For the oldest of my dogs, 12-year-old Andy, one of the problems of advancing age will turn out to be a benefit in the days to come. His hearing failing, Andy won't be bothered by the sound of fireworks.

As troubled as he has been by the racket over the years, his new "handicap" should make this Fourth of July one of the least troublesome I've ever spent. Until recently I've always had dogs who considered the noise a dreadful ordeal. Now with Andy comfortably oblivious and the two retrievers -- both from field-trial backgrounds -- completely unruffled, I'm finally looking forward to the holiday.

But I won't be letting my guard down.

The Fourth of July is the worst holiday for pets and those who love them. As the noise increases, animals get nervous, some to the point of snapping or running in fear. The days after the celebrations find some at the homes of good samaritans or at shelters, safe for a while and waiting for pickup. Others may never make it through the night, or may never be reunited with their families.

Emergency clinics are popular too, as panicky pets also end up hurt. My parents' dog once jumped through a sliding-glass door on the Fourth and needed nearly as many stitches as Betsy Ross put in her flag to survive.

While accidents do happen, you can do a lot to prevent them and make the holiday easier on both you and your pets.

First, make sure your pets are secure. Check your fences and gates. Are there loose or missing boards or enticing gaps at the baseline that could be opened up with a little digging? Fix them all. An anxious pet might be more determined about escape than usual. Better still, bring all your pets in and consider confining them to a small area like a crate or carrier -- especially if you're not staying home to keep an eye on things.

Always assume your pet may become lost and plan accordingly. Collars and tags are tickets home for lost pets; for insurance, add a microchip. Some people worry about the safety of collars on their cats, but one look at all the healthy, well-fed, obviously lost strays in any shelter will tell you that the asset of a collar and tag far outweighs any risks. A shelter worker I know says she's never seen a cat die from a snagged collar, but she's seen too many die because they didn't have any way to be reunited with their owners.

It's a good idea to keep current, clear pictures of your pets on hand in case they do slip away; you'll need them for fliers. If you lose your pet, put fliers everywhere you can and place a lost ad in the paper right away; don't waste precious time hoping your pet will wander home. Scan the neighborhood, watch "found" ads and check the shelters every other day in person. Don't give up too soon: Pets have been located weeks after their disappearance.

While you're planning for the worst, figure out where you'd go for a veterinary emergency. Does your veterinary hospital staff for around-the-clock emergency care? Will they arrange for on-call care? Find out what your veterinarian offers before you need to know, and be sure if you'll be heading to an emergency clinic, you know the phone number and the location.

Finally, if you've got a pet for whom the noise is terrifying, talk to your veterinarian about tranquilizers you can administer at home to take the edge off the worst of it for your pet.

PETS ON THE WEB

The dog-show world checks in at the InfoDog Web site (www.infodog.com), the online home of the nation's top show superintendent, MB-F Inc. At InfoDog you can find out not only the when and where for most shows, but also who'll be judging what and, afterward, who won. If you really want to plan ahead, the judging panel for Westminster Kennel Club (to be held February in New York's Madison Square Garden) is already posted. The site is a tad clunky, but there's lots to sniff through.

PET TIP

Is your dog so bad at nail-trims that you've simply given up? A power tool may be the answer. Rotary grinding tools such as the Dremel are great for keeping nails short, without the wrestling and crying that nail-cutters often provoke.

Use a rough sandpaper head and start slowly. Make sure your pet is comfortable with the whine of the machine, and then work up to a touch of single nail and then a little grinding. Depending on your pet, the learning curve may take just a couple sessions or a great deal longer. With patience and praise, though, you'll both find it easier to keep nails short and feet healthy.

If your dog's nails are out of control, have your veterinarian or groomer take them to a reasonable length to start with. And don't forget to wear a face mask and follow other safety precautions when using the tool --the dust will make you sneeze.

QUESTIONS FROM THE PACK

Q: I think my cat has acne -- at least it looks like pimples and blackheads on his chin. What should I do about them? -- P.L., Albuquerque, N.M.

A: Yes, cats get acne too. Most classic acne cases occur in cats who are simply not good chin groomers. But there are many things that can contribute to the development and severity of feline acne and other conditions that mimic it. A few possibilities include parasites, fungus or allergies.

Your veterinarian can help you work out the exact problem. The area will likely need to be kept washed, but don't squeeze the blemishes (pretending, for a moment, that your cat would allow it anyway!). Creams and antibiotics may also be prescribed. If you're following your veterinarian's directions and the problem shows no sign of improvement within a couple weeks, discuss a referral to a dermatology specialist, or consider learning to live with the problem.

