2018 is history and with it hopefully all the bad luck which accumulated towards the end of the year. Now we welcome 2019 and have big hopes that it will turn out better. So how did we celebrate the New Year? Same procedure as every year! We celebrated at home and had some Raclette with my father and brother. My mom decided as every year to have her peace from the family and just watch TV till we would come downstairs around 11pm.
Yes there was nothing extraordinary with our New Year celebration and I am really happy about it as I had kind of other worries. Until we got Haruki the Shiba I never really thought much about the effect fireworks might have on animals. No, I was never one of those idiots buying a massive amount of fireworks and crackers to basically burn away my money on New Year but I liked to have few rockets ready for the big event. This year is was slightly different. In November Haruki and I had already a bad encounter with some youths throwing firecrackers at us in the dark resulting that the dog was terrified for a week and did not dare to go out of the apartment. He recovered but this made me worry a lot about New Year.
I don’t know how it is in other countries but here a lot of people just go crazy with their private fireworks. For example this year the police arrested a man with over 850kg of fireworks! Who on earth needs that? As soon as there are posts online about respecting the animals and not to have such big fireworks they get swamped with hate comments. It is just insane how people think that their freedom will be taken away just by asking them to buy fewer fireworks. I really doubt that anyone will suffer from not being allowed to blow up half the neighbourhood on New Year but nothing is done against it and won’t be done in the next years.
Not only we had the bad encounter in November but just two days before New Year once again some youths threw firecrackers at us and they exploded right at Haruki resulting in a terrified dog with burns in his face. So I was preparing for the worst on New Year but the little warrior kept relatively calm during the whole evening even when outside. Only when the big fireworks began he started to shake but my mother kept in safe in her arms and he calmed down. Now that 2019 has begun I read every day posts from people searching for their pets as they ran away on New Year. I wonder how many are actually able to find their beloved pet again as those animals are terrified and just run in any direction during the fireworks. Once I read an article where a dog had run to another State and was found few years later over 200 km away!
For the next time New Year is coming up I will try to get some “training” done with Haruki in order to prevent too extreme reactions. Besides that I will also try to find something to throw at those kids if they get too close with their fireworks!
How did you celebrate New Year?
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Your poor dog Mine doesn’t seem too mind ours when ever we do them. My hubby is Chinese so we celebrate both New year’s with food and family. Hope 2019 is full of health, prosperity and luck.
I guess my dog had jsut the very bad luck to have those firecrackers being thrown at him and injuring him.
We try each year to celebrate also the Lunar New Year but for the past years we are all sick during that time. I think the last time we actually celebrated it was back in 2011 or so!
2019 can only get better and we will also try to take better care of ourselves starting by doing more sports and get some serious check ups done by our doctors.
Poor Haruki. It must have been a fright for him and to end up with burns as well. I learned my lesson about the effect on dogs when I took my Schnauzer to a local School fireworks display. She freaked right out! I had trouble holding on to her as she tried to run away! Never again. Mind you, our fireworks in Australia are heavily regulated. We are not allowed any private fireworks so New year is limited to several large displays organized by city councils. Hope you have a wonderful 2019.
Thank you so much, I wish they would also adapt the Australian model here when it comes to fireworks. Besides all the annoyance there are also many injured and dead here each year by playing a bit too much with the fireworks. Especially kids are harmed each year
I remembered that happened to a friend of a friend. He lost his fingers. Dreadful. That was the rationale for banning them here! It is a shame that prime are hurt but also sad that the authorities don’t trust us to be sensible. It creates a Nanny state mentality.
Yes, just yesterday a 15 year old students had a firecracker and blew it up in class. He lost several fingers and other students were injured 🙁
Oh no! That is awful! What a silly thing to do!! Is there popular support to ban them?
Sadly not, over half the population wants to maintain their “freedom”
That is unfortunate.
How horrible of those youths to throw fireworks at you and Haruki. Wonder what they do it for. They must think it’s fun when it’s actually very dangerous. As you said, Haruki got a bit burned. For a long time I haven’t celebrated New Year’s, and usually just watch the fireworks from my balcony.
Never heard of raclette and Googled it. Oh my, dripping cheese…looks so good.
Haruki is thankfully pretty much over it by now. But really what is wrong with such kids. Every year people get injured or even killed here due to the fireworks!
Raclette is for us not that cheese heavy. We have those small “pans” – very tiny – and fill it with a layer of corn, mushrooms and the like and then put a thin slice of special Raclette cheese on top. That pan we put into this specialty Raclette grill and after 5 minutes or so you got a ready dish. And in case you can’t wait there is food being grilled all the time on the hot stone on top 🙂
Strange thing is people will find a way to get their hands on fireworks if they want to.
