Neighbour asked us not to do fireworks?

[lockdownqueen]

I'm in a group chat with girls on our new build estate I've sent out a pre warning as hubby has gone and bought some. Everyone was fine and said they will be in there gardens to watch then one of the girls asked us not too as her dog has severe panic attacks.

don't know what to do? Kids have been looking forward to them.

aibu to go ahead and do them?

My dog is 12 years old and gets very frightened during the firework season (which seems to go on for ever these days). He trembles uncontrollably and keeps creeping round the house trying to find a spot where he feels safe and often gets an upset stomach. It is distressing to see.

I'm not sure anyone can expect people not to have fireworks in their gardens, especially now that the big displays can't go ahead. For all the misery it causes animals though, I'm right off fireworks but I can see that not everyone would have the same view.

What I would like is for fireworks to be restricted to firework night and not run through from Halloween to 5 November and then at intervals also through the other winter months, Christmas and New Year's Eve.

For those who say train your dog to be desensitised to fireworks - my dog was never scared of fireworks when he was younger but for the last four years or so he has become more and more terrified.

Doing them on bonfire night or weekend either dife.of Nov 5th is acceptable as I am aware and so can keep dogs and cats in with TV on loudly and washing machine on to block out noise and blinds drawn. However it really pisses me off when people do them randomly on different nights around the year. That is very unfair to cats and dogs who miight be in the garden when they are let off and they do get so distressed

At risk of sounding a killjoy they should be banned totally. In these more enlightened times how can we justify fireworks, sky lanterns or balloons? The noise from fireworks causes a great amount of fear and distress in domestic and wild animals. Errant fireworks and lanterns can cause environmental damage through fires & from the release of poisonous chemicals. The damage from the plastic & metal waste from them and balloons, killing and injuring cattle, sheep, horses and wildlife is horrific. I know a lady who lost her horse from suffocating on a helium balloon. So many pets get lost on bonfire night too, many not being found again and as for bonfires and hedgehogs......really we should just find another way to celebrate things without causing harm.

"Yes please to Bunny pics..."

@Toomuchtrouble4me She's talking about a dead rabbit - one that died as a result of fear from fireworks, I assume you don't actually mean you want to see pictures of that poor animal's corpse?

Maybe some can’t to buy sedation from a vet.

I see so many port reviews home displays petrifying pets and recent Ju someone’s rabbits heart gave out and died. My horse is terrified of them, wished they was silent or banned.

I totally agree with you xx

All these dogs that are scared of fireworks. Do the owners never watch movies with gunfire or loud car chases etc? What happens in a thunder storm?

Put the TV on and sedate the dog

Wow Mumsnet is really shining and showing the compassion of the Great British public. Your neighbour has asked you not to so you shouldn't it's pretty simple. Fireworks are dangerous, expensive, pointless, noisy, messy, petrify so many people and animals and dammage property. Is it really worth all that for a few pretty lights that are over in a moment? Also if you are thinking in a completely selfish way (which clearly you are) good neighbor is worth a lot and you have to declare neighbor disputes when you sell too!!

Did you do them OP? Did your neighbour manage to do something with her dog for the time you told her? Did the kids and other neighbours enjoy them? I don't think I'd have done them if I was you but I'm a sucker for animals and never want to upset a neighbour, certainly if you're fairly new to each other. But also as a dog and pony and small child owner I'd never ask someone not to do them, I expect to have to deal with my kids and animals. I hope if you did do them it was alright for everyone in the end.

Well this thread taught me there’s still a huge amount of selfish twats in the world.
It’s not just animals to consider, but young children and adults that can find them a trigger too.
There’s a reason that there is such a huge push to get them banned for public sale.

