Stranger Things has regained the top spot as Netflix’s most popular TV show of all time, according to the streamer. Netflix’s list of most popular titles is calculated based on viewership during a title’s first 28 days of availability. It was temporarily displaced by the third season of The Umbrella Academy, which premiered on June 22. The second half of the final season of Stranger Things dropped Friday..
Modern Family alum Sarah Hyland has been tapped to host Peacock’s revamped version of Love Island USA, according to TVLine. Hyland replaces Arielle Vandenberg, who hosted the show’s first three seasons on CBS. She’ll be joined by British comedian Iain Stirling as narrator, replacing Matthew Hoffman, who served as the reality show‘s narrator during its time on CBS. Love Island USA season four premieres July 19 on Peacock…
Variety reports Dune: Part Two, the second chapter in the Warner Bros. and Legendary sci-fi epic, originally set to open in theaters October 20, 2023, has been postponed until November 17, 2023. Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem are returning for Dune: Part Two, with Florence Pugh, Austin Butler and Christopher Walken set to join the cast. The Denis Villeneuve-directed sequel, which follows the second half of Frank Herbert’s seminal novel, is set to start shooting later this year…
Peacock has scratched the TV adaptation of Field of Dreams from its roster. The drama series, based on the 1989 film starring Kevin Costner, was picked up straight to series in August 2021, with The Office writing alum and Parks and Recreation co-creator Michael Schur set to produce, but it won’t stream on the platform, an insider tells The Hollywood Reporter. Universal Television is reportedly in the process of talking to interested buyers…
(WASHINGTON) — Republican lawmakers are proposing what they call “pro-family” platforms following the Supreme Court’s scrapping of the constitutional protections around abortion to try to help people who, in some states, could now be forced to carry a pregnancy to term.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio put out a sprawling framework last week, while Sens. Steve Daines of Montana, Mitt Romney of Utah and Richard Burr of North Carolina put out their own proposal pushing for a monthly cash stipend for working families pulled from other tax benefits.
Specific states have also touched on new or forthcoming tools for new parents, such as a website to connect moms with resources that South Dakota’s Republican Gov. Kristi Noem discussed on ABC’s This Week.
Yet implementing these small handful of new plans, which would institute policies that would be novel in some states, could prove easier said than done, critics and experts say — raising concerns over the resources that will be available for new parents in the 12 states and counting without access to abortion.
“This ruling and the result that people are going to be forced to have unplanned pregnancies and care for children that they weren’t planning for … means that people are going to be suffering economic consequences,” Amy Matsui, the director of income security and senior counsel at the National Women’s Law Center, told ABC News. “These plans nod to that fact, but don’t actually do anything to address it in a meaningful way.”
Among the top concern cited is a historic lack of investment in social safety net programs by states that are restricting or outlawing abortion.
An amicus brief filed by pro-abortion rights groups in the Supreme Court case that overturned constitutional abortion protections showed that 14 states with the most restrictive laws also demonstrated poor maternal and child health outcomes, including early need for prenatal care, low infant birthweight and infant mortality.
And while some early proposals appear intended to combat precisely those scenarios, experts warn that those trends indicate some states are on poor footing to implement any substantial solutions.
“When you look at the overlay, the states that have restricted or banned abortion are the same states that have not invested in their safety nets. They do not have the same kinds of supports for low-income families, for pregnant people, for health care, for child care, for supporting workers or for education that states that generally support abortion rights do,” said Elizabeth Nash, a state policy analyst at the pro-abortion rights Guttmacher Institute.
“So basically, they are not providing the health care that people need or the supports that they need,” Nash said. “And now, sort of as an afterthought and because of public outcry, they’re saying, ‘OK, well, let’s pull together sort of a quick package.'”
To be sure, Republicans insist their plans are feasible, casting them as prudent proposals.
“For the past 50 years, our country built a massive, pro-abortion commercial infrastructure. There are commonsense, bipartisan steps we can take to support American families and protect life, instead of ending it,” Rubio said in a statement.
“This will be a big boost for parents and families that won’t increase the debt and will make federal policy work better for families across the nation — I hope to see all my colleagues get behind this plan,” Daines added.
But digging deeper, some experts expressed concern about the plans’ specific planks, warning that they would force pregnant people to make difficult choices.
Rubio’s plan, for instance, would allow new parents to invest in paid parental leave by pulling forward up to three months of their future Social Security benefits.
