Fear of Fireworks

[mia]

Hi,
Does anyone have a solution to dogs so terrified of Fireworks? Thanks. Mia

[Sarah]

Hi Mia good to see you. I have only had one dog afraid of noises, my little schnauzer. I made sure that I didn't act as if it was a big deal. Dogs need to be desensitized to noises, and how this is done is by exposing them to the noises and not making a big deal out of it. I did some research regarding this topic and here is a link to an article regarding desensitizing, you may be interested in...

My dog is afraid of fireworks | ThatMutt.com: A Dog Blog

[mia]

Hi Sarah,

Interesting, I read everything I can on dog articles. Holly, my Golden, and Kyara, my Chi, are not terrified by anything else out here at the lake and we have so much noise, like boats and jet skis and 4 wheelers on the road plus all the summer traffic. It is just the fireworks and sometimes the very loud thunderstorms. I walk Holly on the bike path around the lake and there are big, loud gravel trucks coming and going to the pit and they don't phase her a bit, she just stays close to my leg and we walk on.

Tonight and tomorrow and hopefully we are done for another year. Last night when the small war started I put Holly in her kennel, she feels safe in there with her stuffed baby and took my little ones to bed with the TV on. My new puppies don't seem to be bothered by the noise so that is good.

Thanks, Mia

[Gail]

Hi Mia,
It's interesting that your new puppies aren't bothered by the noise. I had a dog who was terrified of thunder storms all her life. She would go into the laundry room and face away from the window so she couldn't see the lightning. When she was about six I got another dog. She was only about 8 weeks old and wasn't afraid of thunder storms. The older dog must have decided that since the pup wasn't afraind she shouldn't be either. They never bothered her after that. A friend who was in the army brought over a device that was used for training that sounded like an explosion to try to scare the 2 dogs. They both just ran over to see what had caused the noise. Hopefully your pups will influence the older dog.

[mia]

Hi Gail,

This was the best year with the fireworks I kept the little ones with me in the bed and my Golden was happy to go in the kennel in the laundry room when they started. I used to laugh at my little Chi when she was real young and my Golden would bark at her and want to play but Kyara would just ignore her and look out the patio door. She would take a quick glance at Holly and then look at me as if to say, if I don't look at her maybe she won't see me. It was so funny.

Last Sunday night was a totally different story. We had some terric storms blow through with strong wind , rain, hail and all that stuff. We had tornado warnings and I got everyone ready to go under the house in the crawl space. Lost the satillite so no TV, no computer because the power went out soon after that. Then no AC either but we lucked out this time not any major damage, just a few branches down. And through it all my little ones still were not afraid.

Summer storms are so scary especially at night.

Mia

[Gail]

Hi Mia,

It's great that they weren't afraid. I know it's really upsetting when they are afraid of storms and loud noises.You feel so helpless to stop their distress. Since I got the pup that wasn't afraid of storms and loud noises I haven't had a dog with this problem. I think the older dogs would teach the new ones not to be afraid.