The good news is that feline acne is more of an aesthetic dilemma than a serious health concern. As long as the area doesn't become infected, your cat won't be bothered by the blemishes.

Q: We have a 5-month-old pug puppy, and she is adorable. There's just one problem: She has started to wake up at 4 a.m. When she wakes up this early, we give her some food and then go back to bed ourselves.

We've tried keeping her up later. We've tried letting her be, hoping she'll be quiet. Neither works. Is there any way we can help her learn that people need more than 5 1/2 hours of sleep a night? I am so tired most days I can hardly stay awake. -- A.R., the Internet

A. Your puppy has you well-trained: She makes noise and you feed her. Not only that, you've unwittingly reinforced the behavior by showing her that if she doesn't let up, you'll eventually give in.

You're going to have a harder time convincing her otherwise now, but unless you want to spend the rest of your lives getting up at 4 a.m. -- or earlier -- you're going to have to be tough.

Ignore her when she wakes up and starts making noise. Cover your heads with pillows and repeat silently to yourselves, "She's a 5-month-old puppy, and we won't let her buffalo us." Do not let her out, and above all do not feed her: You'll be rewarding the behavior you want ended, and that's what got you into trouble in the first place.

Let her carry on. It may well get worse before it gets better -- remember you've trained her to keep it up -- but it will indeed get better. Work to disassociate rewards of any kind with release from her crate: Don't make a fuss when you let her out and don't feed her right away. Take her outside calmly and praise her for doing her business. In a little while, feed her. She needs to learn to stay quietly in her crate and trust that you will see her needs are met.

I'm guessing she'll learn quickly, but if she doesn't you might also consider using a shot of water from a squirt bottle (don't let her see you shoot her), or gentle anti-bark products such as those that release a sharp tone or a spray of citronella.

Gina Spadafori is the award-winning author of "Dogs for Dummies" and "Cats for Dummies," and is the editorial director of the Veterinary Information Network Inc., an international online service for veterinary professionals. Write to her in care of this newspaper, or e-mail to Giori(at)aol.com.

4520 Main St., Kansas City, Mo. 64111; (816) 932-6600

While I know it's a little unusual, the fact remains: I met two of my three dogs for the first time at the baggage counter of my local airport. One had flown from East Coast to West and changed planes once en route. The other had come on a relatively short flight. Both were grown "career change" dogs ready for a loving new home -- mine -- and like the vast majority of animals transported by air, the trip was more nerve-wracking for me than dangerous for them.

The Air Transport Association estimates that more than a half a million dogs and cats are transported on commercial airlines each year, and 99 percent reach their destinations without incident. That's nice, but it's small consolation if your pet is in that remaining 1 percent.

If your pet is a bird, cat or small dog whose carrier will fit under an airline seat, you have the best option of all: Choose an airline that will allow you to bring your pet in his carrier into the passenger compartment as carry-on baggage.

The carry-on option is by far the best, but you can do a great deal to keep your pet safe even in the baggage hold -- the way most will travel -- by doing your homework, knowing your pet and being prepared to be politely pushy while your animal's in the care of an airline. Here are some things to remember:

-- Talk to the airline. Some carriers, especially the no-frills companies, don't take animals at all. Even those that do have limits on the number of animals on a flight because a set amount of air is available in the sealed cargo holds. You also need to know where and when your pet has to be presented, and what papers -- health certificate, and so on -- you need to bring.

-- Be sure your pet is in good health. Air travel isn't recommended for elderly or ill animals, and is likewise ill-advised for the pug-nosed breeds of dogs. These animals find breathing a little difficult under the best of circumstances, and the stress of airline travel may be more than they can handle.

-- Choose a carrier designed for air travel. The crate should be just big enough for your pet to stand up and turn around in. Check and double-check that all the bolts securing the halves of the carrier are in place and tightened.

While your pet cannot wear a collar in his crate -- it's not safe since it can get hung up -- put an ID tag on a piece of elastic around his neck. Be sure the crate has contact phone numbers for both ends of the journey prominently displayed.

-- Consider travel conditions. Don't ship your pet when air traffic is heaviest. Choose flights that are on the ground when the temperature is neither too hot nor too cold, not only at the departure airport but also at the connecting and arriving airports. In summer, a night flight is likely better, while the reverse is true in the winter.

-- Choose a direct flight; if that's not possible, try for a route with a short layover. Most animal fatalities occur on the ground, when pets are left in their crates on the hot tarmac or in stifling cargo holds.

