Does anyone else's dog not care about fireworks?

iguana

You hear a huge amount at this time of year about dogs and cats being terrified of fireworks. On tv, on the internet, talking to other dog owners. But neither of my dogs cares at all. No-one I meet seems to believe me when I say mine don't care. They don't think it's possible.

Earlier this evening the people 2nd nextdoor were setting some off in their garden and the dogs just went out, had a sniff and a pee as normal and came back in. They were going off about 20ft from us and the dogs didn't react to them even slightly. Right now some people across the road are setting them off and they are just sleeping at my feet.

I found that just completely ignoring them when we first heard fireworks worked really well. I had read that suggestion here on the run up to Diwhali/Halloween/Guy Fawkes so decided to give it a go. It was tough when they heard the loud bang and ran over to me for reassurance but when they thought I didn't notice the noise they just seemed to reason that it was something that did not concern us. At the second bang they looked over to me to check I still didn't notice, when I didn't they went back to playing. And that was it, fireworks never bothered them again.

Toby was slightly tougher as he wasn't with us for his first fireworks time. But again it was just a case of completely ignoring him when he got a shock and pretending I hadn't heard anything. Once he thought I wasn't worried, he wasn't worried.

star-pants

I don't think it's unusual - my older dog Lily (3) doesn't bother with fireworks, she occasionally jumps at the noise of one if it's really loud, the only reason she barks is if she hears another dog barking at the fireworks.
Daisy (10months) wasn't overly bothered either, she'd jump or go 'muff' at some of them but then I think they just got used to them. They'd only react a lot if another dog was barking, rather than specifically at the fireworks.

It's a good idea for you yourself to ignore them, they'll feed off your reactions/energy. If you don't care, they kinda think 'oh ok, nothing much to worry about'.

XxXciaraxXx

My dog doesn't care either! My mams dog on the other hand goes absolutely ballistic! Both dogs were in the same house for halloween and my mams dog went mad and my dog thought he was playing and started jumping on him to play fight!

canalman

Sheeba was not afraid for 7 years.
This year she was terrified.

Sigma Force

It's owners that can have the dogs in a state, my oul one is terrible at reacting when the dog is nervous then that makes the dog nervous.
My dogs will jump (as we all do) if there's a loud noise but I don't make a fuss, if they are close by they do get a little nervous and if very close the collie does get scared.

I brought the pup out during Halloween during the day and there were bangers going off and although his ears reacted to the noise as they do he wasn't bothered and I said nothing just kept walking. Hopefully by next Halloween he won't react either seeing as he's being exposed to it early on.

Blueprint

Jasper was never bothered before either, but this year he was and I hadn't reacted to the noise myself at all.

lrushe

Ben, my 9 year old couldn't care less, at his age he kinda has the attitude 'been there done that', very little gets a rise out of him!!!

mymo

In the run up to halloween my two didn't seen bothered by the bangers at all. If one was particularly loud the pup(6mths) jumped and wuffed quietly, but she wuffs at every thing anyway:rolleyes: They spent Halloween in kennels as we were away, but kennel's in the country so fireworks would be distant.
Even stranger is my cat who's terrified of most things outside, sat on the garden wall ignoring them.
One thing they all dislike is the ones that screach, makes them jump up and check the rooms for invaders.:D
my neighbours dog on the other hand howls and barks and is terrified for days.

Elliee

Our 9 month old pup didnt give a damn! Not a bother on him, took hiim out for a walk around 9pm and there was fireworks going off a good bit he was more interested in the smells from the grass!!

joyce2009

same here my old girl(rip last week) was never bother by fireworks but the poor fellow nextdoor has an awful time ,,its so sad to see him so scared..

