To not get the problem with fireworks and pets

[SoldTheMovieRights]

There's fireworks going off next door but one and I can hear them, but just some small popping noises really and barely audible when we had the telly on earlier.

It's never been loud enough to wake or disturb DC.

However, local Facebook group for my village is full of posts complaining about fireworks and how they are traumatising pets. AIBU to not get it? If they are too quiet to disturb people why are they so bad for dogs (who would all be inside in the evening anyway?)?

Lots of people wanting them banned because of their dogs but I just don't get it, at worst it's a few mins of noise, a few nights a year, is it really that awful?

I have zero skin in the game as could never be bothered to do fireworks myself, but if my neighbours fancy it, crack on, I'll enjoy the show.

If the wildlife and zoo animals angle doesn’t convince you, re pets, it sounds like for whatever reason you haven’t experienced how loud and alarming they can be in certain types of built up area. They are extremely loud under the right conditions.

We live in a Victorian terraced street, city centre, they were going for hours last night. Like small explosions/ gunshots outside (terrifying if unexpected), like a car backfiring in your living room. Enough to make me jump, let alone nervous pets. They make our solid stone house shake slightly. Gardens are c. 5m long and streets are so narrow they’re one-way, so it’s all happening very close to the buildings.
Our usually bolshy, bruiser cat spends the evening hiding under the bed.

You keep saying this wasn't a problem years ago... Of course it was. I remember my childhood dog jumping into the bath, shaking and cowering and it was heartbreaking to see. That was a good 25 years ago. What a bizarre post.

It's not just about the noise it's the smell of sulphur in the air.

My dogs would pant, pace, whine, stress, all evening and beyond the noise because the smell would linger.

One needed diazapine to knock him out

This thread is really weird. Of course fireworks can be very loud?! We had fireworks going off last night a few streets away and they were definitely loud enough to disturb! They woke DD2 up, and she’s a pretty heavy sleeper. Maybe you need your hearing checked.

I also remember home displays as a child. Fireworks were pretty then, with the occasional ‘banger’
By the time I had children of my own we had to get them ear defenders for the organised displays we chose.
It does seem to be the case that now it is a case of the louder the better even in home fireworks.
My own dog isn’t bothered by fireworks, but I have some very sensible and experienced dog owning friends whose dog shakes for hours on end, despite everything they have tried.
I don’t think private sales of fireworks should be banned but I would like to see noise restrictions introduced.

Just brushing my teeth and have heard fireworks going off, at 9:36am on New Years Day in England. People are morons.

My cats didn’t bother when they were younger, but at 13 my boy was terrified last night. His instinct was to try to get out of the house - he didn’t reaslise it would be louder there - he eventually spent the night in my wardrobe.

This. Not that we could anyway, they'd be brought in illegally as the demand would still exist. But that's not a precedent we ought to establish, and I continue to be amazed how many pet owners don't realise how easily the arguments against fireworks could be turned against them.

More organised displays would be good, for safety reasons. But advocates do need to understand there would have to be a loooot of them in order to effect social change in habits, and they'd still need to be held in residential areas.

All my pets have been fine with fireworks but I think the local horses get spooked.

I put my pets being ok down to being in noisy households as babies.

A few years ago one went off very close to us, it sounded like a bomb!
Our old dog (who had never been worried by fireworks) was so scared he pee'd on the sofa
Nothing needs to be that loud

You are either a troll, or an idiot.

It's not just dogs. They upset wildlife. Rabbits. Cats. No reason why they couldn't be silent

Last night ours went on till 1am I had a neighbour shout out the window to stop it now ....they got 2 dogs and we've got 2 cats
..our cats were inside but did get very scared and stayed close to us. At midnight it's fine for a few mins ...but not when it goes on till 1am

I’m not sure all of that is true, but ehat point re you trying to make- it’s ok to deliberately do something you know is upsetting and damaging because you don’t like something the upset/damaged creature does (as part of its nature in entirely unconnected circumstance)? If that’s the rule then lots of people would be suffering.

Unless of course you are just being ignorant and obtuse…..

Do you have really good double/triple glazing?

I fucking hate fireworks. Scares my cats so much. There is just no need for the noise.

My cat couldn't care less about the noise of fireworks, even when it sounds like there's been an explosion in a dynamite factory however the neighbour's dog is absolutely petrified and she dreads NYE, Divali and Bonfire Night every year. Fireworks can have a catastrophic effect on wildlife too, not just pets.

Fireworks don't personally bother me, however I do have a dog who is affected by them.

It's not just half hour though, round us it is all evening with multiple fireworks going off at various houses.

Our dog was panting heavily, trying to find a hiding spot and wouldn't go outside to the toilet. You hear more about it now than moons ago due to social media.

Also it's not just New Year, it's bonfire night and diwali, they even seem to set them off randomly during the year too. No doubt they will continue going off for next week too.

Also in days gone by, I don't remember fireworks being such a big thing as they are now. Yes people fired them off on bonfire night for 1 hour and midnight on NYE, like I say it is pretty much constant which is where the outcry probably comes from.

I am not one to go on social media and make a fuss about it but can understand the upset it causes.

Fireworks are ridiculous. I mean, allowing people to use explosives in their back garden is crazy no? I also think that, once you’ve seen a couple of explosions, they are kind of boring. Except maybe good displays like the one in Edinburgh at the end of the Fringe where they are choreographed to classical music. I’d be inclined to restrict them to organised displays.

Speaking as someone who is subjected to constant yapping from next door’s pooches, I’d also like to restrict noisy dogs.

Try it this way: more good would come from severe restrictions on pet ownership than on fireworks.

And there’s no need to be so rude.

Even the ones you can buy in the supermarkets are massively louder than they used to be. I don’t understand why. We just had a couple going off near to us, and our trained gundog wasn’t bothered in the slightest, but they were like mortars going off. There’s no need for it. I’d support regulations capping the noise level over an outright ban.

What you said initially wasn't true

In what way is it untrue? I’m happy to be corrected.

I really feel for people whose pets have a hard time with fireworks. They are always being set off where I am, a week before and a week after any event you’d have them. I don’t think a lot of people have anything better to do.

am lucky that my dog doesn’t care.

She’s two, she goes out to the garden for a wee when they are in full swing and she doesn’t care at all.

We got her from an excellent breeder though who played all sorts of loud sounds and bangs to the puppies from when they were tiny, he desensitised them to most noises.

(I’ve owned dogs all my life and none of them have ever cared about fireworks, but the have all been golden retrievers, it’s probably in their fun dog genes somewhere!)