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🎇 Your Guide to Pets & Fireworks

🧸 17-Year Old Dog Encounters Bear in Home

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🐈 2-Legged Cat Opens Heart ❤️

• Chalupa is a foster dog who showed a unique ability to care for weak, anxious, and small animals. She’s able to co-parent foster animals with her mom, and the two of them have worked with 173 animals together.

• It all started when Chalupa saw a lost baby bunny on a walk, and she made it feel extremely comfortable. Then there were dozens of puppies, kittens, and other animals that came in and out of their home through the foster system.

• Chalupa has been incredibly sweet with each and every one, and she has done a great deal to change the minds of people who might have been afraid of Chalupa based on her breed.

 Weekly Learning 📖 🐾

This Week’s Read: Is CBD Better for Certain Dog Breeds? Let’s Find Out.

^{Front Page Pets}
17-Year Old Dog Faces Off with Bear in House

• 🐶 Brave Pup Stands His Ground: Doodle, a 17-year-old dog in California, fearlessly barked at a black bear that wandered into his home—startling the intruder and showing some serious senior courage!

• 🐻 Bear Just Wanted Snacks: The curious bear, known in the neighborhood for pizza raids and pool dips, sniffed Doodle and calmly explored before leaving—no injuries reported.

• 🏡 A Reminder to Be BearWise: As wildlife wanders closer to human homes, this story ends safely and offers a gentle nudge to secure trash, close windows, and keep pets protected.

Why Fireworks Terrify Pets, & What to Do

Last year around this time, we spent weeks diving into some of the most important and illuminating aspects of the relationship between dogs and fireworks.

We’re throwing that guide back into this week’s newsletter for those who may have missed last year’s, or those who need a little refresher.

So, read the guide below and see if there are any ways you can work to support your pet as this year’s firework season enters full swing.

Let’s look at the three key reasons fireworks terrify pets, then look at a few solutions for you to try this year.

^{Reason #1}
Fireworks harm your pet’s inner ear.
 

Sounds above 85 dB can cause physical pain, leave a ringing sound, and cause permanent damage to your dog or cat’s ear.

Fireworks can reach 175 dB.

That’s more than double the volume needed to cause damage. That blast is painful, startling, and alarming.

Your pet experiences the blast as a threat.

In many ways, they’re right to perceive fireworks as a threat. They can cause lasting harm to animals, whether it’s inner ear damage or emotional distress.

Whether or not you’ve heard it, people in your area have probably been lighting fireworks recently. Far-off, unpredictable sounds can still enter your home and startle your pet.

If you’ve noticed signs of stress in your pet lately, it might be due to the faint, constant hum of fireworks in your city. You may not hear them, but your pet does.

^{Reason #2}
Fireworks blast your pet’s nervous system.
 

The sudden blast sparks your pet’s nervous system, putting them on alert. If you’re far enough away, this may not affect your pet. Distant booms typically cause a short, underlying anxiety.

Booms and blasts are constant on the Fourth, however. Each subsequent blast builds the anxiety caused by the last one.

One reader told us about his gentle senior Newfoundland who, on July 4th, was found trembling in the garage after burrowing herself deeply under a table.

This underlying distress opens the door to trauma.

• Your pet’s nervous system remembers past experiences with fireworks.

• Each year, that memory builds, and the experience snowballs.

At some point or another, pets who are bothered by fireworks may experience a fight-or-flight response.

In the face of a blast, they’re moved either to defend themselves or run away from the danger. Since there’s nothing to fight, their automatic response is flight.

Thats why more pets get lost on the Fourth of July than any other day of the year.

^{Reason #3}
Pets hear fireworks in more detail and from much farther away.
 

The faint boom of a firework might be imperceptible to you, but your dog or cat notices hundreds of booms per day in early July.

Depending on the breed and species, your pet can likely hear much higher and lower frequencies than you. This added sensitivity allows dogs and cats to hear in much more detail than humans.

Think of it like this: pets hear a loud heavy metal band, and you hear a nursery rhyme.

This is all sounding very grim, we know.

Fortunately, there are things you can do to minimize or even eliminate these threats to your best friends.