Beekay

Our pup, Leeloo, was fine aswell. At first she would bark a bit but we wouldn't really react and then just tell her to Ciúnas. After the first couple of times then she stopped and it was just like any other night.

fletch...

up until now our Sammy has been fine with fire works be it halloween or new years eve, just this halloween we left her in the care of my dad and whatever happend she refused to go out the garden in the dark after that. as soon as she saw it was dark outside she would bolt and hide under a bed. i had to coax her out at night with meat to get her to go toilet but she would still panick and run back inside. its going alrifgt now tho, im bringing her out and peeing in the garden and then shel go herself beside me ( no joking) and shes getting back to her normal self!

Its really down to how the dog owner reacts to the bangers, the dog will pick up on your reaction if your upset by it, so just act as if theres nothing wrong

ghost_ie

The eldest (a lab/collie cross aged 10) has never been bothered by fireworks, although she crawls under the bed when the bonfire is lit. Of the other two (both JRTs) the middle one (aged 7) is badly scared by bangers and fireworks whilst the youngest (aged 2) doesn't seem to mind them at all

lorebringer

star-pants wrote: »

I don't think it's unusual - my older dog Lily (3) doesn't bother with fireworks

There's something about Lilys!

My Lily is not bothered by anything, except food. On Halloween night, there were quite a few fireworks and bangers going off and she didn't bat an eyelid - we won't mention some of my others dogs reactions...

One her first New Years with us we though she would be scared so we stood in the back garden with her when we were letting her out ot go to the toilet. It was very loud and the sky was lit up but she didn't even notice, we were more nervous than she was!

getz

i have had four dogs over the years, my first a staffy[punky] always would shake when fireworks went off on bonfire night,my second another staffy called [becky] loved them she would go out into the garden to watch them, my third dog a bulldog called [buster] dident like them,he would bark every time they would go off, this bulldog i have today[teddy] doesent care i walked him round blackpool[UK] on bonfire night without any problems

Discodog

It's definitely something about Lily's. My Lily has happily sat & watched fireworks. Pearl was nervous but she has learnt from Lily & me. So much of dog behaviour is owner behaviour. You can chose to shield your dog from things that you decide are frightening or you can help your dog to become confident.

A couple of years ago a neighbour warned me that they were going to have a few fireworks. I deliberately took the dogs & gradually brought them closer. In a short time Pearl was more interested at what was on the Barbecue than the fireworks.

Never forget that a dog can sense that you are nervous often before you know that you are yourself.

iguana

I was just reminded of my dogs' kryptonite this morning.

I had gotten up while my husband had a lie in. They were in the livingroom stretched out in the sunny patches when they heard my husband get up. They got very excited and went to sit by the door and wait for him. After a few minutes of him not coming down they started coming over to me nuzzling me to open up the door so they could get to him. I opened the door and they dashed out but just as they got to the foot of the stairs it was "abort, abort" and they sat down with worried looks on their faces.

They could hear the shower and were terrified they were going to get a bath.:D

boardbrowser

My dog couldn't give a curse about fireworks either, however i made a very big effort to condition her to be like that as a young pup. socialisation is key here. when we lived in New york, at the age of 5 months, i brought her out to waterfront on 4th of July and fed her 1/4 pound of turkey while i enjoyed (and my dog enjoyed the fireworks).every bang earned her a little bit of turkey.As a result she doesn't spook easily when it comes to loud sounds.
also, fostered a pitbull who was found wandering the streets, for a number of months a few years back - 1st evening home had to give it a bath as it stank to high heaven having just come from god knows where.
Put it in bath and had a friend feed it a half roast chicken for duration of bathing experience. next day when i went to bathroom and ran the shower the dog jumped into the bath with me with tail wagging. classical conditioning at it's finest, love it.

spurscormac

My fella doesn't seem to give a damn for fireworks or bangers.
When he was small, we had him out back in the garden when a banger went off somewhere very close in the estate. He sprinted off under the shed, and we had to coax him out.
We were worried that he might be forever spooked by them, but since then, he has paid no attention to any fireworks or bangers, though none have gone off as close as that first time.
Fingers crossed he stays unworried by them.