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Tips to keep dog calm during 4th of July and Monsoon thunder

Posted at 5:29 PM, Jun 29, 2017
and last updated 2017-06-29 20:50:49-04

Every year during 4th of July and Monsoon, Pima Animal Care Center says they take in multiple stray pets each day who have been hit by cars. 

Kim Stoll with PACC says pets are frightened and lost animals often run into traffic and end up at PACC injured.

Between July 5th-8th last year, PACC took in 110 stray pets and nearly 3,000 during Monsoon, according to Stoll.

Dog Training Mobile's dog trainer Gerard Raneri says there are a couple at-home tips pet owners can do to calm their dog down.

 

 

"Putting some background noise on is really good like a radio, TV something to kind of drown out that noise and another really good thing to do is finding a safe place for your dog to go," he explained. "Some dogs love their crate... give them that crate access so he can get to the crate to feel safe." 

He says covering a crate with a blanket will help muffle the sounds and bright flashes. 

Raneri added that a snug thunder shirt will calm a dog down. If you don't have one, he says putting a t-shirt on a dog is a substitute. 

The one thing he advises pet owners not to do is cuddle their dog.

"A lot of times people over cuddle when they see their dogs are fearful and they will start cuddling them which actually rewards the dogs fearful behavior and we don't want to reward their behavior," he said. "We want to be more matter of fact.. redirect them, find something they like, maybe a squeaky ball."

He urges pet owners to make sure their dogs have tags on just in case they get out.