BLYTHEWOOD – Firework events have become a fixture of celebrations, from weddings to national holidays. But for dogs, horses, and other domestic and wild animals, firework celebrations can result in extreme fear, separation, injury and even death when animals are hit by cars or have other mishaps while fleeing the sights and sounds of firework explosions.
Ridgeway resident Olivia Gaither says she and her dog, Cooper, experienced such a nightmare on July 3, during the town’s annual Independence Day Rockin’ Red, White, and Blue fireworks celebration.
Cooper, a two-year-old Australian Shepherd, is an inside dog, Gaither says, and has never gone anywhere without her before he became frightened and got loose from his harness during the fireworks celebration in Blythewood’s Doko Park on July 3.
“We had just finished our walk on the park trail and had headed to the car, when the fireworks began shooting into the sky,” Gaither recalls. “It frightened Cooper, and he bolted, breaking his harness and running before I could grab him.
“He’s black and it was dark, and I was terrified he would run in front of a car. I was running down the park road calling him. I was frantic, but I was also trying to stay calm and think what to do.
“When the fireworks finally ended, there were a lot of cars going up and down the road, and it was just so dark. I was so afraid for him. When I got back to my car I had a little breakdown and started crying…I didn’t know what to do.”
Gaither says she called her mom and the two stayed out until about 3 o’clock the next morning just driving the roads in the dark, trying to find Cooper.
“When I got home that night from looking for him, and saw his bed and all his stuff, I had another breakdown. I finally went to bed,” she says, “but I kept thinking about Cooper – a dog with a black coat and hard to see in the dark – what if he got hit by a car?’”
While Gaither got a couple of hours sleep, her mom had stayed up through the night making lost-dog flyers. By morning, she had blanketed the entire area around the park with Cooper’s photo, his contact information, and an affectionate description of him – “sweet, loving, and playful.”
As July 4 dawned, Gaither and her mom set out again, driving the back roads, calling Cooper’s name and asking strangers if they had seen a black dog.
“We did that for hours,” Gaither says. “I was struggling not to think of the worst or give up hope.”
By mid-afternoon, Gaither says she and her mom were exhausted from searching and worrying.
“I finally resigned myself to waiting. I was hoping and praying that someone would find Cooper, check his collar information and call me.”
About 9 p.m. that night, Gaither got that call.
The woman on the other end of the call identified herself as Loretta Jones on Portia Road, about five miles from where Cooper had slipped his harness.
“She said, ‘He’s at my house,’ Gaither recalls. “She said her dog, Lorelei, was in the yard barking at something, and Ms. Jones saw Cooper outside her fence. As soon as I hung up the phone, I was on my way.”
Arriving at the Jones home, Gaither says she realized it was about halfway between Doko Park and her house in Ridgeway.
“I think he was trying to get home,” she says.
Since losing – and being reunited with – Cooper, Gaither says she’s thought about some things she hadn’t thought of before.
For example, she says that last year she and Cooper were on their deck at home during the fireworks, and Cooper was unaffected. But this year, in a large crowd of people surrounded by traffic and activity, the sudden explosion of fireworks overhead was just too much for him.
She’s also begun to look into ways that people use to help find dogs that become lost, such as attaching an air tag on a dog’s collar for tracking.
Gaither says she’s forever grateful to Jones and Lorelei for reuniting her with her beloved Cooper and for giving her story a happy ending.
“I just want to thank her for, you know, not ignoring Cooper, for just being a nice, genuinely good person to help him,” Gaither says. “Sometimes, when people see other dogs in their yard, they kind of shoo them off, so I really appreciate her for not shooing him off, but showing him kindness, checking his ID, and calling me to let me know he was safe.”