 
^#1
Keep Them Away From July 4th Celebrations

• Don’t bring your pet to the fireworks celebration.

• This greatly increases the risk of them getting loose.

• If they don’t get loose, they will have anxiety.

• They could suffer damage to the inner ear.

It’s always more enjoyable to have your furry friend along with you on the boat ride, or that early summer stroll through your town. In this instance, it is much better for them to be safe and sound in the comfort of your home.

When going for walks next week, ensure that you’re in a safe environment with a low risk of someone lighting a firework. It could be a good time to take walks in a nature reserve, outside of the city limits.

^#2
Create a Safe Haven

Create a safe space where your pet can retreat inside your home. A comfortable, quiet place like this will minimize emotional distress.

Start by choosing a spare bedroom, large closet, or any area where your pet can feel secure.

Soundproof with Household Items

1. Cover windows with blankets.

2. Hang fabrics on the walls to dampen sound (blankets, sheets, quilts)

3. Place dense objects near the walls (couches, dressers, storage boxes)

4. Lay down your largest rug, then lay another down.

5. Let a box fan run in this room.

6. Set their crate in the middle of the room.

7. Layer blankets over it.

Overkill, you say? This is your little angel we’re talking about!

The tasks listed above reduce low and high frequencies from entering the room. Blankets on the walls and windows prevent high frequencies from getting through. Thick rugs and dense objects stifle the low frequencies from getting in.

To top it off, your pet’s little blanket cave will ward off whatever else makes it through the fabrics and furniture.

^#3
Give Your Pet Safe Calming Supplements

Calming options can provide a cushion for your pet’s emotional distress without sedating them. Here are our two most effective options:

• Calming CBD Chews: Available in regular & extra strength, these chews are an easy option that dogs love. Calming effects can start to show within 30 minutes to an hour.

  • Shop Calming Chews Now
    

• Calming CBD Oil: This formula includes full-spectrum CBD extract, chamomile, and l-theanine (from green tea). This is formulated specifically to calm dogs naturally and effectively. Start with the proper dosage as soon as possible, and allow the product to build up in your dog’s system in the days prior to the Fourth of July.

  • Shop Calming Oil Now
    

• Calming Chew + Oil Bundle: For a comprehensive calming regimen, consider our Calming Bundle which includes calming oil and calming chews.

  • Shop Calming Bundle Now

^{_{The Tail Wag Tribune}}
This Week’s Key Pet News

Hero Dog Saves Stranger at Adoption Event

• 🐾 Rescue Dog Turns Hero: Sienna, an untrained shelter pup, sensed a medical emergency at an adoption event—placing her paw on a stranger moments before he began seizing, alerting his wife just in time.

• 🐶 Innate Compassion: Though never trained for it, Sienna's calm and intuitive response stunned shelter staff and inspired a wave of admiration and donations.

• 🏡 Still Searching for Home: Sienna’s adoption fees are now covered, and she’s receiving love and applications—but this four-legged hero is still waiting to meet her forever family.

British Cats Will Have to Wait to Work

• 🐭 No Cats in Parliament (For Now): A proposal to bring cats into the UK Parliament to handle its long-standing mouse problem was turned down due to safety concerns like construction zones and self-closing doors.

• 🐱 Larry Holds the Line at No. 10: Larry, the famous rescue cat and Chief Mouser at 10 Downing Street, continues his long-standing duties—joined recently by a Siberian kitten named Jojo.

• 🌴 Palmerston’s Diplomatic Comeback: Former Foreign Office cat Palmerston has returned from retirement with a new “posting” as Feline Relations Consultant in Bermuda. Talk about landing on your paws!

Stowaway Cat Travels 400 Miles Solo

• 🐱 Dusty's Grand Adventure: A curious cat from the Isle of Man accidentally hitched a 400-mile ride to Devon after sneaking into a visitor’s van during a festival setup.

• 🚐 Found Safe and Cuddled: The van driver discovered Dusty after the journey and made sure she was safe, snuggled, and in good hands until her family could come get her.

• 💕 Community Rallies to Help: Fans of Dusty’s Facebook page raised over £1,000 to cover her return—proving this well-traveled kitty has a whole island of admirers behind her.