Fireworks

Gail · Big Cheese

Fireworks

Isla · Enlightened One

I'm afraid I don't know of any and I must admit, I am dreading the onset of the fireworks. Tigger and Millie are fine about it and don't turn an eyelash in the direction of the noise. Wills, on the other hand, is a nightmare! He gets terribly stressed and we sometimes think he's in danger of having a heart attack! I've tried the spray stuff and that didn't make a blind bit of difference. What worries me is that he's getting worse, the flash from the camera is setting him off now and he's associating heavy rain with thunder storms and getting in a tiz! As you can imagine, fretting over heavy rain is not ideal when you live on the West coast of Scotland!!! So, I too, would much appreciate any suggestions on this.

I hate this time of year and fireworks!

Anyanka · Master

Bonnie has always been terrified of thunder and fireworks; she runs and hides. At nearly six years old, she is not quite as panicky as she used to be - used to tremble all over and run from one hiding place to another - but still seeks shelter at the first bang.

She also got anxious about certain places - husband had walked her in one particular park on a couple of occasions when fireworks went off there; for several months afterwards she would not get out of the car at that particular place in the dark!

I've found that the only solution is to keep her indoors whenever fireworks go off, walking her as early in the day as possible. - Not much help if you're working full-time, I know.

MojoTilly · Master

Not sure what it's called but you can buy special CD's that you can play for a time each day building it up that can help de-sensitise dogs to loud noises such as fireworks. We had a foster dog years ago that was terrified of fireworks but we suspect that she'd had fireworks set off really near her as she had lots of burn marks all over her back and used to completely freak out when she heard them. One particular night i was walking her and Eeyore (who was deaf), he was pottering along quite unaware sniffing every blade of grass without a care in the world and Bubble was just about pulling my arm out the socket in the hurry to get home. I felt like i was going to split in two!

Jax · Master

The CD is available in Pets at Home and probably other big stores. We saw it the other day and considered getting it as Dan gets a bit freaked with fireworks (discovered this while watching a movie with surround sound, he bolted upstairs and hid at the side of the bed!). We've decided to wait and see how he is though, the fireworks haven't been too bad here as yet and tend to be quite a bit off in the distance thankfully. I had a beagle years ago who used to hide in the bottom of the wardrobe when she heard fireworks, in itself not that bad except she usually peed there too. Nothing could prise her out of there, poor soul. Hopefully Dan won't be as bad as that. Sally meanwhile is blissfull unbothered by it all, probably because it doesn't involve food!

JENNY · Big Cheese

There was a good article in a dog magazine last month about fireworks and the preparation you can do to make it as calm as possible.

Some of the suggestions were:
-Close all the windows and hang a blanket over the window of the room the dog will be in to add to sound proofing.
-Use rescue remedy in their water a week before the fireworks start and throughout the time they are on.
-Plug in DAP diffuser.
-Watch the tv loudly or put on music to drown out the noise
-Make a den for the dog to go in by hanging a blanket over a table if they don't have a crate so they feel secure
-Use calming signals such as long slow yawns, slow blinking and stretching to show their is nothing to worry about.
-Lastly don't make a fuss of the dog as they will feel the tension off you and will think they should be worried

max · Enlightened One

I have to say about the lead up to fireworks is to try to keep things as normal as possible, do not make a fuss,try not to do things out of routine , Yes do turn the sound of the TV up and close all curtains and give rescue remedy for at least ONE MONTH before the big night and keep calm. If you start to get wound up your dog will sense it, do not say " it,s OK" etc to the dog just act as if nothing is happening . It is not fool proof and ,yes your dog may get stressed, but if you can stay calm your dog will get the message that there is nothing to worry about. If you hear a loud bang, laugh as if it is something on the TV and be as normal as possible so the dog does not get excited and starts to fret. It works for my lot and we have been doing it for a few years now. Last year we ( the humans ) went to a fireworks display up the road and left the dogs too it. When we got home they were neither up nor down and then we just settled down as usual in front off the TV and they were fine.