And in the proposal from Daines, Romney and Burr, the monthly cash benefit for working families is paid for by “consolidating the family portion of the [earned income tax credit] to not vary depending on the number of dependents” and eliminating the head of household filing status and child portion of the child and dependent care credit.
“That is great, and continuing to have an expanded child tax credit is important for the well-being of families and children,” Matsui said of a monthly cash benefit. “But to fund it by taking away the head of household filing status or restricting the EITC or taking away the child portion of the child and dependent care tax credit is basically robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
“Another example is the purported parental leave provision that is in Sen. Rubio’s package. It offers new parents the opportunity to borrow against their future Social Security benefits,” she added. “They need it now and they need it later. And we’re asking them to bear the cost rather than provide new and additional supports. It really is just kind of a shifting shell game.”
Rubio’s plan also offers expanded tax relief for adoptive parents, though activists said that does little to help someone during a pregnancy. The plan also includes a provision to “expand access to social services by lowering barriers to faith-based organizations’ participation,” but the experts who spoke with ABC News warned of past discriminatory language by such groups, particularly against the LGBTQ community.
“That is just completely inappropriate,” Nash said.
Experts did not disagree with every aspect of the plans. For instance, Nash called Rubio’s provision to boost the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (also known as WIC) and to extend the postpartum benefit eligibility period from one to two years “helpful.”
But overall, experts and critics spoke on the recently proposed plans with skepticism, chiefly over how novel their proposals are in some of the most impacted states.
“I think that even a really great plan, which I don’t think either of these are, even a really great plan that isn’t tested is a bad idea,” said Susan Polan, associate executive director of public affairs and advocacy at the American Public Health Association. “We can’t piecemeal it together and build the plane as we’re flying it.”
(HONG KONG) — In a speech celebrating the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China, Chinese President Xi Jinping strongly reaffirmed the territory’s autonomy under the promise of “One Country, Two Systems” but with one very strong caveat: Beijing has full jurisdiction and Hong Kong must respect that.
“One Country, Two Systems is an unprecedented great initiative of historical significance,” Xi declared in a victory lap of a speech now that the opposition in the city has either been silenced or behind bars. “There is no reason to change such a good system, and it must be maintained for a long time.”
Xi’s words run counter to the view of many in the city who supported the now-silenced pro-democracy activists and Western politicians around the world who view Beijing’s increasing direct influence in the city as reneging on the agreement made between the United Kingdom and China that led to the handover on July 1, 1997.
Also marking the occasion, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson issued a video statement on Twitter saying, “We made a promise to the territory and its people and we intend to keep it, doing all we can to hold China to its commitment”
“We simply cannot avoid the fact that for some time now, Beijing has been failing to comply with its obligations. It’s a state of affairs that threatens both the rights and freedoms of Hong Kongers and the continued progress and prosperity of their home.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken added, “it is now evident that Hong Kong and Beijing authorities no longer view democratic participation, fundamental freedoms, and an independent media” as a part of its promise.
In Xi’s view, the Chinese government is fulfilling its obligations in allowing the former British colony to choose its path and thrive economically, if not politically, over the past quarter century.
“Hong Kong will maintain the original capitalist system unchanged for a long time and enjoy a high degree of autonomy” Xi, who is on a two-day visit to the city, told a 1,300-strong gathering of Hong Kong’s political and business elite at the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Center. But he warned that residents must “consciously respect” the rule of Chinese Communist Party and its socialist system in the mainland.
Having implemented a far-reaching security law two years ago to silence dissent, Xi mostly sidestepped security and political concerns and focused on Hong Kong’s economic development, signaling an intention to turn the page on the turmoil of the last decade.
The Chinese government has long believed that the vast chasm of economic inequality in the city, exacerbated by unaffordable housing costs, was the chief reason for popular discontent which, in Beijing’s telling of events, were then exploited by “foreign forces” to foment anti-government protests.
“Hong Kong cannot afford more chaos,” Xi told the newly inaugurated administration led by Hong Kong’s former security official John Lee.
“The public has good expectations to have better livelihoods, that they can live in a wider and bigger home, with more job opportunities, better education for the children, and can be better taken care of when they are old,” Xi continued.
“The new government should not disappoint them and should place these expectations as top priorities,” stressed the Chinese leader.
“The major issue for John Lee is to deliver better housing and relieve economic inequality and poverty and if possible, find new engines for economic growth,” David Zweig, Professor Emeritus at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, told ABC News.