Like I said set a time table you will finish by, neighough can take dog out for that time period. Everyone happy

No one had a problem with fireworks when I was young, we had a bonfire with the neighbours, food, and fireworks. Us kids would collect the wood for weeks before. I still have vivid memories of what fun they were. We had dogs then and kept them in. I have a dog & cat now, and keep them in. GO AHEAD, HAVE FUN AND MAKE A LOVELY MEMORY. I still love potato, cheese & onion pie from these nights. 45-52 yrs ago.
Neighbour can keep her dog in and turn her music/tv up.

ellyeth
What I would like is for fireworks to be restricted to firework night and not run through from Halloween to 5 November and then at intervals also through the other winter months, Christmas and New Year's Eve.

Although I do agree with this. Where we live they do go on as they are used for things like Diwali too

For those that say it's expected and pet owners should prepare how are we to do that when bloody fireworks have been going off most nights since beginning October and will probably continue until February! Where I live kids are letting them off every few days and my dogs are terrified. As for walking them if I don't get them walked before dark there's every chance someone will let fireworks off during their evening walk which results is them desperately trying to get home. Where I am there have been at least four fb posts of missing dogs who have bolted when hearing fireworks out on their walks. If they were restricted to Nov 5th and NYE then pet owners could try to help their animals but allowing sale of fireworks to Joe Public means it can happen any damn night. Why should I drug my pets for weeks on end just in case. Either ban them from sale and only have organised events, only allow silent ones or restrict to 05/11 & 31/12.

When you think about it, it’s a bit sick to celebrate a failed terrorist attack by setting off explosives like the terrorists had planned to do. We don’t do that with any other foiled terrorist attacks do we?

I have a dog who is scared of fireworks and shakes all night if she hears them and I m not a fan of fireworks on public sale as they seem to go off at random times of the year in people’s gardens with no warning. Having said that I always let my two little dogs out in the garden while it’s still light enduring they won’t need a wee until later and I turn the tv or radio up fairly loud and sit with them. We can hear the odd noise but on the whole it does the trick.
There are lots of fireworks available that don’t have the banging noises but I guess they re not as exciting for children and this year with no organised bonfires and displays I think children need all the excitement they can get this year so I d say let her know what time you ll be setting them off so she can prepare and enjoy yourselves and have a good evening xx

@amispeakingenglish

No one had a problem with fireworks when I was young, we had a bonfire with the neighbours, food, and fireworks. Us kids would collect the wood for weeks before. I still have vivid memories of what fun they were. We had dogs then and kept them in. I have a dog & cat now, and keep them in. GO AHEAD, HAVE FUN AND MAKE A LOVELY MEMORY. I still love potato, cheese & onion pie from these nights. 45-52 yrs ago. Neighbour can keep her dog in and turn her music/tv up.

That mainly because fireworks used to be pretty and not make that much noise. Now everyone seems to have the really loud ones, the ones that really do sound like a bomb going off and shake windows even in houses not that old.

Turning the tv up does nothing except, I imagine, annoy the neighbour next door, In desperation one year I turned my tv as loud as it would go but still could hear the bombs (oh sorry fireworks) over it.

I keep my dog in but he is still scared. One night I can cope with but weeks and weeks of it I can't

I don't know if so many people are selfish, uncaring or thick or maybe all of those things.

This is NOT just about dogs. I don't know why so many posters have ranted about dogs except, of course, it gives all the dog haters an excuse to do so.

Lots of animals are terrified and lots of animals are injured every year. Cows, horses, sheep, hedgehogs, rabbits, dogs, cats. Shall I list them all?

Lots of people are terrified every year and some are injured when dickheads throw lit fireworks through their letterboxes or on to buses they are on.

Lit fireworks are thrown at cars, emergency service people, animals.

They cause distress, injury, fires and often death.

They should be restricted to organised displays only. If they are sold to the general idiots (sorry public) then it firstly be the smaller and quieter ones, secondly it should be restricted to 5th November, you know the CORRECT night for fireworks and thirdly it should only be allowed between the hours of say 5 to 9 or possibly 10.

Letting fireworks off in the middle of the afternoon when it is still light is bloody stupid and an utter waste of money. That has always annoyed me but more now when that is why my poor dog is now scared of them.

