During our last session before Christmas break, the class spent quite a lot of time asking questions about safe and unsafe holiday food for dogs. We were also given a chance to be informed of ways to approach our dogs in preparation for the New Year festivities and the firecrackers that come with it. I kept reading and rereading Vet Reflections' guidelines days before NYE just to make sure that I am fully equipped to execute everything on the list.
I walked Odie around the village from 2-4PM. I would randomly run and let him catch up just so that he can use up lots of his energy. By 4:30, I already fed him his dinner in hopes that he would go potty early. We walked around again at 5PM and met some of the neighbors and their dogs, perhaps also wanting to tire their dogs out in preparation for the firecrackers. Odie was throwing a tantrum by the time we ended. I guess he got real tired from walking and playing with other dogs.
There were already random firecrackers going off from nearby areas at 8PM. Occasionally, there were also some blasts coming from our next-door neighbors. Odie was VERY quiet. I was preparing to move him from his wire crate to his travel crate when we heard a really loud blast! He kept pacing, tried to look for a comfortable spot, and stayed right next to me with his head buried on one side of my dress.
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| Scaredy Boy |
I finally got him to go inside his travel crate, and moved him to the back of the garage as the sound should be a bit muffled there. Odie was very sweet and very quiet all night! He just kept pacing whenever he heard firecrackers. I just left him in his crate and hoped that he would fall asleep. When midnight was nearing, I moved him inside and put him in the kitchen to avoid inhaling lots of smoke. He still didn't fall asleep, and just stayed seated at the far end of his crate. He seemed really scared that it was difficult to not think about how he's doing, and it was very tempting to just coddle him and hug him really tight!
When the firecrackers subsided and the smoke cleared a bit, I let him out of his crate, greeted him a Happy New Year, congratulated him for having endured his first New Year's Eve, and hugged him real tight! I didn't know there would still be an occasional kwitis and when that happened a bunch of times, I felt like I had the sweetest baby boy ever! He kept on hugging me and hiding himself in my dress, and I took advantage of the situation by petting him and hugging him as much as I could. After massaging his head for a while, he began drifting off to sleep.
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| He must have been so sleepy :( |
I told him to go inside his wire crate so he could sleep properly. The moment he got inside, he curled up and slept like a baby. He must have been so sleepy, having been awake from 2PM until around 3AM.
I hope the coming New Year's Eve celebrations would be easier on him. I'm quite thankful, actually, that the firecrackers this year weren't as many compared to the previous years. It was just crazy though that when midnight struck, I heard several households playing the Gangnam song, and around three houses weren't done with karaoke at 3AM!
He woke up later than usual in the morning, and barked for the first time when I asked him to "say please". I had to ask for it because I was scared he would stop barking altogether. He did bounce back from his dazed state after two days though. Now, he's back to being really hyper!
Again, from the star of this blog and from the ones who make it work, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Keep your dogs happy and healthy this 2013!
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