“Economic problems that Hong Kong has faced for past 20 years were due largely to the [real estate] tycoons who would not allow [the Hong Kong leader and legislature] to resolve these core issues,” Zweig explained, which led to the younger generation insisting on a more representative system which, in Beijing’s eyes, threatened to shift the power in the legislature.
In the wake of the 2019 protests, Zweig believed that when the popular opposition was positioned to take over the legislature and replace Beijing’s “executive-led government” with a de-facto parliamentary one, the Chinese government was unwilling to take that risk.
In response, Beijing reformed the electoral system to ensure “only patriots can govern Hong Kong.”
“Our mistake as observers was not to realize that, while China could support a more open system, under ‘One country, Two systems’ it would never let the opposition take over,” said Zweig.
At an event earlier this week, the last British governor of Hong Kong Chris Patten recalled a pro-Beijing businessman explaining this dynamic to him as the two governments were hashing out the final details before the handover. “You don’t understand the Chinese,” Patten remembered the individual telling him, “they don’t want to rig the elections, they just want to know the result in advance. Well, yes, I see that, but it’s not what’s called democracy.”
“John Lee and Beijing, having established an authoritarian regime, must deliver on the core economic issues,” Zweig told ABC News.
After spending less than 10 hours in the city over two days, Xi and his wife left Hong Kong via the high speed rail link that physically ties the center of Hong Kong to the mainland.
The new Hong Kong chief executive has his work cut for him. Hong Kong’s strict COVID measures and sealed borders over the past two years has endangered Hong Kong’s status as an aviation hub and international financial center. Its economy contracted 4% in the first quarter of this year — one of the worst performances in 30 years.
Coupled with the security crackdown, Hong Kong residents have been voting with their feet. Since the beginning the year there has been 154,000 net departures from the city, the highest rate since Hong Kong returned to China.
“We won’t let President Xi down,” Lee told the press after the Chinese president’s departure. “We won’t let the people down.”
(SEOUL, South Korea) — Authorities in North Korea have instructed its people to avoid “alien things” falling near its border with South Korea.
North Korea’s state newspaper Rodong Sinmun published a news report on where the COVID-19 virus came from and pointed the finger at materials that flew in from South Korea. The paper said that two local townspeople showed COVID-19 symptoms after touching “alien things” at the border.
“State Emergency Epidemic Prevention Headquarters saw to it that an emergency instruction was issued stressing the need to vigilantly deal with alien things coming by wind and other climate phenomena and balloons in the areas along the demarcation line and borders,” Rodong Sinmun said Friday.
The influx of non-native objects, especially from the southern half of the Korean peninsula, has put North Korea’s border at the highest level of alert for the longest amount of time since the two Koreas separated in 1953. Sending propaganda leaflets and materials in air balloons has been common practice from both sides but Seoul has made it illegal in 2020.
“It appears to be an attempt to raise suspicion among North Korean citizens about the propaganda leaflets, an attempt to spread the false idea that the leaflets are carrying COVID-19,” Hyung Joong Park, head researcher at the Korea Institute of National Unification, told ABC News.
Park also explained that they are forming the narrative that COVID was caused not by failures by the Party but by a premeditated move from the outside.
North Korea has reported over 4,750 cases of “fever” on Friday and claims that, as of Thursday evening, since the pandemic began more than 99.827% of the people who had “fever” have recovered. There is an extremely limited number of COVID test kits in North Korea as the regime has refused to accept foreign assistance to help identify patients.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry responded to North Korea’s accusation and that they see zero possibility of viruses entering North Korea through leaflets from the South, explaining that the timing of the North’s claim of contact with “alien materials” at the beginning of April does not match the timing of leaflet-sending that activists in South Korea say took place in late April.
“South Korea’s Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization is on the same page that it is impossible to be infected with COVID-19 through the virus remaining on the surface of an object, not to mention there isn’t any officially confirmed case of COVID-19 infection through mail or other supply,” Cha Duck Chul, the deputy spokesperson of South’s Unification Ministry told reporters Friday.
On Tuesday, the defector group Fighters For North Korea based in Seoul claim to have flown 20 unauthorized balloons carrying masks, pain relief pills, and doses of Vitamin C in order to send support to pandemic-hit North Korea.
“Accusing the balloon and leaflets from South Korea of spreading virus lays a foundation for North Korea taking extreme measures against balloon launches on the grounds that it is a national security threat,” John Delury, professor at Yonsei University Graduate School of International Studies, told ABC News.