Letting them off at midnight or even later is totally antisocial but the selfish twats don't care

In lots of areas fireworks are let off night after night for around 2 or more weeks. They are far too often the really loud ones. They can start about 3pm and go on till late.

Until last year I lived in a nice part of Essex. I kept a diary of firework noise in 2018 and there were fireworks for 17 nights in a row and not just the odd one or two. There were also fireworks on 5 other nights that year.

The earliest they started was 2pm! The latest I heard any was 3am.

I have friends and family still living in that area and nothing has changed this year. Some have dogs that have to be sedated even though it means they are sedated for a couple of weeks. The owners have tried everything else. One of my friends was sobbing down the phone to me yesterday because she was sure her dog was going to have a heart attack and die.

@Bookworming

Yes my opinion and many many many many many more peoples' opinion.

And many many saying don't ban them!

put down? Horses going into premature labour because of their fear and the foal dying? Old people being terrified? People with ptsd being terrified? People having fireworks thrown at them, people having them pushed through their letterbox, people on a bus having one thrown on the bus?

Ban cars, they get driven by drunk people, they get driven by drugged people, they get driven to fast, they terrify people by being driven badly. People kill people with cars all the time, cars kill cyclists, horses, dogs, cars, wildlife. Ban them!

This is a ridiculous argument. Nobody 'needs' explosive fireworks. There are a thousand other ways to enjoy Hallowe'en. Cars (dangerous and horrendous to the planet that they are) are now sadly an essential part of most people's lives. You can't compare the two.

Totally agree with @lynsey91. To add to this, having read a lot more of these posts. Re 'sensitising dogs' - this may work with some, but just like people some dogs take years to work through issues like these. My current dog is a bit freaked out by fireworks, but gets over in in a few minutes. My last dog was so terrified by them I dreaded the time of year. She almost 'sensed' it, when it was Autumn and sometimes I'd be walking her in the park and she'd just take off or start shivering, and then we'd realise that in the distance was the faint whistle of a firework. OP advised her neighbours, and this was good of her. However, as we all know, fireworks are heard and experienced for half a mile or so. People saying 'take the dog out for a walk' are forgetting that this means you can be walking past a garden and suddenly there's an explosion just feet from where you are. Frankly this nearly gives me a heart attack, never mind the dog. The best thing is, as was suggested, to stay in and turn the telly on. But then there are the people (clearly who never had a dog) who say "Just keep the dog in". So ..... From about 4pm till 2am for at least a fortnight people aren't supposed to walk their dogs? Or let them in the garden, just so neighbours can set off explosives?

Also, hedghogs are decreasing at an alarming rate. At this time of year, they are just starting to hibernate. But then suddenly there are explosives being set off. I dare say you all think that there is some strange place called 'wild' where all the hedgehogs live - but guess what - it no longer exists. 'Wild' is in our gardens now.

Yes - there are always going to be loud noises in life, but fireworks and explosives seem to awaken a primal fear in animals - perhaps because of the similarity to thunder - I don't know. Or maybe it's because it in no way resembles any natural noise so is a signal of something to be fled from.

My kids managed to get through their entire childhood being taken to organised firework displays and not having to irritate and scare any of our neighbours.

However, as I said before, at least OP tried to do the right thing and advise her neighbours - which is more than most. I just really, really hope that next year you will seek out where the organised displays are, wrap up warm and enjoy those instead.

End of rant!

I have dogs and one i particular suffers terribly with the fireworks. It seems fireworks go on for several nights nowadays not just 5th nov and it wouldn't be possible to keep sedating a dog with the uncertainty of not knowing when the next bang would be. I would ask your neighbour what time she is doing the fireworks and if your neighbour is able to take her dog out of the area ? My overall feelings on fireworks nowadays is they are dangerous and should be banned and at a display only .

Just saw on Facebook that loads of idiots got together and set off fireworks in Merseyside and the fireworks starting hitting cars and falling on the crowds watching. Footage of people running and screaming, unable to get away because they’d all parked their cars and gridlocked the car park and road. Of course the children loved it because they got to ooh and ahh. And that’s what matters