro music is from Penguin Music on Pixa Bay. Please rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. That helps more pet lovers and professionals find us so they can bring enrichment into their world too.

Thank you for listening, and here's to harmony.

Here's a little bonus enrichment tip to thank you for listening to this episode. We talked primarily about the sound of fireworks being an issue today, but remember that there are other elements of fireworks that may cause your dog or cat or whomever, distress, including the smell that sulfur free smell and.

The site of them. So if you see that your pet has an issue with the site of those fireworks, just close those blinds, curtains, whatever. We can manage that sensory stimulation pretty easily that way.