Dog terrified by fireworks - advice needed

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Spreckly
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Dog terrified by fireworks - advice needed

Post by Spreckly »

My dil's little three year old Yorkie was terrified on New Year's Eve by neighbours opposite their home letting fireworks off in the road. Apparently last night someone else nearby let another volley off, and the dog was beside herself.

Dil has asked me if I have any recommendations, which I don't have, as I never used anything with Nation and the previous girls.

I have suggested the plug-ins, Bach's Rescue Remedy and the de-sensitising CD which was doing the rounds some years since.

Has anyone any advice which I could pass on, please.
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Spreckly
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Re: Dog terrified by fireworks - advice needed

Post by Spreckly »

Someone on another forum has suggested Equafleece thunder coats for anxiety. I wonder if anyone has used one, or heard of anyone who has.
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Re: Dog terrified by fireworks - advice needed

Post by wendy »

For some reason Thunder Shirts seem to work very well. Certainly worth getting one.
The adaptil plug ins work also, but need to be started a day or so earlier. So if the fireworks are random that is difficult. There are also adaptil collars, which if it is a nervous type of dog he/she could wear one all the time.
When the fireworks are going off all curtains closed tight, all lights on and the TV/radio on loud and make a little den. As it is a yorkie, perhaps a blanket, duvet or similar thrown over a coffee table, with the dogs bed under there. Just make a little den the dog can go hide away from the noise.
CD's are good. But you need to start now for this coming November. It will give you instructions on how to desensitise your dog. Google them and get one with thunder and fireworks on it.
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Spreckly
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Re: Dog terrified by fireworks - advice needed

Post by Spreckly »

Thank you for your reply, Wendy. The fireworks are going off very late at night, when son and dil are in bed. Emma says that Tinkerbelle seems to feel safe in their bed, under the covers, which is a similar thing to a cover over a coffee table. At the previous obedience classes I attended, the girl in charge had a dreadfully nervous dog, who even dug into the plaster of the room walls in her terror. Sue eventually found that by putting a lead on her, she calmed down somewhat.
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wendy
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Re: Dog terrified by fireworks - advice needed

Post by wendy »

I had a friend whose GSD tried to get up the chimney.
So very sad that they get so frightened
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Re: Dog terrified by fireworks - advice needed

Post by albertajune »

It is quite distressing to watch a dog that is terrified of fireworks etc. We had that problem when we had Megan. If she managed to get into the toilet, she would shred any toilet rolls and try and bury herself in them. Trouble was that we had a gun club using the field next to us, so bangs happened every Sunday when they met.
I found the only thing that helped her was to wrap her fairly snuggly in one of OH's t-shirts and as Wendy said to do, make her a dark little den with a duvet, in a corner preferably. She still shook but did stay put until it ended.

The trouble with fireworks is that they are not always just used when they should be but can go on for days.

Good luck. )t'
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Gwenoakes
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Re: Dog terrified by fireworks - advice needed

Post by Gwenoakes »

One other tip when the dog is terrified, do never, ever cuddle, love or talk to soothingly........ignore, ignore, ignore.

Wont go into everything, but it does work and did work with Bella our Staffie. Very, very hard to implement though as your first instinct is to cuddle etc.

We had the firework CD playing for months before bonfire night when we first started to desensitise Bella.
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Re: Dog terrified by fireworks - advice needed

Post by Spreckly »

Gwen, did the CD work on Bella? I'm certain that my dil will cuddle Tink, as she is a tiny little thing, and I have to confess, I would do the same.
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Re: Dog terrified by fireworks - advice needed

Post by Gwenoakes »

The CD did work with Bella, Spreckly.

We joined Lincoln Uni who were doing research work with dogs that were frightened of fireworks. There were about 100 dogs of all shapes and sizes.

We first played the CD at minimum sound for a week or two, then increased very slightly over months until in the end it was full blast, then we had it playing randomly. Along with this we were told NOT to make a fuss of the animal in any way, just to totally ignore when they were showing fear. We had to originally offer titbits and make notes on huge forms to exactly what their reaction was. There were dozens and dozens of questions like was the animal aggresive, was it shaking, was it weeing, was it pooing, was it trying to hide, what level was the sound of the CD playing at, the list went on for ever.

It ended up that I was playing it to her up to 15 times a day in all different parts of the house and it was very time consuming and by the end of it I really, really disliked the sound of the CD too.

Come bonfire night, we pulled the curtains, switched all the lights on, had tele and the CD playing full blast and she didnt bat an eyelid. She wanted to go outside to wee and she did just that which totally gobsmacked me, as before she would hold back upto 15 hours.

When we went back to the Uni for the last time and they tested her reaction it was OK there too. They did say those that had failed were the ones whose owners had admitted to cuddling their pets etc and by doing this were instilling in the animal that there was something to be afraid of. I think the failure rate was something like 50% if I remember correctly. Got to admit though it was really hard work not cuddling/talking to her as its your natural instinct to console animal or human.
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Re: Dog terrified by fireworks - advice needed

Post by wendy »

)like(
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Spreckly
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Re: Dog terrified by fireworks - advice needed

Post by Spreckly »

Thank you for all the information, Gwen. I will pass on to dil. No fireworks for two nights now, but Tink very nervy first nights of calm. The neighbours let the last lot off at 10pm, which I understand is one hour after the 9pm deadline.
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Re: Dog terrified by fireworks - advice needed

Post by Bridgets Mum »

Joining in rather late here but I found this thread really interesting. I bought one of the CDs and played it well in advance and with increasing volume. It drove us all mad and didn't have any effect on the dogs when the real fireworks started - they were still afraid. I spoke to my vet about it and she said that for it to be effective you need to have surround sound speakers. Don't know if she was right or not but it's worth considering if your sound system is as puny as mine.
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