I wanted to respond to your question about distances. If you have looked at Google Earth, you may have missed one of the features that I find very helpful. There is a great measuring tool on there that allows you to plot any course and measure the distance. For example, here are the distances from the fireworks launch area first to the 500 loop and then to the 1900 loop: It only stands to reason that the extra distance would result in less noise, but I'm not sure if it will be a big enough decrease to make a difference to your pet. With regard to walking distances, if you were assigned a