ABC News’ Eunseo Nam and Hyerim Lee contributed to this report.
After a week of teasing, Cardi B’s new song “Hot S***” arrived on Friday!
Cardi teamed up with Kanye West and Lil Durk for the record, which the female rapper previously described as “masculine” and “great for the clubs.”
In typical Cardi fashion, the track oozes confidence as she raps the chorus, “Oof (Oof), checks comin’ fast, I’m like swoosh (Swoosh) / Ooh (Ooh), give ’em to them straight, hundred proof (Proof) / I thought I killed you hoes before, it must be déjà vu /It’s either that or I’m catchin’ body, number two.”
Cardi first teased “Hot S***” on Sunday, June 26, then, the next day, she revealed that Ye and Lil Durk would be joining her on the record.
“Hot S***” is Cardi’s first single of 2022, however, it almost didn’t arrive as planned. In an Instagram Live on June 28, she expressed that she wanted to cancel the song release because the music video to assist the track wasn’t ready and added that “a lot of people have been dropping the ball for the past two months.” Ultimately, she decided to “push” and put the song out for her fans anyway.
“Hot S***” is expected to appear on Cardi’s long-awaited sophomore album, the follow up to 2018’s Invasion of Privacy.
Alderwoman Jeanette Taylor is pictured with Chicago youth attending the 20th ward’s annual youth forum. – Courtesy Alderwoman Jeanette Taylor
(CHICAGO) — As a 19-year-old, Jeanette Taylor was a single mother raising three children inside a one-bedroom apartment she shared with her mother, brother, sister and her niece. She knew they needed their own space, and fast, so she turned to the Chicago Housing Authority for housing assistance.
She was left on the waiting list for 29 years.
Taylor, now a Chicago alderwoman, said her story is indicative of the housing crisis people continue to face, so she’s taking legislative action to address the housing crisis and the system that keeps change from happening.
“I paid taxes, I worked, I volunteered at the kids’ school,” Taylor told ABC News. “I was doing what they say you’re supposed to do and when I reached out to the institutions, and my city that was supposed to help me, I didn’t get the help that I needed.”
Accessibility to affordable housing for low-income households is an issue plaguing the nation, Taylor said.
In Chicago, before the COVID-19 outbreak, the Chicago Coalition for Homelessness reported that “an estimated 58,273 people” were experiencing homelessness in 2019. In one night alone, over 326,000 people experienced sheltered homelessness in the United States, according to the 2021 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress.
Having struggled with navigating the housing system in her own city, she made it her priority to reach out to the Chicago Housing Authority upon taking office in 2019 to address the city’s high rates of homelessness.
With decadeslong waitlists and the livelihoods of thousands of families hanging in the balance of housing voucher rotations, Taylor knew the city lacked a substantial commitment to change.
“We know sending them into shelters, and transitional housing is horrible,” Taylor said. “We got a real opportunity to talk about how do we help the homeless population in the city.”
The director of public affairs of the Chicago Department of housing, Eugenia Orr, told ABC News the city is taking steps to combat the issue.
Orr said the City Lots for Working Families (CL4WF) program is an effort to promote the development of affordable housing on vacant lots throughout the Chicago area. In addition, the program works to “incentivize home builders” and provide vacant lots to affordable housing developers.
“Homes must be made available to qualified buyers with incomes up to 140% of area median income,” Orr said.
Although the program repurposes the land, the link between the vacant buildings and accessibility for low-income households is part of Taylor’s proposed Accountable Housing and Transparency ordinance.
Taylor introduced the ordinance in April this year to centralize efforts in housing the homeless and those in need. Other key features of the ordinance include prioritizing the displaced and disabled, centralizing leasing, a single waitlist, “interagency coordination” among all Chicago-based public health and housing institutions, and a requirement for each affordable housing unit to “achieve and maintain 97% occupancy rate.”
By consolidating the separate platforms of applying to affordable housing created by different agencies, Taylor said the ordinance aims to simplify the process so that more people and families can obtain safe housing in a reasonable amount of time.
Taylor, who shared her story last month about finally being added to the top of the housing waitlist, said she did so to open a larger discussion on the national issue of accessibility to affordable housing.
“The system should be ashamed, not me,” Taylor said.
Soon after Taylor’s post went viral, the CHA released a statement addressing news reports highlighting their long wait times.
