Photo by Kim Leeson

Originally published June 2015.

So imagine you’re a dog, just chillin’ in your hammock after a long hot day when suddenly the sky erupts — booming, crackling, catching fire, exploding. It is terrifying, for Dog’s sake!

And that is why your pet is more likely to make a run for it on Independence Day than any other day of the year, according to a friendly reminder from Dallas Animal Services’ Jody Jones.

“The Fourth can be a very scary time for pets. The sights and sounds are very frightening,” she says.

 She suggests area residents make the preemptive move of downloading an app that can help reunite pet owners with lost animals — it’s called Finding Rover and creators boast “state-of-the-art technology that enables anyone to instantly identify missing dogs by simply taking or uploading a photo of the dog. The facial recognition technology for dogs has proven to be 98 percent successful.”

If Fido finds these vibrant bursts of color and sound to be traumatic, it’s recommended he stays at home, instead of tagging along to the fireworks show. Here are a few tips to make the otherwise joyous occasion tolerable for our canine companions.