Around here, they started selling fireworks last week. People have already started shooting them off. We live outside the city limits. It will go on for about a week before and after the 4th, and on the 3rd & 4th it will sound like WW III. I hate it. I wouldn't hate it if it ended at a decent time, and the inconsiderate, highly intoxicated people didn't shoot them off until 3 or 4 am.

Not to mention it's dry as a bone and there will probably be grass fires.

A few years ago, our neighbors older dog got frightened and took off. They didn't find her for days, and unfortunately, when they did it was her poor little body.

We made a check around our property for any possibility for our dogs to get out. We're good there. But we never leave them outside alone for the next few weeks. They are inside dogs... and only go out to do their business.

People here have been shooting them off for 2 weeks. Very annoying. One night was at around 1 am and I had to get up early the next day and do a day shift. People just don't care about anyone but themselves. I'm glad Chewie doesn't get bothered by them.

I always suspected our sweet departed Pepper came to us as a result of fireworks. She was picked up on the street in LA just after the 4th and never claimed by her owner. With a number of other dogs and cats, she was shipped to a humane society in my neck of the woods in WA. She was always a wreck during thunderstorms and fireworks. Pepper was reasonably well trained and I know someone must have been missing her. That sweet girl crossed the rainbow bridge almost 2 years ago. I still miss her sweet face.

My dog has been desensitized to fireworks. I started her as a pup. My last Rottie was terribly nervous around them She was older when we got her. She never got 100% comfortable, but I would act like something great was happening with each boom, laughing and talking to her in an excited happy voice. What really helped her adjust more completely was taking her outside to view them. That pretty much fixed the problem.

We're in a drought and people are already shooting them off like crazy. My dog is scared of them but she gets a little better every year.

We live near OU campus-and the OU baseball games set off fireworks quite often-so my dog is use to hearing them by July 4th. I realize some dogs really are nervous about them though.

I hate fireworks. my town allows everything except bottle rockets and lanterns and we are next to a bigger town that doesn't allow fireworks so they go off day and night from the 29th until the 5th. The streets are red with the used firecrackers and it is hard to drive since everyone sets them off in the street

I haven't spent a single penny on fireworks for at least 10 years. We always go to our lake cabin for the 4th and there is a neighborhood nearby that always has a private fireworks display on the nearest Saturday to the 4th. They must spend close to 10K and it is really done well. Several hundred people gather to watch and the organizers accept donations to cover the cost. We donate $20 per head. They also have popcorn and cotton candy machines for the kids.

There is also a public fireworks display out on an island in the lake that people watch from boats but we don't feel safe with all of the drunk boaters running around in the dark afterwards.

One family in our group brings their Britney but the fireworks don't seem to bother her. She is already so high strung that it would be difficult to tell.

We're not celebrating. Mourning.

Though, I don't see the point in people complaining about fireworks, they're not going anywhere. Get a thunder shirt, give them a pill, hug them, do whatever you can but I don't think you can get the rest of the world to stop shooting off fireworks. I'm sorry, but it's just not going to happen. Animals are not the only ones affected by fireworks. PTSD comes in many shapes and sizes.

You can't shoot off fireworks here, it's against the law first of all, ahh second of all, we have burn bans in place. It's just too dry to shoot off fireworks.

Considering the fireworks start 2 weeks before and don't end sometimes until 2 weeks after, it's not exactly feasible for someone to drug their dogs for that length of time.

Glad I don't live where everybody else does if they have to put up with fireworks for 4 weeks.

And if your dog really does suffer that much from fireworks, get him a thunder shirt. No drugs involved!

🙄 Otherwise, good luck stopping the rest of the world. After all, they're going to go off around the world on New Year's Eve.

I cannot imagine anyone setting off fireworks personally. That is something done by professionals. What is the point? Starting a fire? Injuring yourself? Who would do that? I know people do, but is is illegal in my home area, and I have fortunately not had to deal with it in Austin, or growing up in Dallas for that matter.

I took my dog with me to the rehearsal of the 1812 Overture in Washington one Independence Day weekend. That my friends, was a bad idea. My toy poodle just about died with the sound of the cannons going off. In my defense, I didn't think they would have those for the rehearsal, but they did, and boy howdy was my little Cookie upset.

Many dogs can be trained and conditioned to remain calm and not be startled by loud noises. Some not, of course.

Just to be clear, I care about upsetting dogs (and veterans, for instance), but I realize getting people to refrain from shooting off fireworks is a lesson in futility.

