Fireworks: fun for the whole family, except for pets. 

Fourth of July weekend has a good jump in the number of strays coming in or being reported to Indianapolis Animal Care Services, Manager of Community Outreach Roxie Randall said. 

With in-and-out foot traffic, combined with the loud fireworks outside, animals can get frightened and make a run for it. Once they’re outside, they may not know what to do next. 

Not only do they fear Fourth of July fireworks displays because they don’t know where the noises are coming from, but animals have more sensitive hearing than humans. Dogs can detect sound frequencies between two and three times higher than humans can, so loud noises can easily distress them.

While there is a lot of preparation that goes into getting animals ready for Fourth of July, the best preventative measure to keep your pets calm is to know where they are and keep them indoors, IndyHumane Marketing Coordinator Colleen Walker said. 

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Walker recommends keeping your dog in a safe space that’s away from a door, where one may keep an eye on them. 

“The worst case scenario is when you get a dog that does run out of your house, and there’s so many noises,” Walker said. “They’re confused, they’re not sure what to do. That’s when you can get into a situation where they could get lost.” 

It can be hard to keep the booming noise of fireworks out, but playing music in your home to keep some recognizable noise contained inside may also subdue a pet’s anxiety. 

Randall said any sort of background noise may serve as a distraction for the animal. 

Additionally, she said to try to keep the animal’s routine as consistent as possible. Try to help dogs burn off excess energy during the day so they’re tired and more likely to sleep when it comes time for fireworks. 

For some dogs, though, you’re just going to have to be there and get through it with them.

If unable to stay with your pet yourself, Randall said to ask someone to stay with them. If the animal has been prescribed anti-anxiety medication, that may also help keep its nerves down. 

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Randall recommends getting pets microchipped in case of an escape. 

Microchipping your pet is an easy, non-invasive way to assure the return of your pet, should it escape. It is not a GPS or signal tracker: the chip serves as an ID number that corresponds with the pet owner’s information.

Both ACS and IndyHumane offer microchipping for $10. Call ahead to schedule, and bring your pet, veterinary records and your ID to the appointment. 

Should your pet get separated from home this weekend, check Indy Lost Pet Alert at indylostpetalert.com for stray animal sightings. 

You can reach Pulliam Fellow Griffin Wiles at GWiles@gannett.com or on Twitter at @griffinwiles.