Whether it’s New Year, Christmas or just an everyday celebration, as soon as the clocks go back, the fireworks begin. More dogs run away during the festive season than any other day of the year.
Dogs have highly sensitive hearing abilities. They hear sounds that the human ear can’t. That’s why the sounds of the continuous loud burst are nerve-wracking, and we can only imagine how frightening it is for the dogs when extremely loud noises happen without any warning.
They may display psychological symptoms of stress such as, panting, howling, pacing, whining, hiding, trembling, and even self-injury.
Some dogs even take the fear to the extreme where they try to escape the noise by digging under fences, breaking through windows, or running through gates.
Here are a few tips and tricks to help your dogs dealing with fireworks anxiety!
1. Provide a safe haven for your dogs.
You can provide a comfortable area for your dogs to stay in or enhance one that he has chosen himself. Make the space quite small so he can squeeze in. This will help give him a sense of security.
2. Leave the crate door open.
The reason why is some dogs will injure themselves trying to get out. Block out sounds as much as possible. Shut windows, and play music or have the TV on to drown out the noise. Shut curtains and turn the lights on to help muffle the noises and make sure that your dogs can’t see the flashes of fireworks or lightning.
3. Avoid taking your dogs out.
Fireworks may set off anytime and anywhere. When there might be a risk of loud noises occurring – walk your dogs earlier in the day, in the case of fireworks season.
4. If your dogs dash about or do something annoying, don’t tell him off.
Your dogs are behaving like this because he is scared, and it is counter-productive to get angry.
5. If your dogs hide away, leave him alone.
He is trying to do what works best to cope with the noises. Don’t approach or try to move him as this could scare your dogs even more and may even result in aggression.
6. Do not punish your dogs for being afraid.
Do not lock him in a crate or tie him up for his behaviour. He could injure himself trying to get away from the scary sound. He may also believe he’s in trouble for being afraid.
7. Make sure you have name tags on their collar.
In the case of them running aimlessly away from the house, if he/she gets found, someone will be able to find you to get it back to you.
A bonus tip: Make sure that you stay calm yourself. Making a fuss around your dogs only reassures him that there is a good reason to panic.
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