Welcome to my first rant. I’m afraid it’s an ‘unpopular opinion’ rant but it REALLY annoys me, and it’s relevant right now, so here goes!
I have this issue every year, and every year I get more and more annoyed about it! You’re probably thinking I’m going to say ‘Ban the fireworks!’, ‘My poor dog is terrified, people are so inconsiderate!’. Well, I’m not. In fact I hate it when people say this every year. (Told you it was going to be unpopular!)
Every year around bonfire night, and then again around Christmas and New Year, there are multiple rants on Facebook about the fireworks. And the comments are always the same. ‘Oh my poor dog is terrified, how can people be so inconsiderate?’, It wouldn’t be so bad if it was just the one night but it’s weeks before and after so we can’t prepare!’, ‘They should be banned!’.
A few things…
- People are not inconsiderate for enjoying fireworks, they are doing something they love, just like you are by having a dog.
- It isn’t weeks before. Days, maybe, but weeks?? Don’t exaggerate!
- If you know it’s going to be ‘weeks’ before and after, as well as on the date itself, then how can you not prepare?? You know all year it’s going to happen. Spend all year training them, or finding something that works.
- And, as for ‘they should be banned’, my 6 year old daughter is scared of dogs. Should dogs be banned?? Because they are more likely to do her harm (as she is scared of them when they are right in front of her jumping up at her, barking at her etc) than a few fireworks are to dogs. I don’t tell the owners of these dogs that they shouldn’t have them because they scare my daughter, even though they should be looking after them in a way that my daughter, and others, don’t feel threatened by them. And even if I do say something, they make it sound like their dog is the best behaved dog in the world and would never hurt anyone. Yeah, they all say that! But that’s another rant for another day!
At the end of the day, YOU decided to get a dog, YOU decided to keep it somewhere where you know it will hear fireworks every year, and YOU know that it won’t just be on one night of the year! It is YOUR responsibility to look after that dog and train it to not be scared of fireworks. And don’t tell me that isn’t possible. Otherwise service dogs would be useless around bonfire night! If you love that dog as much as you say you do, you would take responsibility for it and do WHATEVER it takes to make it comfortable on and around bonfire night, Christmas, new year etc, instead of just telling people who are enjoying something they love to give that thing up.
And before anyone says ‘Well you’ve obviously never had dogs’, actually I have. I’ve had 2, and they were both scared of fireworks/thunder/similar loud noises, but I would never dream of telling someone they couldn’t enjoy something they loved because my dogs hated it! Maybe these people think we should ban thunder too?
This post is not about the minority of people who misuse fireworks. (And it is a minority) I too believe people should use them safely, as when they are misused it can be dangerous for everyone. But I also don’t believe they should be banned from public sale, or only be for organised displays. Maybe they should increase the age at which you can buy them though.