I wish more towns would buy the noiseless kinds. Well, googling around I see that they are "reduced noise", not actually silent. But I'd welcome reduced noise!

Guess what the topic of controversy is on NextDoor apps all over the country?

Ha! @ rhizo: every time a holiday involving fireworks approaches, some poor soul on local nextdoor.com will post a plea for folks to be considerate, and get inundated with rude replies.

Illegality doesn't seem to stop any of the yahoos around here. With all our bays and inlets, sound gets amplified over water as well. I do sympathize with all the distraught pets and others troubled by the noise. It sounds like a war zone for sure.

The Fourth is on a Monday this year too, which means lots of folks have to get up for work the next day. We're not planning anything because of that.

At least it's not for weeks on end, and we don't have drought conditions either - that's crazy!

We are under a burn ban, and there is so much dead grass around. I am hoping my one neighbor who lives across the road and down a 1/4 mile driveway, will forego fireworks. His pasture caught on fire a few months ago and caught a big pine tree on fire that was just across the road from my place. He wasn't concerned....thought it would burn itself out, but it was flaming up pretty high. I called and his wife kind of giggled about it. He finally came out to look and it must've worried him because he finally got his behind in gear, and after several attempts, finally got it out. I hate fireworks for many reasons...not the least of which is PTSD of veterans and it terrifies animals.

We stay home, try to comfort the cats and hope nothing catches fire. It is hard to enjoy the holiday weekend nights.

I think i’ve mentioned this. Years ago I worked with someone whose DH was a plastic and hand surgeon. He is not the guy you want to be seeing July 4. Seriously, one of their worst days for whoever’s on call.

It's not only dogs. A few years ago my indoor cat sometimes went out with me into the backyard, never by herself.

At 2 pm on the Fourth we went out to fill up the birdbath. A neighbor set off a really loud firework, scared the cat and she ran off. I checked all over the place, down the street and over on the other side in an open area and a wood, nothing for the next couple of hours and when the fireworks got more and more I gave up, she would not try to come back during all that noise. I finally went to bed and 11:30 pm my cell rang. Not a number I knew and whoever it was, hung up. While I was up anyhow, I decided to check outside one more time. When I opened the front door, there was my cat, shaking, covered in burrs, limping a bit but otherwise OK. I made sure that for the week before and after the 4th she never went out with me.

My cats aren’t fans either.

TV ads for Thundershirts started running a week ago here (near Chicago, where Indiana supplies not only every kind of fireworks known to man, but also every variety of GUN).

I don't understand how so many dogs can ”run away” because of fireworks. They should be inside during fearful events.

Personally, I don’t get a kick out of loud booms, and even tho’ they are pretty, I have no desire to go see them every year. Nice for little kids I guess.

When you consider how many people have dogs, even a small percentage of escapes from indoors amounts to many. And people may have a fenced yard that they think is secure.

And most people have to walk their dogs at least once a day.

And then there are the chuckleheads who bring their dogs to every outdoor event...

I guess I just lucked out. None of my pets are scared of fireworks.

We are enjoying the near perfect weather and a passel of guests (gee think they are related?). Traditional celebratory weekend here replete with bunting.

The dog seeks us out when it thunders, but seems only to want company. She is not concerned about fireworks. For the 4th, we always make a bonfire down by the ocean and have sparklers. Luckily, we can see fireworks both up coast and down coast from that vantage point. Wonderful to have the ocean as a backdrop and avoid the noise, smell and crowds.

We keep our dogs indoors with music playing, while we go to to the back yard to watch. Our town did fireworks last night. Short but pretty. We don't get many people setting off fireworks on their own, thank goodness, because our older dog does not like sudden loud noises.

I'm glad that my dog doesn't mind. He's the guy who runs outside after a close lightning strike to see what that cool noise was. "Aww poor dog don't be afrai...oh...you're looking for it..."

Fireworks are illegal where I am but you wouldn't know it.

Thunder shirts don't work. My old dog, Emily had one. She also had to take meds which didn't work much either. Finally she went deaf and then she had some peace finally.

I had to get up bright and early this morning. The neighbors in back of me were shooting off some loud crap for hours, until sometime around 1230 last night. I kept expecting them to run out of stuff but the explosions just kept on going hour after hour. They were so loud that even ear plugs and noise machine are useless.

Another work day for me tomorrow so will just stay up and read until it stops, I guess. Nothing else I can do. 3-4 weeks is too much and no one cares. I expect it to go on for days still.