To have expected a warning (fireworks)?

[FlapsTie]

Our back neighbours (adjoining gardens) have just had a huge firework display.

We have a cat and a dog who have been scared shitless. With a bit of warning we'd have kept them indoors, upstairs and sheltered from it as much as possible.

Us humans actually enjoyed watching it but we had to watch from inside (as they did) due to the falling debris, which we discovered after a few minutes of stepping outside.

Our kids play together and we are on nodding terms. AIBU to think a knock on the door at some point during the last few days would have been appropriate? Or am I being a grinch?

Fireworks galore here more than normal
But guessing it's fell on a weekend . X

I exercised the crap out of my dogs late this afternoon in preparation for tonight. Our neighbours had a big display consisting mainly of loud bangers. They didn't bother to let us know which slightly irritates me given that they are always gushing over our dogs, their daughter always wants to stroke them etc, I just assumed they might have mentioned it. Obviously not......

Bonfire night is the 5th of November same every year since 1605 plenty of warning I would say ha ha sorry to be flippant but bonfire night is bonfire night!!
I've got cats, dogs and a rabbit all been prepared in advance for bonfire night I would have been taking them to a quieter place anyway not waiting for it to happen!

Pollyanna - so what, all the people who celebrate Diwali can just fuck off then? Chinese New Year? New Years Eve We should just have fireworks around Bonfire Night because some pet owners care more about their pets than other people's happiness for a few minutes?

YABU to have expected a warning on nov 5th - but also YANBU if you to think it would have been appropriate for your neighbours to have let you know. It would have been a considerate thing to have done.

Personally don't think yabu; I was always under the impression that it was common courtesy to let people know about close fireworks.

That said, I was taught that by DM and DGM who are from very different generations, and I suspect that it was more difficult/costly to do personal displays back then, so perhaps that's why the common courtesy thing began? Idk. Even still, fireworks raining debris into your garden sounds pretty darned unpleasant.

Round our way more people have had back garden ones than any other year I've known. I would much rather pay a lot less and go to a display. Fortunately my 2 aren't affected by fireworks noise at all and I don't have animals but personal displays are bloody loud. Previous years adjacent gardens have had displays which felt like they were going off in our living room.

some pet owners care more about their pets than other people's happiness for a few minutes?

A few minutes??? Try 6 fecking hours - dickheads are still setting them off now

We've had them every night this week.

A few minutes

I agree with Polyanna.... we KNOW there are gonna be fireworks on and around several countrywide celebrations as well as random things like weddings. Soooooo why oh why do pet / horse owners not do prep work with them.

There are various cd based programmes to accustom animals to fireworks and other loud sounds ... you can condition animals to associate these sounds with pleasant experiences. Yes it takes time and work on our part ....but it works ! Yes, there will be some that may still need something extra like sedation but most animals will be helped by such a programme.

Better than the anxiety for all .... and vainly hoping people having displays will tell everyone in an x metre / km radius they are letting off firework.......... that aint gonna happen.

For all the smug little gloaty smart arses saying 'why don't pet owners prepare their animals'..

The preparation work required to really make an animal bombproof to such sounds...

ie, classical conditioning

Requires that the animal always pairs the sound with something reinforcing

That the animal does NOT experience the sound louder/closer/more frequently than their current ability to cope..

Requires that their stress levels remain low so they can process what they are learning.

Given fireworks are unpredictable, because its NOT just the 5th, its the week before, the week after its Divali, its halloween its new years eve, its the local colleges leaving party (yes!), its mrs bloggs wedding, its so and so's birthday...

It really ISNT possible for the owners of many pets who already have a fearful reaction to fireworks to do something about it.

For those with brand new kittens and puppies, yes... for anyone who has taken on a rescue dog, or whose dog got scared before they knew what to do about it... it is a fucking difficult job and the random unpredictableness of fireworks BECAUSE they are available to the public and therefore unpoliceable... means for many animals it is nigh on impossible.

I have 4 dogs who are fine with fireworks, absolutely fine.

I have one dog who got scared 15 years ago when some utter TWAT let one off behind us one afternoon in october (still daylight!)... we have worked on the issue since then but he damn well knows the difference between the real thing and a cd, he's fine with the cd he's fine with fireworks on the tv, hes fine now with fireworks in the far distance...

But once he has had a couple of nights of random fireworks, his stress (his adrenaline, his cortisol) are up too high and he CANNOT relax and he IS terrified of the constant barrage of explosions.

So, I say make them like other explosives, something that requires a licence and an approved event - that means there should be NO fireworks in peoples gardens or in the streets or in the hands of muppets but if you DO want fireworks for aunty betties 95th, you can book it via a licenced fireworks company and get it approved if your site is suitable and then put a notice on a lcaol 'we are having fireworks' website that everyone has to notify.. and that would resolve the issues for everyone really.

One place for folk to check weekly for fireworks, no unlicenced idiots iwth explosives running about eh streets. People who want them can have them.

Dogs aren't naturally scared of fireworks though - it's a learnt behaviour. Mostly reinforced by "dog is scared, owner gives cuddle, dogs knows that when it's scared it gets comfort, acts scared again next time"

If you have adjoining gardens then maybe they wonder why you don't do the neighbourly thing and warn them when your cat has done a massive poo in their garden before they let their kids tread in it.

some pet owners care more about their pets than other people's happiness for a few minutes?

Er.. you mean you think that's unreasonable? When the 'happiness' induced by fireworks is such a transitory thing, and wouldn't be much diminished by having some controls on their use. We used to enjoy a few small ones for their prettiness, not their noise, and a local display in the middle of a park not close to houses.

Do some people care more about a few minutes of pleasure than inflicting real suffering on animals?

Sugarlightly

Massively incorrect and very common misconception.

All animals are naturally scared of shit that goes BANG suddenly and without warning - baby animals who have not yet entered that developmental stage will not display fear, because it doesn't benefit them in anyway (they are too small to run away from it, doing anything would just attract the wrong sort of attention).

Once they get to 8/9 weeks, puppies show fear of new and novel stimuli. THat is NOT a learned behaviour at all.

The huge massive misconception though is that you can 'reinforce fear by cuddling the dog'.

No. No you can't. You cannot EVER reinforce fear by adding something NICE to the equation.

Not ever.

Fear is an emotional reaction it is not something you or any animal can produce at will. Fear is not a behaviour, fear produces behaviours.

What you CAN do, and what DOES happen, is that the dog is scared, and the owner THINKING they are doinga nice thing, cuddles the dog...

But in fact for the dog this is an aversive thing, it is ALSO SCARY... and this increases the dogs fear, because you CAN make fear worse by adding MORE scary stuff to the situation.

So if you have a dog who is scared and they are ASKING you for your help, to do something that will reduce their fear..

For fucks sake do it! Do not ignore them or push them away in some wildly misguided belief that you will make their fear worse by somehow 'rewarding it'.. becuase that is nonsensical bullshit.

Just don't go doing something the dog will find upsetting (ie, running around being hysterical 'OH POOPSIEKINS YES ITS SO SCARY MOMMYS GONE INSANE TOO' or cuddling them when they hate cuddles).