Nora

FAJ · Enlightened One

Hi, Gail - just to say that everyone who has posted has told you all you need to know. Pearly gets very, very stressed by fireworks and we follow all this advice with her. She starts off being anxious but when she can see that we're behaving normally, she quickly calms down. Having Harry last year for the first time helped a lot. I could see her looking at him from time to time, no doubt checking out his reaction to things. Thankfully he's not that bothered.

Hope all goes well. What a bluddy nuisance that the fireworks have started so soon.

Fiona

Anyanka · Master

To be honest, my version of 'behaving normal' is a bit more extreme than everyone else's here - I really just behave normal.

That includes not turning up the telly (well, except on really bad nights when the fireworks are drowning out our repeat-viewings of Buffy), or any of the other things mentioned above.

neeroz · Master

Abbey is a nervous pooch and fireworks season is a nightmare for her. So much so that once she's heard her first firework she won't go out in the dark unless she is 'burstin', and then only to 'go' literarily on the door step. We follow most the advise above (noise cd didn't work for us) but also give her scullcap & valarian herbal tablets from Dorwest Herbs. These seem to calm her down so she will sleep most of the night without having to get stronger stuff from the vet.

Been lucky so far, no fireworks yet!

weeewelamb · Old Hand

Hi Karen

Just caught up with this thread and I too have a dog whose fear of thunder and loud bangs had escalated into a fear of heavy rain and also changes in air pressure associated with thunder.

What I have done is this: every time I noticed the dog starting to show any signs of stress I immediately picked up a ball or other toy, rushed out into the garden and had a huge game with him, with much noise and hilarity. This has done wonders with the association bit. He no longer reacts badly to heavy rain and is only mildly affected by the air pressure thing.

If I had not sorted out this association problem I’m pretty sure it would have escalated to the point where the dog would have had no decent quality of life at all.

Although the association behaviour has been sorted (and it’s something I’ve always got to keep my eye on in case it starts creeping back) he is still so bad with really loud thunder and fireworks that, as a last resort, I have to sedate him to stop him injuring himself.

Julie

Teresa · Enlightened One

Julie, what do you use to sedate your dog?

Dave is totally freaked out by thunder and fireworks - he shakes and pants like mad, eventually sicking up his dinner and I'd like him to be much calmer in those situations, especially with bonfire night looming.

Tom and Daisy are completely unaffected by any noises !

weeewelamb · Old Hand

ACP tablets, only available from the vet Tree.

I have to stress --- this is a last resort and only given for his own safety, to stop him injuring himself as he has done several times in the past. I can get away with giving him a small dose if it's administered before he becomes stressed e.g. 3 or 4pm on bonfire night before the fireworks start, but if he's already panicky then it takes a large dose to quieten him. It makes him groggy and staggery for up to 48hrs but I believe different dogs react in different ways and it may not affect all dogs for such a long period of time.

He is now 10 years old and I keep hoping that his hearing will start to diminish soon!

Julie

Laura · Master

Rosie doesnt seem to be bothered by gun-shot outside, but I really hope she is fine with fireworks aswell. The other two are absolutely terrified. One year Gems got so scared she wedged herself underneath the boiler and we couldnt get her out the whole evening, for two reasons, she was scared, and she was stuck!! And the collie just shakes like crazy and tries to hide. The worst case was when we were getting work done on the house and little Gemmie manged to crawl underneath the floor boards! She scared us all as we hadnt a clue where she was!

We also try to ignore the dogs and just watch tv. The one time we did go out to watch the fireworks, we heard a cat crying, so we went to investigate. We couldnt find who it belonged to, so we put the dogs on their beds and shut the cat in the livingroom, where he happily slept the whole night! We took him to the vets and found his owner and they very kindly gave us a card and some chocolates to say thank you!

-- Edited by Laura at 21:24, 2006-10-14