Remember your pet's life relies on the attentiveness of airline personnel. Most of these employees are excellent and caring, but mistakes do happen. You should be prepared to pester airline personnel to confirm that your pet has been loaded and has made any connections.

Contrary to popular belief, it's generally better that your pet not be tranquilized before flying. The combination of high altitude and limited oxygen is a challenge your pet's body is better prepared to meet if he's not sedated. Still, your pet may be an exception. Talk to your veterinarian about this issue.

Pets on the Web: Sandra Loosemore is a serious frog fan, and her Froggy Page (http://frog.simplenet.com/froggy) is the delightful result. Bright, well-organized and jam-packed with information from the silly to the dead serious, the Froggy Page is a real treat. Don't miss the collection of frog sounds. Ribbit!

Gina Spadafori is the award-winning author of "Dogs for Dummies" and "Cats for Dummies," and is the editorial director of the Veterinary Information Network Inc., an international online service for veterinary professionals. Write to her in care of this newspaper, or e-mail to Giori(at)aol.com.

4520 Main St., Kansas City, Mo. 64111; (816) 932-6600

Chalk one more thing up to El Nino: All the water it has brought our way is contributing to what will be a bumper crop of mosquitoes in many parts of the country. And while those pests mean lots of scratching for us humans, for our dogs the risk can be far more serious. In a word, heartworm.

That's because without mosquitoes, there wouldn't be a problem with this deadly parasite. Mosquitoes pick up the microscopic heartworm larvae in the blood of infested animals and help the parasites find a new home while drawing the blood of another victim. In a worm-friendly environment -- such as a dog -- the tiny pests head for the pulmonary arteries and develop into 9- to 14-inch worms that will if left untreated eventually choke the life out of their host.

Still, it isn't easy to convince some people that their dogs need to be protected against heartworm. To some, putting out money to prevent something they can't see makes them wonder if the whole thing wasn't cooked up by veterinarians and drug companies.

But the facts prove otherwise. Heartworm disease has been found in every state, and it's nothing to mess with.

Heartworm symptoms are virtually the same as with any other form of heart disease. Most infested dogs are brought to the veterinarian after their owners noticed them coughing at night, coughing after exercise or experiencing a more general loss in condition -- weight loss, dull coat, lethargy. By the time the symptoms are noticed, however, a great deal of damage has usually been done, not only to the heart, but also to other organs such as the kidneys, which rely on a steady flow of blood to operate.

Preventive care remains the best way of protecting your pet from the pest. That care starts with a heartworm test, a simple procedure that involves drawing blood and checking for the presence of the larvae. The test is essential, since the preventive medication given to a heartworm-free dog can be dangerous for a dog with a heartworm infestation.

If the test is negative, there are two kinds of medication available to keep the dog free of heartworms. The daily pill protects by keeping a low dose of poison circulating in the blood to kill the microfilaria before they get a chance to settle. The monthly pill works by killing the worms that have established themselves in the preceding month. This season, one company is even combining the monthly pill with monthly flea-control medication.

Which should you use? It's up to you, and it depends on what you're more likely to administer reliably. The daily pills work perfectly, but only if you have a perfect record of giving them to your dog. A lapse of a day or so is more than enough time for the pest to get established.

If you're inclined to skip days, then the monthly medication may be your best bet. And if you start on the daily pills but stop for whatever reason, a switch in a month's time to the other treatment will ensure that your pet will be protected.

A positive heartworm test will likely require treatment to save your pet's life. New medications make treatment safer these days, but your veterinarian will likely still suggest tests beforehand to spot any complicating factors, including blood and urine screens and chest X-rays. If that sounds expensive, than it's just another reason why prevention is the only way to go with this pest, especially in a year such as this one.

Preventive care, starting with good nutrition and exercise, is easy to overlook or put off. But nothing will make as powerful a day-to-day difference in the life of your pet as good health. And heartworm prevention is part of ensuring it.

Pets on the Web: While shows are probably a better "best" place to study animal breeds, the Internet offers a lot of possibilities. This week found me musing about the Abyssinian, a handsome cat who looks more than a little like a panther. A good page to find more about this breed is Patti Cassalia's Abyssinian FAQ (www.tdl.com/(tilde)pattic/abyfaq). Also, the bottom of this page has a link to the Cat Fanciers Web site (www.fanciers.com). Good reading, great pictures.

Gina Spadafori is the award-winning author of "Dogs for Dummies" and "Cats for Dummies," and is the editorial director of the Veterinary Information Network Inc., an international online service for veterinary professionals. Write to her in care of this newspaper, or e-mail to Giori(at)aol.com.

4520 Main St., Kansas City, Mo. 64111; (816) 932-6600