“CHA’s public housing and project-based voucher waitlists are always open and have wait times that range from as little as six months, to as much as 25 years,” the CHA said in a statement going on to explain its system of recycling the 47,000 vouchers that the federal government grants to the CHA.
“The number allotted has not increased in years,” the CHA said. “A voucher only becomes available to a new family on the waitlist after it is no longer being used by an existing voucher holder.”
Taylor said she knows of the wait pains families go through. When she finally got a call saying they had found her an apartment, they said her son could not live there because he had just graduated and turned 18.
“After completing my application, the young lady told me that I wasn’t gonna be able to put him on my lease,” Taylor said. “She was like, ‘if we find him in your unit, you will lose your CHA housing.'”
Taylor had to either rejoin the waitlist, or move without her son.
“I’ll be homeless before I put my 18-year-old son out,” Taylor said.
As years passed, Taylor said she’d received a letter assuring her that her number was getting closer to the point of selection. Finally, after meeting with the head of the Chicago Housing Authority 2019 Taylor said she received a letter on May 20 notifying her that she made it to the top of the waitlist and could begin the application process.
“I just sat on the bed,” Taylor said. “The kid that handed me the mail, is the kid that I just had when I applied for this, who will be 29.”
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reports that there are over 970,000 households residing in public housing units across the nation, a number that fluctuates daily.
For many families like Taylor’s, she said many feel like “there’s no choice” except just to continue fighting.
According to a 2021 point-in-time count conducted by HUD, 122,849 African Americans experienced sheltered homelessness compared to 3,055 Asians, 6,460 American Indian/Alaska Natives, 3,785 Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islanders, and 113,294 white people.
By taking the opportunity to fix a persistent housing issue in her ward, she hopes the housing crisis and racial housing disparities can be transparently addressed by the federal government.
“Black women, you figure it out, and I had to,” Taylor said.
(KEATON BEACH, Fla.) — A teenage girl was seriously injured in a shark attack at a Florida beach on Thursday, authorities said.
The attack happened at Keaton Beach in northwestern Florida’s Taylor County. The unidentified girl was scalloping in water approximately 5 feet deep near Grassy Island, just of Keaton Beach, when she was bitten by a shark, according to the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office.
“A family member reportedly jumped in the water and beat the shark until the juvenile was free,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
The girl suffered “serious injuries” and had to be airlifted to a hospital in Tallahassee, about 80 miles northwest of Keaton Beach, according to the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff’s office said the type of shark that attacked was unclear but it was described as approximately 9 feet long.
“Swimmers and scallopers are cautioned to be alert, vigilant, and practice shark safety,” the sheriff’s office added. “Some rules to follow are: never swim alone, do not enter the water near fishermen, avoid areas such as sandbars (where sharks like to congregate), do not swim near large schools of fish, and avoid erratic movements while in the water.”
Shark attacks increased worldwide in 2021 after three consecutive years of decline, though the previous year’s significantly low numbers were attributed to lockdowns and restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, according to yearly research conducted by the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File.
Florida has topped the global charts in the number of shark bites for decades, and the trend continued in 2021, researchers said. Out of 73 unprovoked incidents recorded around the world last year, 28 were in Florida, representing 60% of the total cases in the United States and 38% of cases worldwide. That number was consistent with Florida’s most recent five-year annual average of 25 shark attacks, according to researchers.
(UVALDE, Texas) — More than one month since the massacre at Robb Elementary School that killed 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, families of victims demanded answers from city leaders during a special council meeting on Thursday.
Frustrated by the lack of information from the ongoing state investigation, families turned to the council for answers — but they got none.
“We’re not trying to hide anything from you,” said Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin on Thursday. “We don’t have anything.”
After returning from discussing the shooting behind closed doors, McLaughlin told the assembled family members and media that they had no more information to share than they did two hours earlier when they went behind closed doors.
But families pressed the mayor for details and complained about the lack of transparency.
“We’re looking for some answers that nobody seems to be getting and it’s just making Uvalde PD and everybody else look even more guilty,” said Berlinda Arreola, grandmother of Amerie Jo Garza, one of the students who died.
“Look at this as a dad, as a parent,” said Garza’s dad who was also at the meeting. “What if it was your kid?”
“You’re in charge of this city,” one parent yelled.
During the meeting, the sister of Irma Garcia, one of the fourth-grade teachers who died, demanded answers from the mayor and blamed the Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell Busbee for how the investigation has been handled.
