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.

I made a big effort to desensitise our then puppy to loud bangs and fireworks. Dog is 11 now and has never been bothered by fireworks at all.

I appreciate that there isn’t much you can do with an older rescue dog who is fearful, but anyone that’s had a dog from a puppy should have put a bit of work in early on.

Horses, zoo and farm animals are obviously a different issue.

We've had them since 7pm and still going now.

Dogs hearing is roughly 4 times better than humans, and can hear wider range. We have one dog that couldn't care less, but other that spends the whole even shaking and scared stiff.

I don't think most people would mind if it was one or two occasions a year but goes on for weeks.

I agree with this. The beauty of fireworks is all of the glorious cascading colours - which people who don't want to see can easily avoid seeing. The loud farty booms are just jarring, even for people who have actively chosen to watch the display.

DH has an ex colleague who runs the local council displays. He says they are massively louder than they were 20 years ago. They have to wear PPE now.
There is no need for them to be so loud.
My cat and autistic teen are both unimpressed.

Where I live in Wembley, it’s like a bloody war zone. Full of inconsiderate bastards blowing fireworks at all hours. Animals stand no chance.

Not all pets ARE trainable to tolerate fireworks and sudden noises. It's a primal fear. It's how I've come to own several dogs who would have made wonderful working gundogs, but they were terrified of the sound of guns, despite being introduced to them gradually in a way that works for the majority of their breed. You make it sound like it's simple and the majority of people are just not being responsible pet owners, and that's just not true.

Well, yes, they are louder multiplied by many more people setting them off simultaneously on nye.

I had cats for years and honestly they just never seemed bothered. I meant that I don't do home fireworks myself so wouldn't be affected if they were banned, but just don't get why they would be.

They've been going off since about 8pm here. Neither of my two cats are bothered. My friend has two cats. One of them doesn't care but the other one is terrified and has been hiding quivering under the sideboard for hours.

Yep, I've one scared to death and one hopping up to the window wagging her tail.

I have one pet that ignores them and two that are petrified. What's your point? Pets' sensitivity varies.

I think that we now know much more about the effects of fireworks (PTSD in humans for example) - so the people saying their pets were never bothered in the 70s etc might be right BUT there was no way there were so many. People went to organised displays and didn’t just but them randomly and set them off at all hours. Also more confined to November 5th.

Now we know more due to social media. I live on a housing estate and it’s honestly like the Somme. It’s so random too.

My pets are getting better with more exposure but again I feel like with everything else that life throws at us, when we know better we can do better (low noise, organised displays, drones etc)

It’s difficult because I can imagine having a scared pet is awful.

I have never had pets scared of fireworks so I do not know. I’ve always introduced mine to them by acting really excited and showing them the lights etc so they see it as something to love. My current dog likes to watch them out the window and on bonfire night goes for a walk with me to see as many as she can!

Well my dog is shaking and terrified. Again. Fucking fireworks. And it doesn’t end after they stop. My dog has gone off to hide with his tail down and his back bent in fear. And the fireworks stopped here at least 30 mins ago. it isn’t just the time of the fireworks. He usually takes a couple of hours to recover. Nothing I can do helps him.

You'd get it if your arsehole neighbours decided it was a good idea to fire rockets into the field your horses lived in, OP! Have you ever seen a horse run straight through a post and rail fence? Ask me if I have.

Again, if you think the outcry has been only in the last decade you're just showing your ignorance. I don't mean this unkindly, but just because you weren't aware of it, doesn't mean it wasn't happening. People have been campaigning to get fireworks banned ever since at least when I was a teenager - so 30 odd years. I had dogs and horses who were terrified when I was 16.

Built up areas do funny things to acoustics. Sound amplifies and echoes around concrete, tarmac and brick. It does not do that on grass and dirt and open air.

My dog was barking his head off as the bells rang, it was very loud. Plus dogs have much more sensitive hearing. My dog either barks or shakes uncontrollably. Thankfully tonight was barking.

There has always been an outcry about pets, but with the growth of social media, it is just now easier to vent than it used to be. I remember my late mum hiding in the cupboard under the stairs with her little dog that had Valium from the vet but still passed out from hyperventilation.

Animals' hearing is so much more sensitive than ours, and firework noises equal trauma. It is lasting damage for many, and undoes many months of behaviour training in some animals. It is also deeply traumatising for people with PTSD especially.

I've got two dogs.
One is fast asleep.
The other has been shaking and drooling for hours . I am sitting with her as calmly as possible, but I just wish you'd all fuck right off with your fireworks and your lack of empathy.

They’re incredibly loud around us, and tend to go off for several hours intermittently to up to two weeks (or more) around nov 5th and new year. Then on the night they are consistent for several hours and often rattle the windows with their bangs as we’re all so close to each other in our area. I think in less built up areas they wouldn’t necessarily sound as loud but in built up areas the bangs are stupidly loud and unnecessarily so.

Luckily our dog likes watching them and often wants to be held up high at the window or taken outside if they’re not too loud to watch but I know many others whose pets have to be medicated and get incredibly anxious with them. Hate to think how wildlife cope.

I see it from both points of view.

Having had a dog who escaped outside on November 5th and we sent out a search party with the tractor over the field desperately looking only to find her hiding under the car shaking. To our dog who sits next to us on the bed year after year watching them out of the window or asks to go outside and will then sit and look up at the fireworks in the sky.

Also have a friend whose rescued former Romanian street dog is so terrified they have to book a cottage in the middle of nowhere around 5th Nov to save her from her terror.

It's the lack of empathy that just beggars belief. As if you couldn't wait to start a thread just to gloat about how unbothered you are.

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They were literally shaking my house an hour ago...made sure we were home well before to be here with our dog...ARE YOU A DOG OWNER? They are brutal to animals...ignorance at its finest...😡

You can't train animals in zoos/cattle though. Lots of stories about animals having heart attacks etc. I just find it unnecessary. I have 2 dogs and 2 cats and they arent really that bothered which is great but I have known of several young puppies dying due to fireworks in our local area.

Obviously if its only on firework night or NYE it is manageable I guess but round here its probably over a 2- 3 week period around Halloween to week after firework night. They started here around 6/7pm and then really ramped up around midnight. Plus all the other random nights of the year. I dont understand why they need to be so noisy, there are other options available.