Bloody fireworks!

[LovelyBitOfSquirrel69]

We have a 9 month old dog and this is his first 'firework season'. He's very distressed by firework noise and stands at the patio doors barking. The other night he wouldn't go out for a pee because of the fireworks and held it in for hours.

What can we do to stop him being so distressed by the fireworks?

I say ban the bloody things. All night long for the last few nights, including after midnight. How about some consideration for people and animals?

Completely agree but it's not going to happen is it. It's Diwali so that'll be the reason for them tonight, but they seem to go on for weeks on end.

Get him as tired as possible before sunset. Build enrichment activities into the day on top of usual walks. Consider a licky mat or Kong for the evenings as this will help him focus elsewhere.

My mastiff hates them with a passion, he's 5 with a heart murmur. He barks loudly at them, it's deafening 😟

I try and keep the TV on a bit louder than I normally would, and I also have one of those diffusers plugged in to try and calm him down. I book him into kennels in the middle of nowhere for bonfire night and the night after and he does ok there because the fireworks are so distant.

But yes, I dislike them. My old now sadly passed away cocker spaniel was never phased by them though.

I know, ours has gone and hidden herself away the last few nights and is obviously quite nervous of them. A night or two is fine, they don’t need to go on for bloody weeks with various celebrations

I know it's Diwali, but it's been going on for at least a week, and setting them off after midnight, or around midnight is a bloody nuisance.

The only thing that's helped my hound has been the scullcap and vallerian tabs from Dorwest. They also do a spray.

Thundershirt. Hemp / CBD oil. My dog is so chilled he's horizontal! Although I started a week ago.

Also, make a den - a table with covers over it or some sort of "dog tent" that he can retreat to. Lots of house noise - turn up the TV or music. Don't ignore the fear, but don't play into it either. Soothing looong strokes will calm.

Long walk in the day, provide a ‘safe place’ or den. Kongs etc. Put the tv up. Consider a thunder shirt or ear muffs/hoodie.

This won’t help you at all, but may help others. When I got my pup, I made alot of noise, vacuum cleaner, washing machine, played babies crying, banged pots and pans, turned the tv up, played the sound of fireworks, working up to letting off fireworks. We’ve (my mum/dad) did this with all our dogs. All have taken no notice of fireworks. Ours can be walked on November 5th at night- he’s that uninterested in fireworks.

Pee before 6 when it’s still light, then pull the curtains, adaptil plug, radio on and everyone carry’s on as normal, maybe give a long lasting treat if they’ll eat. Then last pee at 10:30 or 11 as late as you can make it with the lead on.

I find just leaving the tv on playing fireworks during the day helps, but not if they’re already wired so once the season is over and they’ve decompressed then start on some desensitisation work

I agree with this: prevention is better than cure. Pan lids on hard floors and party poppers, introduced in increasing volume from puppyhood. If you live rurally, find a gas gun (bird scarer) in the spring, and do fun things with your dog in ever closer proximity.

Thanks everyone...it's not like we're a silent household. But he even barks if the people opposite get in their car. So the fireworks are sending him a bit loopy!

We had success last year with our puppy by playing Japanese drumming music (can't remember what it was called exactly). It is annoying to listen to every night as soon as it's dark though!

Think you can also find fireworks on YouTube so you can try to desensitise pup a little during the day while you play that and treat a lot. Play the videos louder and louder as you build success.

My kids are asd and have to wear ear defenders most nights now too. I despise fireworks!

It's funny how some dogs are scared and others not bothered. We've never done any training around this and our dog is currently snoozing through the fireworks. We are a noisy house in general though.

Valerian drops and yucalm have worked wonders for our stressed and anxious border collie.

Our poor old boy’s currently pacing and trembling around the house. He’s 11, diabetic and stress can affect his glucose levels and we have to be careful what we give him in case anything contained in any remedies affects them too.