The families complained the district attorney has dodged their questions and has refused to release evidence including 911 calls and surveillance footage.
“No one should have much power,” Irma Garcia’s sister, Velma Lisa Duran, said of the district attorney.
“My sister was obliterated,” Duran added before breaking down in tears. “I couldn’t hug her. I couldn’t say my last goodbye.”
In response to the family’s complains and demands for more information, McLaughlin showed the room two letters he says he received in response to his requests for information. One, from Busbee, said, “any release of records to that incident at this time would interfere with said ongoing investigation” referring to the school shooting.
The other letter McLaughlin showed during the meeting was from the Texas Department of Public Safety saying, “release of records related to that incident at this time would interfere with the ongoing investigation.”
The anger in the room was met with frustration from the mayor as well. He told the parents that the issue was beyond his reach, and that he has tried to get answers.
McLaughlin added that if they didn’t have confidence in him, he would step down.
Notably, embattled Police Chief Pete Arredondo was a no-show — his third absence at a meeting since he was sworn in as councilman last month.
Last week, Arredondo was placed on administrative leave by the school district.
Uvalde:365 is a continuing ABC News series reported from Uvalde and focused on the Texas community and how it forges on in the shadow of tragedy.
(NEW YORK) — The Fourth of July rings in the peak of summer quite literally as fireworks fly into the sky from cities to backyards alike.
While the celebration is often colorful and exciting, it is also a time that can be very loud and frightening for dogs around the country, causing it to be the weekend more pets go missing than any other time of the year, according to the American Kennel Club.
It is common for dogs to suffer from noise phobia and fireworks are usually a big trigger. The noise of fireworks causes dogs to enter survival mode, according to Kitty Block, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States. This can leave dogs feeling panicked, and can even cause “dogs considered to be very laid-back” to bolt from their owners and destruct their home.
“It is a logical response if you think of it from the dog’s perspective,” Block explains. “They hear extremely loud noises that often make the ground vibrate and see bright flashing lights. They don’t know it’s a holiday or a celebration, often they don’t even know where the sound is coming from, so their desire to get away or hide is understandable.”
There are some overt signs that your dog could be getting anxious, such as whining, pacing, and running away. However, dogs can also show more subtle signs of anxiousness, which can look like presenting “a general restlessness when the fireworks are happening,” explains Nick Hof, chair of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers.
The anxiety dogs have from fireworks can also be acquired over time or after a traumatic incident, which Hof’s dog, Lanie, experienced after losing her canine brother.
“One of my dogs a few years ago lost her brother and actually gained an anxiety for the Fourth of July when we no longer had her brother here as well,” Hof shares. “It took me by surprise because she had previously been totally fine.”
“When the Fourth of July came the year after, she became very panicked, would cry and whine, completely unable to settle down or relax,” Hof added.
Hof said he did everything he could to try and help her in that difficult situation, such as “turning on relaxing music to mitigate the sounds of fireworks” and “offering tasty, high-value treats” in an effort to make the experience less scary for her, which are a few of the many useful ways to ease your dog’s anxiety.
However, something unique and hopeful about this time of the year is that there is always a definite day these particular fireworks are planned to go off, which means we can prepare for it. Experts believe we have improved over time as a society with how we handle our dogs with care on the Fourth of July.
From anti-anxiety sweaters known as “Thunder Shirts” to desensitization CDs that help utilize the sound of thunderstorms, there are many different ways of dealing with anxiety in animals, said Dr. Klein, chief veterinary officer at the American Kennel Club.
There has also been an improvement in veterinary medicine with the types of medications that are offered for dogs with anxiety and noise phobia.
“We are moving away from medications that were just purely sedative and moving more towards ones that have anti-anxiety components that can help reduce the actual anxiety that the dogs are feeling,” said Hof.
Here are 6 ways to treat your dog with care on July 4 to lessen anxiety and panicking:
1. Create a sense of calmness and compete with the noise by turning on a radio or television.
2. Place a cotton ball in their ears while the fireworks go on (just remember to take them out!)
3. Stay with your pet or have a family member or friend dog-sit for the day to give them a sense of security.
4. Take your dog out on a leash when they need to use the bathroom so they are not alone and cannot run away at the noise of fireworks.
5. Play fetch with them, put on some relaxing music, and reward them with treats.
6. Most importantly, keep them far away from the fireworks show!
