LOS ANGELES (AP) — Liberty is loud and a lot of dogs have problems with those Fourth of July sounds of freedom, Erika Gamez said. She should know — she takes care of over 150 at work and five at home.On Thursday, the 150 dogs, 150 cats and all the other creatures at the Rancho Cucamonga Animal Care and Adoption Center will be moved inside the buildings, said Gamez, the Southern California shelter’s animal care supervisor. Classical music will be played throughout the center in the early evening to soothe animals that have sensitive hearing and can’t tolerate loud noise.
Once the booming starts, it gets noisy inside with a cacophony of barking, whining and crying as some dogs panic about the fireworks and others freak out because of their spooked shelter mates. The cats don’t seem to mind fireworks, but get stressed at all the commotion. “It’s a trickle-down effect,” Gamez said.
Similar scenes will play out in homes, backyards and public parks across the country, leading some anxious hounds to fly the coop, which explains why more lost dogs are turned in to shelters on July 5 than any other day of the year. Dogs that can’t escape could hurt themselves in other ways trying to seek shelter from the thundering sounds that could last days as fireworks are launched throughout the weekend.
In Rancho Cucamonga, employees will handle 20 to 30 more dogs than usual that day, Gamez said. She has scheduled extra employees.