‘Must I overdose my dog now?’

ALTA writes:

Dear Colin Caldwell, I think the people that should be ashamed are the ones sharing your lawless and selfish views.

Setting off fireworks where animals are present is against one of the Ekurhuleni by-laws.

So, unless you also support drinking and driving on New Year’s eve (because everyone knows that 90% of the population celebrate the old year with a drink or twelve, referring to your claim that “everyone knows that we celebrate the old year with fireworks…”), I find your statement irrelevant.

I try my utmost to keep my dogs calm during these periods where people choose to literally shoot their money into thin air by means of a loud, annoying bang, finding it greatly entertaining.

But as with any medication, it sometimes turn out to have an adverse effect or not the desired effect. So, after administering the recommended dosage to my two Staffies and not achieving the desired result, and repeating the action with pretty much the same outcome, I gave up.

Should I now kill my dog by overdosing, or loose ANOTHER dog due to drowning after it became so sedated after using these tranquilisers, to keep my neighbours happy while they’re performing illegal actions?

I don’t think so. Hopefully you also don’t complain about the crime in our city and country or the lawlessness of people on the road. You seem to be okay with that.