He wasn’t bothered up until a few years ago, now he’s petrified. We’ve tried everything as he wasn’t diagnosed with diabetes until last Autumn. We’ve tried desensitisation, pet Rescue Remedy, various calming tablets, a Thundreshirt, sprays, Adaptil…nothing has helped. I know you can get sedatives from the vet but it’d mean sedating him every night for a month. I even have a large box flattened down which I build up to make him a den in the hope he’ll sit in it and feel safe.

We have a common behind our street and last year one selfish dickhead decided to let off one of those huge multishot fireworks there, right behind the house opposite us. The box which held it was still there when I walked him the following morning and I counted almost 300 tubes in it. Why the hell is something like that available to the public?

I agree. I don't think you can train them, they are either terrified or they aren't arsed at all. It's just their character.

I have two poodles. One has never batted an eye. Would happily go out in the garden while next door are letting fireworks off.
The other was terrified last year - unless we had the drumming on. Then she didn't seem to notice most of the time.

Our 10yr old rescue has also become so much worse in the last few years-he'll just keep barking-at van drivers outside, a large bird sitting on the roof etc so fireworks (& last nights storm) really send him over the edge.

We've used Adaptil express in the past & noticed a slight improvement but don't seem to be able to get hold of it any longer. What would be a good replacement?

I've not heard of thunder coats so will have a look at those and maybe also the plug in diffusers.

We have fireworks going off around here fairly regularly including daytime recently-why???

My younger dog is terrible, shaking, trembling, clawing at my legs, climbing on my face, trying to climb under a tiny little table that he then gets stuck in. At times I have sat in the downstairs loo for hours with him as that is in the centre of the home encased by rooms on all sides. This time of year is horrible, really not helped by having to suffer Divali and fireworks night and it all goes on for weeks. We have given him a sedative thing this evening but it hasn't really done much. I took him for a walk at 4.30 pm hoping to tire him but even then there were fireworks going off and he was starting to get stressed. I am thoroughly sick of them and just hope that with the cost of living crisis, less people will be able to buy them themselves this year.

Same here. My 10yo dog v stressed and anxious - other 4yo Romanian rescue not too bothered but picking up on her stress.
10yo got a thunder shirt on and playing Solfeggio music which is supposed to help. Heard that reggae is good too!

Some of it will be down to inherited traits or experiences as a very young puppy, and some to later experiences, including training. The work I did around noise with my older dog was quite probably not necessary as she is very confident and solid. The younger dog has always had a more nervous nature, but she isn't bothered by noise - perhaps she would have been fine anyway, but perhaps the noise desensitisation as a puppy was useful. She was certainly alarmed at times by the dropped pan lids when she was younger and we were building noises up, whereas now loud bangs and crashes don't bother her at all.

Mine runs off to his 'safe room' and shakes and pants (no amount of desensitisation works because he is fearful of lots of different noises including fireworks which have been triggered and keep being triggered or made worse by vet admissions and procedures). It also didn't help when one of our neighbours let off one of those sudden deafening bangs when he was outside once having a pee and then ran straight terrified into the closed patio doors.

What I tend to do is sit with him and have the tv on or a white noise machine until it stops. They haven't started here yet but expecting two weeks of it.

Some are probably more sensitive.
I can only speak from personal experience.
All my dogs have never been bothered about fireworks.
Apart from one who was absolutely fine until someone let of half a dozen fireworks very close to where we were walking in the middle of a nice spring early evening when she was around 6 years old. Out of the blue experience, changed the dog completely and there was no going back. Nothing fixed that issue. A confident calm dog, something we couldn't prevent. And that was that.
Since that day, I detest fireworks. Or rather the people who let of fireworks. It's pointless and inconsiderate.
Current 2 dogs have been fine so far but there's no guarantee for the future.
I really do feel for dog owners with scared pets during fireworks.

It was much easier to address when it was just a couple of nights a year. Now the fireworks season has morphed into the possibility of fireworks on any given night between mid-October and mid-January it's far more difficult.