Preparing for every pet's favorite holiday

Tier one:  Compressed rawhide is a special holiday treat. I spread a large sheet on the carpet to protect it from goop. This is the only hard chew that both dogs can have. Miro's jaws are so strong that he once cracked a tooth on an antler chew a couple of years ago. He'll gnaw huge chunks off raw meaty bones and try to swallow them.  You could say dogs are really stupid about food, but are people truly smarter? Not judging by the amount of beer and strawberry shortcake that gets snarfed up during picnics.

Tier two: indoor lure coursing with a decapitated Kong. Emily loves this one. The string gets shorter each time she chews off the knot.

Tier three: Anti-anxiety meds just in case. Last year I used Melatonin, having found no help in Rescue Remedy or Benadryl. When I called the vet to verify dosage of Melatonin, she recommended Alprazolam, which has been swallowed by enough anxious dogs to be as safe for them as it is for us, which is to say that nothing is 100%. The neighborhood pharmacist told me she has been filling a lot of these prescriptions all week--and this in a city where fireworks are banned, where there are trees and parks all over the place, where every growing thing is extremely dry because we have had virtually no rain for two months for the first time in my memory.

Maybe, just maybe, people around here will get smart about fireworks this year. One can hope.