Veterinarian urges dog lovers: Celebrate July 4 without fireworks | Opinion

I’ve come to dread patriotic holidays. It’s not that I’m unpatriotic; it's what the holidays bring out in what I like to call the "pseudo-patriotic."

Boom, clap, vroom, bang! Holidays have become an excuse to behave recklessly. On every street corner, smoke fills your eyes and pores. There are loud, disruptive noises for days on end.

Prior to "fireworks holidays," we are prescribing anti-anxiety medication to animal patients that spend their nights cowering, shaking, barking and often making their owners more anxious than they are. I lived through having a dog that had a phobia to storms and fireworks, so I know the holiday angst suffered by many of our clients intimately.

We see a lot of animal tragedies associated with this: some pets jump through windows, get lost, cut up or badly hurt. Humans also suffer: children get burnt, suffer asthma attacks or are even killed from improper use of fireworks.

I doubt that when Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner, he was referring to backyard fireworks with the lyrics, “And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air / Gave proof through the night, that our flag was still there….”

He was referring to men risking life and limb to keep our flag and ideals intact; men fighting for freedom and independence. Their sacrifice give us inviolable rights – not our “right” to shoot off fireworks from our back porches.

Fireworks have evolved into a symbol of happiness, freedom and independence. Done by professionals and in moderation, they are beautiful and inspiring. Done by amateurs they are smelly, annoying and extremely dangerous.

On any given holiday evening in Green Township, it is impossible to get away from the noise and smoke without leaving the county (also not a good idea, due to risk of fire from a stray spark). I am frankly not sure why it is so widely accepted and tolerated.

Instead, could it not just be enough to celebrate our freedom quietly with family and friends? There are so many other ways to celebrate holidays than with bottle rockets and sonic booms. How about some real patriotic acts, like attending a service or parade honoring our veterans? How about spending the money you would’ve spent on pyrotechnics to buy an American flag to fly at your house or place of business? You could even buy a shelter dog a Thundershirt or anti-anxiety meds.

If you must experience fireworks, please leave it to the professionals and go to one of the many well-done public displays. Lots of people and pets will thank you for your restraint in leaving DIY fireworks out of your holiday celebration this year.

Diana Dornbusch Cron is a veterinarian and co-owner of Glenway Animal Hospital. She was President of the Cincinnati Veterinary Medical Association in 2014 and is the current President of the Ohio Veterinary Medical Association.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Veterinarian urges dog lovers: Celebrate July 4 without fireworks | Opinion