My grandmother's dog went nuts when firecrackers/fireworks went off. The noise really pained her or panicked her. We inherited the dog when my grandparents moved into an apartment and on Independence Day and New Year's Eve, we'd put her in the bathroom with the window and door closed to try to muffle the sound for her. It generally worked and we were (and still are) pro-fireworks. However, some idiots lit off firecrackers the weekend AFTER Independence Day after we'd given her a wash and my sister had tied her leash off to the deck railing to make sure she stayed put while she dried. We went off to church and came back to find the dog had jumped off the deck due to the fireworks/firecrackers (they were still setting them off when we got home). You can figure out what happened ... my sister was traumatized since she'd tied the dog off and I got to handle the mess.

My only point in this is that it IS real but a responsible pet owners can generally deal with it. What we couldn't deal with were idiots who decided it wasn't good enough to have fun on the Fourth.