The Weekend (And Summer) Ahead

We battle fireworks year-round here, but nothing compares to July 4th.  Since it falls on a Sunday this year, I have a feeling we're going to have an unpleasantly extended holiday weekend over which we'll have to deal with the blasts.  Unfortunately, it usually doesn't stop there.  The month of July was absolutely awful last year, and unless something major happens, I don't think that will change very much.

Marge's walks have definitely decreased in frequency and duration.  Not only does she not want to be outside because of the heat, the threat of fireworks scares me indoors all through the late afternoon, evening, and night.  We walk in the morning, or sometimes around noon.  Occasionally, we'll sneak in a walk at night, but only if it seems really quiet (usually rainy nights work well - no one wants to shoot fireworks off in the rain) and never on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays, since they seem to be the most frequent nights for fireworks. Unfortunately, though, our ritual of walking regularly at night has stopped indefinitely, until at least September or October.  It stinks, because Marge really does enjoy walking at night.

To compensate for the decreased activity, Marge is eating less, and many of her meals are dispensed from her Kibble Nibble.  I've tried to find other mentally stimulating food dispensers and toys, but so far, this one takes the cake as being her favorite.

It's too hot to train (even indoors), so practice for Rally has pretty much come to a halt - no pun intended.  I did set up two jumps in my yard and grabbed a piece of cheese, but Marge seemed pretty lackluster doing agility, too.

In terms of the weekend specifically, Marge's meals will be cut drastically to make way for the many treats that she'll get as a part of counterconditioning her to feel a bit better about fireworks.  In some ways, the predictability of these fireworks is good.. maybe, just maybe, I can make a small dent in her fears by pairing fireworks with yummy food all weekend.

Her supplement, L-Theanine, will likely be increased a bit.

We'll hunker down in the basement, too, where Marge can enjoy her soft crate and I can turn up the volume on the television to drown out the blasts.

Hopefully, we won't be having any company this year - last year, we had quite a large crowd in celebration of my grandmother's birthday, but that event seems to be moved to a restaurant this year.   I just have to keep my fingers crossed that no one winds up here afterwards (the restaurant we're likely going to is up the block from my house)...

Ah, well, we'll make the best of it.  Hope you all have a happy, safe 4th, and remember to keep your pets contained and on-leash, especially if they are noise-phobic like mine is.

(P.S. - I haven't updated on my cat, Layla, in a while.  Her nose is healing, slowly but surely.  It looks pretty good today. I'm anticipating another week or so of cone-time before she can go back to being a normal kitty again. Keep your fingers crossed!)