6 Ways to Prepare Your Dog for Fireworks RIGHT NOW

Is your dog afraid of fireworks? Don’t wait for Canada Day or Independence Day to start worrying about it! You can make a plan and take action now to help your dog be a little less afraid of the frightening and unpredictable sounds of fireworks, firecrackers, whistles, and even guns.

Be ready

Here are some things you can do today.

1. Check with your vet about medications
If your dog is getting very anxious about noises and you’ve never talked to your vet about it, do it now. He or she may be able to prescribe something to help you. And if you can’t get in before the holidays, do your best with some of the other ideas here to get you out and call your vet ASAP. It’s a long-term problem. Sound phobias tend to get worse and should not be taken lightly.

2. Counter-condition to noises
Get some good treats and start carrying them home. Whenever there’s a sudden or startling noise, but especially errant bangs and booms when people start testing their noisemakers, rain treats your dog. Use these special treats only for noises. Don’t hand them out for pleasant behavior (use something else for that!) and don’t ask your dog for a particular behavior when the noise occurs. Just give the special treats. This is sometimes called ad hoc counter-conditioning, and here is a excellent article on a survey that indicated its effectiveness.

You might be wondering why I don’t recommend buying an app, CD or YouTube video with fireworks sounds to “practice”. Performing desensitization/counterconditioning with sounds is tricky. People who have never done DS/CC before run a real risk of scaring their dogs more instead of helping them, and many sound collections are poorly designed for DS/CC anyway. That’s why I suggest simple counter-conditioning, which uses environmental noises that happen anyway. Save formal training well after the holidays, when scary noises are less likely to occur.

3. Create a safe place
Create (or adapt) a safe place for your dog. Observe your dog: he may already have a place he likes. Make it comfortable for her. Keep in mind that the flashes of light that accompany big fireworks can also be scary. Consider a method to darken nearby windows or protect the safe place with a blanket if necessary. Be aware that the low frequency sounds of thunder are physically impossible to muffle with the amount of sound absorbing material we can use at home. But being underground can usually help a bit, so basements are a good option for some dogs. Get the best possible protection in a basement or your innermost room. Despite marketing claims, dog crates with walls a few inches thick cannot significantly attenuate low-frequency sounds. Putting a soft cover over a crate does nothing to keep thunder sounds out, although it can cause a comfortable auditory sensation as it deadens some of the reverberating sound in the space.

4. Play sound or music
Experiment with sound masking or music to find out what’s most useful in your situation. Try some kind of recorded white noise, natural noise, or music to mask pops and booms. (Even a noisy food toy can help.) This approach is evidence-based and called sound masking. Start working on it today.

And here’s a tip: the lower the frequencies included in the masking or music, the better it can mask those low-end booms (Kinsler et al., 1999). So if your dogs are already used to pounding rock, metal, or other music with lots of bass or percussion, play it! It can more effectively mask some of the scary noises coming from outside your home. Taiko drumming is great if your dogs are used to it. You can buy a few songs and loop them or find some on YouTube. But first, be absolutely certain that the music itself does not scare your dogs. If they are already susceptible to booms, they probably will be.

Appliances can help. Some floor fans reach quite low frequencies and can be useful. You can run the dryer (no heat) with a pair of sneakers inside for some booms that will likely be familiar and not scary. You will need to find the best line for your dogs.

You can also try the Triplet Noir Studios Bang-Dog Playlist. These are heavy metal picks (be aware that some of the language is not family friendly). Before anyone mentions it: heavy metal hasn’t ranked well in dog and music studies, which tends to make shelter dogs more restless. It’s not surprising. People might find it almost sacrilegious that I suggest heavy metal. But if you already play it and your dogs agree, they’re used to it. Then these playlists might be the perfect thing for you.

5. Practice going out
Make a plan to take your dog potty. Do you know when the noise is usually the loudest and can you work around it? Are your fences and/or leash and harness secure? Dogs that are generally calm are known to panic and run away during noisy holidays. Don’t let that happen. Keep your doors locked, your dogs’ ID tags, and put some redundancy into your security system. Consider keeping your dog’s harness on all evening if it takes the stress out of putting it on a scared dog.

6. Comfort your dog if it helps
LOSE the idea that there is anything wrong with comforting your dog if that is what he wants. Helping a dog through a tough time is not “coddling”. Evaluate what is most useful for your dog: a hug, food after every thunderclap, a lap, soft talk, being in his crate with a food toy, or hiding alone in a secluded place. So help them do it.

For more information on helping dogs through fireworks, check out Storm and sound phobias on Debbie Jacobs’ Fearful Dogs website.

Thanks for reading!

Reference

Kinsler, LE, Frey, AR, Coppens, AB and Sanders, JV (1999). Fundamentals of acoustics (4th ed.). Willy. See pages 318-320 for more information on masking.

© Eileen Anderson 2015