It sounds delicious. The more cheese, the better for me so I won’t mind more special Raclette cheese on top 🙂
Yeah people are really silly. Yesterday a student went to class with an illegal firecrackers and blew it up. He lost several fingers and other students got ear damage and psychological damage
That is crazy but the student must have been asking for trouble. Oh well, hope he learnt a lesson. Maybe next time you can enjoy more fireworks without trouble 😛
I always prefer to watch them. When you launch your own firework you have no time to enjoy the display in the sky
My little boy gets really scared when there are fireworks. I have never been one for fireworks at home. I think they are best left to the professionals.
I agree with that. Small fireworks which just make some nice colors and no big sounds are fine for me but all those rockets and big firecrackers should be forbidden for private use.
Our son loves to watch the fireworks and even help with those small children fireworks but he hates the noise during new year and hides inside
We also had a nice low-key New Year’s. It’s just different when you’re no longer in the partying phase of life, with a young child.
It’s true that July 4th, in the U.S., is the holiday in which the most dogs go missing. I can understand why fireworks would seem scary and not very harmless to a pet.
Also, Haruki is adorable!
We kind of had low key celebrations for the past 9 years now except once back in 2012 to 2013 new year when we celebrated with some other married couples. Not that it was any kind of party but we had few drinks, had great food and played some board games. That was indeed the biggest party we had since we got together 😅
Haruki is a fighter so he is pretty well by now again and is getting now into is puberty which is pure hell as his mood changes non stop
Poor doggie! You should train him to bite the ass of people doing stupid things with firecrackers, hehe.
We didn’t do anything special on New Year’s Eve. In fact, I was in bed at 11, haha. Too sleepy these days.
Yeah the past years my wife fell also asleep before midnight…
My little rescue dog doesn’t have any concerns about loud noises or fireworks but then again he has not been that close to fireworks as Haruki has. Your mum clearly is lovely cuddling him to get him over the scare. So nice. It’s the same as dogs in huge electrical and thunder storms; they are so scared and run away – very sad when they are not found. Happy 2019 with lots of cuddles to Haruki.
Thankfully thunderstorms are not that common here. I think last year we only experienced one!
My mother tries her best to cuddle this dog but usually he is just too hyperactive and runs around non stop.
I also wish you a wonderful new year 🙂
Every NYE I think about the poor pets and animals and what they endure. It’s REALLY REALLY bad in Hawaii. They go crazy so don’t ever go there for NYE.
This was the first year in a long time where it felt pretty tame, quiet, actually. I was able to sleep 🙂
Best would be that private fireworks are forbidden and each city has some public controlled one. Worse than NYE here are the people with firecrackers days before and after the new year blowing up trashbins and so forth
For Diwali i have hand held starlights. Having had labradors and now cats and birds, i so sorry about them. 850kgs? Madness indeed. Kind regards from. South Africa
I’d say the hand held starlights and other smaller things are not the problem. All those firecrackers with loud explosions on the other hand are a real mess 😦
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Wow, I didn’t think about dogs and fireworks scaring them.
I actually find reading about firework celebrations in neighbourhoods in Asia, abit scary because of the lack of laws… Remember I worked for the provincial fire marshal’s office in Ontario…. fireworks safety is part of fire safety.
It is just scary of people buy so much fireworks each new year.
In China I woke up often enough by some “explosion” which turned out to be some firecrackers due to a wedding in the neighbourhood. I don’t even want to know how many are injured or killed in China with those fireworks!
😦
Fireworks can be a real delight if used properly. I have enjoyed fireworks for many years. I am a little prejudice to fireworks since all of us to discharge fireworks are certified pyrotechnicians. There are places and time for fireworks. Animals can be affected by fireworks. Some pointers for those with dogs who do not like the flash or bangs. Play music in the background to help distract them from the fireworks going of outside. There are many things that can help with their nervous tick over fireworks. Hunting dogs never flinch during fireworks, because they are used to hearing loud bangs. You local pharmacy has dramamine, that also with help dogs if given an hour or so before the fireworks start. Fireworks can be very enjoyable at the proper places and times. Fireworks is our business, leave to those who know fireworks to present them properly. http://www.banditaerialproductions.net
I know that fireworks are usually a delight when used properly/ by certified pyrotechnicians.
However here many youths and also adults go crazy with their firecrackers / even build themselves some and destroy public and private property. We had the bad luck that they even threw this at us and injured the dog, leaving him terrified