Some great tips from our friends at Petfinder.com/July4summersafetytips

Since so many of our readers have hearing dogs and deaf dogs I wanted to share these great Summer Safety Tips from Petfinder.com for the 4th of July.

1. Be sure your dog is wearing and up-to-date visible ID tag on his/her collar and make sure you get your dog micro-chipped (make sure your microchip has been updated and has your current contact information on it and not registered to the previous shelter/rescue)

2. Take a current photo of your dog, just in case he gets loose.

3. Exercise your dog early in the day before parties begin.

4. During cookoouts, ask your guests to play with your dogs away from the flames.

5. Keep charcoal, fireworks, sparklers and glow sticks far from curious canines.

6. Keep dog treats on hand for those who want to give your dogs food.

7. Leave your dog at home with a frozen stuffed treat during the fireworks  (maybe in a room with a TV on playing Animal Planet)

8. If your dog is afraid of loud noises, leave gentle music playing to cover the fireworks (for my deaf and hearing dogs I leave a fan on HIGH to drown out any noise and to cause a consistent vibration to keep the deaf dog from feeling the vibration of the fireworks).

9. Since there are flashes of light be sure to close all your curtain or blinds. If you don’t have curtains or blinds on some of your windows (I don’t have any in my great room) we go into a room that does have blinds and we watch TV and close all the blinds.

 

Deaf Dogs Safety Tips for The Fourth of July Holiday from Deaf Dogs Rock

Photo above: Deaf Dogs Nitro (head of DeafDogsRock.com) is the ultimate ‘Patriotic Pup’! 

From Christina Lee Founder of Deaf Dogs Rock: We all want to have a fun and safe 4th of July so I have put together a few of our safety tips we put in place here on the farm where our Deaf Dogs Rock Headquarters is located. Since we have 6 dogs (3 deaf, 1 partially deaf and two older dogs), it is always our number one priority to have safety measures in place here at home. With that being said, I would like to share with you some of our personal safety tips we use here at DDR. 

Have a safe and Happy 4th of July Rockers!  ~ Christina, Chris, Bud, Cornell, Bowie and Axl Blu

 

1. Be sure your dog has his “DEAF DOG” ID tag on his collar or his “DEAF DOG” collar with your contact information. The larger fire works sometimes have a sonic boom where your dog can feel a large vibration and may become startled. Make sure your deaf dog is micro-chipped and that the microchip has a current registration with up to date contact information and not the rescue/shelters old information. It’s always a good idea to have a recent photo of your deaf dog.

2. If you are visiting at someone else’s home, you should have your deaf dog on a leash and tethered to you. If they have a secure fenced it is still a good idea to have your dog on a leash tethered to you unless you are the one at the gate entrance making sure no dogs get past you just in case someone opens the gate unexpectedly.

3. Just because your dog can’t hear doesn’t mean he won’t feel the vibration of the fireworks (or the flash of light) so it is best to keep your dog inside while the fireworks are going on. Since there are flashes of light be sure to close all your curtain or blinds. If you don’t have curtains or blinds on some of your windows (I don’t have any in my great room) we go into a room that does have blinds and we watch TV and close all the blinds.

4. Since many deaf dogs are very sensitive to flashes of light, be sure to put your dog in a bedroom (or in his crate with a stuffed peanut butter Kong) with a TV on and the shades pulled down on all the windows.

5. Make sure all dogs are away from children with sparklers or fire crackers. A deaf dog should be put in his/her safe zone like a covered crate or a back bedroom away from the chaos of the party (small children) and fireworks.

6. Keep all deserts and human food away from the dogs and make sure guests understand not to feed the dog or it may get sick.

7. If you have visitors, consider putting a lock on the back gate of your back yard so your visitors have to go through your house to get on the other side of the gate this way no one will inadvertently leave the back gate open giving your deaf dog an easy escape route.

8. Think about putting your dogs in another part of your home when you have guests. We have six dogs who live here at the Deaf Dogs Rock Headquarters and when we have visitors they all get crated in the back bedroom with a fan and TV set on (along with all their favorite toys).

9. If your dogs don’t do well being alone, consider hiring a pet sitter to watch the dogs and take them out to go potty in another part of your home so you can entertain your guests.

10. Put signs up around your home/property for example on your back fence gate: “DEAF DOG LIVES HERE- PLEASE TAKE PRECAUTION – please do not open this gate – keep it closed at all times!” or “Please do not enter this room because our dogs are in here and they are sleeping or they are not comfortable with strangers”.

 

Learn more at www.petfinder.com/SummerPetSafety