2 year old staffy terrified of fireworks advice please x

[salsmum]

I have a two year old staffy girl whos a rescue dog, i also have a 12 year old staff boy who is bothered by nothing!,
My bitch Bella was 'rescued' about a year ago her owner developed motor neurone desease so not cruelty case but not socialised as pup either. She has issues with; men with hats, hairdryer, cats [chasing]lawnmowers,and HUGE probs with fireworks, she will launch herself at the windows in a really manic, barking, excited state. I put her in her crate last f/work night with a blanket and tv turned up but went out new years eve forgetting that there would be f/works and next door said she went nuts [thankfully crated]we dont have f/works ourselves. I was wondering if anyone had any advice i was thinking of buying a 'noise cd' with f/work bangs but dony know if that would work without the lights/flashes that accommpany the f/works?.
Ive tried telling her off and calming her but nothing seems to work!.
My older dog would sniff the touchpaper if he could hes very chilled but she is to the other extreme. HELP PLEASE.

My 6 year old pom is terrified of fireworks, thunder, loud noises generally. If I know fireworks are likely, I keep him inside, and let him hide under the bed (he seems to feel safer under things). I was caught out one day when we were out and someone let off fireworks in their garden - I happened to be wearing a longish skirt, so I crouched down and let him hide under my skirt - really embarrassing when other people walked past, but I didn't want my dog to have a heart attack .

Your staffy is genuinely terrified, so telling her off is not going to work - if anything it will make matters worse, and increase her stress. I haven't tried desentising my dog, because I think that will just lead to stress for both of us. I know what frightens him, and try to minimise his stress and make him feel safe. Yes, it means we don't go out on bonfire night, and when dd gets bigger probably either dh or I will take her to see fireworks, and the other one of us will stay home with the dog. It was a real nuisance when a nearby hotel used to do fireworks at wedding receptions - every weekend one summer there were fireworks, but they don't do that any more (I think they had too many complaints from local farmers with livestock and from residents in the area).

I had to laugh at him though, one day. We live near a lifeboat station, and a flare is set off to alert the crew when the life boat or the coast guard are called out (don't know why, the crew all have pagers these days). I was out with my dog, and he had just squatted to poo when the flare went off - the poor little creature desperately wanted to run and hide, but he was basically caught with his trousers down, so to speak!

try putting some bach rescue remedy in her water or on her tongue - always worked with my 2 staffies.

cx

hertsnessex,
putting something on her tongue really??
ive heard of the 'noise' tapes and someone said about a plug in that releases pheramones but ill try anything can you tell me where to get it and when you would apply/how often... would you do it on 5th nov or day before?
thanx for your advice .
I know i shouldnt have told her off but she was getting soooo manic and it was 2am .
But then by making tooo much fuss am i feeding her anxieties [oops spellin]and making her worse?????? i do hold her and calm her without making her think its a big deal.
Give me a child anytime LOL!

OOPS
DIDNT mean give me a child anytime sorry forgot its school hols. PMSL.

Talk to your vet about behavioural therapy. You need to take time to do this long before fireworks night but it can make a huge difference. Your vet may have a behaviourist in the practice or may be able to refer you to someone out of the practice locally who is qualified in behaviour.
The desentisation CD is or will be something similar to the "sounds scary" series, and the pheromone you talk about is call DAP - available as a plug in diffuser or coming very soon if not already a collar you can use now too. Your vet should stock both.

lol at"give me a child anytime"...dh says "give me a dog anytime" when I leave him in charge of dd, meaning that he can go out and leave the dog home alone, if he gets bored, and he doesn't have to change the dog's nappy