One of the most challenging things to deal with while living in Little Falls is having fireworks shoot off right over your house while trying to comfort our dogs that are frightened to death of the extremely loud noises that happens suddenly. It takes a lot of planning on our part to keep our dogs comfortable during the random firework events. Sometimes we aren’t even aware that they are taking place until we hear the first loud boom over our house. I feel so bad for the dogs that are left all alone, the dogs chained outside, and for the birds and other wild animals that experience such terror in the middle of a calm evening of peace. Fireworks are a very dangerous time for dogs getting loose from fear. Please be aware of dogs running loose when you are driving in the dark on your way home from the Little Falls Fireworks events. I have a suggestion that I would like to share. How about buying bags of dog and cat food and donating them to the Animal Shelter rather than spending your money on fireworks this year? Shelters are full, help is greatly appreciated and you will be doing something positive and rewarding to help innocent lives!
On the night of the fireworks as it starts to get dark, we load our two dogs up into the car and drive to a quiet parking lot outside of the valley to sit and wait it out. We sit and we wait as we watch the fireworks in the distance going off over our house. The dogs find the car ride exciting, and nobody has a heart attack from the obnoxious noise. This involves planning ahead and knowing the exact night that the fireworks will go off. We both work and this is difficult when the fireworks happen on a week night, as we must wait it out until it is well after dark and get up early for work the next day. I realize that my solution to this problem is not practical for everyone. Below are other options for you to try. These ideas can also be tried if your dog is frightened by thunder or other loud noises.
- Keep your dog away from fireworks. Do not bring your dog to fireworks shows! Make sure your dog is always wearing proper id with your up-to-date information and is microchipped.
Try setting up an area in a quiet space away from windows — such as a basement or a larger closet — so that they can’t hear or see fireworks. Play music, tv or a fan to lessen the noise. Provide special treats such as bone broth frozen in ice cube trays, or natural peanut butter spread in hollow toys and frozen to keep them occupied.
Comfort your dog. You absolutely can and should comfort your dog if he’s afraid. It’s important to remain calm and use a soothing, even tone. Petting them can be comforting — long, slow, firm strokes along the length of their body are typically very soothing. Offer them a special treat as you pet them.
Exercise your dog before the fireworks. A tired dog will react less than a dog with lots of energy. Tire your best friend out before the big night.
Talk with your vet. If your pet’s anxiety is severe, consider booking an appointment with your vet well in advance of the holiday so you can discuss a medication that could help soothe your dog’s anxiety. Sometimes just a little relaxing medication can help a lot in a stressful event like this. Be sure to follow your vet’s instructions.
If you are not able to be home with your dog to comfort or distract them, please make sure that they are in a safe place while the fireworks are taking place. I have read horror stories of dogs jumping out of windows from extreme fear! I wish you all the very best of luck with calming your dogs during situations like this. Thank you for considering my idea of donating dog food instead of spending your money on fireworks!
JT
Little Falls, New York
Perhaps I can help, having been on both sides of this. I once had a wonderful German Shepard/Lab mix that was deathly afraid of fireworks and to a lesser extent sever thunderstorms. Nothing really seemed to work for this poor dog but we did our best to comfort him nonetheless. Later when I started getting Labrador Retrievers I found an article on how to train a Lab not to be gun shy, an important consideration for a breed that needs to be used to loud guns being fired over their heads. Now I didn’t hunt with my Labs but I didn’t want them afraid of loud noises, remembering the trauma of the previous dog. The key is to get them to associate the loud noise with something good. So with my Labs, as puppy’s, would take them out in a field and when they were distracted with something else, fire a .22 caliber pistol, obviously not at them, and when they turned to me I would throw them a dog biscuit (cookie) . Eventually I worked up to a 12 gauge shotgun and every time I fired, they got a treat. This would have ruined them as a hunting dog, but that was not a concern for me. What I can tell you is, it worked. I had one Lab that would get excited when the fireworks would start and would actually sit on the front porch and watch them. He really enjoyed it and wasn’t afraid in the least. Would this work with an older dog that was already afraid, that I’m not so sure of, but you could try. Since fireworks are so easy to come by now, use of a firearm is not required. I hope this helps someone because a terrified dog is a very sad situation.
Thank you Mike for sharing the excellent suggestion! When a dog is afraid of something, changing the fear response to a happy response by giving cookies or high reward treats is a great idea! This is the key to positive based dog training. I trained my dog not to fear the sound of trucks passing by on the road by giving him a piece of cheese just as he heard the noise. Another good trick is to fill a rubber kong toy with some moistened dry dog food. Smear a little natural peanut butter inside. (Be sure never to give your dog peanut butter with the ingredient xylitol in it as it is extremely deadly.) Put the kong on a freezer sheet in your freezer. Freezing it makes it last longer as the dog chews on it. Give to your dog when he/she is anxious, when you want to distract them while you have visitors, or just for a special treat!