Dog Reacting Very Badly to Fireworks

Lucyx

Hi Guys

I need some opinions please.

I've recently moved to a new house with my dog but we'll only be staying for about 6 months. In this area there are fireworks in the evening (already ffs) and as soon as my dog even hears one she is in bits. Her whole body shakes and she starts panting heavily and this lasts for about an hour. I ignore her and only stroke her when she starts to relax to try to discourage the behaviour. But I feel so awful for her and she probably picks up on this from me which wouldn't help her.

I'm going to get the DAP collar for her and I hope this will help but I'm wondering if all of this anxiety is going to do her some proper damage? It can't be good for her to go through this. We only moved in a couple of nights ago and she got a bad scare both nights. On Halloween night I'm going to stay with a friend as I'm not going to put her through the stress that night when it'll be mental.

Any advice please

Dubl07

A snug-fitting t-shirt to mimic the effect of an Equafleece or Thundershirt might be helpful. Does she have a 'den' area that's small and dark where she can hide?

Lucyx

Dubl07 wrote: »

A snug-fitting t-shirt to mimic the effect of an Equafleece or Thundershirt might be helpful. Does she have a 'den' area that's small and dark where she can hide?

Thundershirt?? Never heard of that.

There really isn't a good den spot where I'm living now. I just put dance music on loudly and the beat from that really works for her and also her fan. That cools her down and helps the panting. Its awful seeing her so bad though.

Qualitymark

+1 for the Thundershirt; I think I got mine in Breffni pet shop in Windy Arbour (near Dundrum in Dublin). My dog used to come upstairs (*strictly* forbidden) and hide in my bed at thunder or bangers, but with the Thundershirt on she snoozes happily by the front door.

Millem

Lucyx wrote: »

Hi Guys

I need some opinions please.

I've recently moved to a new house with my dog but we'll only be staying for about 6 months. In this area there are fireworks in the evening (already ffs) and as soon as my dog even hears one she is in bits. Her whole body shakes and she starts panting heavily and this lasts for about an hour. I ignore her and only stroke her when she starts to relax to try to discourage the behaviour. But I feel so awful for her and she probably picks up on this from me which wouldn't help her.

I'm going to get the DAP collar for her and I hope this will help but I'm wondering if all of this anxiety is going to do her some proper damage? It can't be good for her to go through this. We only moved in a couple of nights ago and she got a bad scare both nights. On Halloween night I'm going to stay with a friend as I'm not going to put her through the stress that night when it'll be mental.

Any advice please

We tried everything dap collars, shirts, CDs, anxiety drops, 2 behaviourists and she was even sedated one Halloween!! (Not recommended) I have found over the years it has gotten better. We just ignore the behaviour (shaking), act normal and let her go wherever she feels safe! (Sometimes it is the shower cubicle!) thunder, lightening and heavy rain also sets my girl off. The most important thing for us is to make sure she is not alone and not to confine her! During the summer there was thunder during the day while I was out I came back to find a key snapped in a locked door and the door frame chewed off! Make sure she is microchipped and has a tag on her as scared dogs have been known to scrapper out of the house at Halloween!

Lucyx

Millem wrote: »

We tried everything dap collars, shirts, CDs, anxiety drops, 2 behaviourists and she was even sedated one Halloween!! (Not recommended) I have found over the years it has gotten better. We just ignore the behaviour (shaking), act normal and let her go wherever she feels safe! (Sometimes it is the shower cubicle!) thunder, lightening and heavy rain also sets my girl off. The most important thing for us is to make sure she is not alone and not to confine her! During the summer there was thunder during the day while I was out I came back to find a key snapped in a locked door and the door frame chewed off! Make sure she is microchipped and has a tag on her as scared dogs have been known to scrapper out of the house at Halloween!

So you know my pain

Its just a nightmare and she jumped up on my lap last night and her little body was trembling so badly. I'm not sure she'd like that thundershirt. I think that would almost annoy her more than the fireworks !!

I'll definitely get the DAP collar anyway as I think that helps.

muddypaws

Lucyx wrote: »

So you know my pain

Its just a nightmare and she jumped up on my lap last night and her little body was trembling so badly. I'm not sure she'd like that thundershirt. I think that would almost annoy her more than the fireworks !!

I'll definitely get the DAP collar anyway as I think that helps.

thundershirts are fantastic, think of swaddling for a baby, it gives them a feeling of security.

Millem

Lucyx wrote: »

So you know my pain

Its just a nightmare and she jumped up on my lap last night and her little body was trembling so badly. I'm not sure she'd like that thundershirt. I think that would almost annoy her more than the fireworks !!

I'll definitely get the DAP collar anyway as I think that helps.

You can also buy dap plug in things. My girl won't eat or won't go outside to go to the loo. She holds it god love her

Dubl07

muddypaws wrote: »

thundershirts are fantastic, think of swaddling for a baby, it gives them a feeling of security.

It's becoming accepted treatment for agitation in autistic children as well. It releases natural oxytocin into the bloodstream, removing or lessening the need for drugs and allowing the body to self-calm.

Qualitymark

Lucyx wrote: »

I'm not sure she'd like that thundershirt. I think that would almost annoy her more than the fireworks !!

That's what I thought, but it's not how it turned out. I think that compression of the torso is deeply comforting for dogs. My dog used to pull on the lead as a pup until I got her a type of leash that compresses gently around the shoulders if she pulls; it calmed her and stopped her being so over-excited. But it's up to yourself, of course.

tk123

Thundershirts come with a money back guarantee - you can get a refund if it doesn't work/dog doesn't like it so there's nothing to lose in trying one

Lucyx

ok I'm sold...does anyone know of anywhere on the northside of Dublin that sells the thundershirts?

I'll def go to the petshop in Dundrum if needs be.

tk123

Lucyx wrote: »

ok I'm sold...does anyone know of anywhere on the northside of Dublin that sells the thundershirts?

I'll def go to the petshop in Dundrum if needs be.

Maxizoo in Finglas and PetMania in Santry sell them.

murria

Was about to start a thread looking for a solution. Will give the Thundershirt a go. Thanks.

Lucyx

tk123 wrote: »

Maxizoo in Finglas and PetMania in Santry sell them.

Great news. I'll check them out

DBB

I think it might be worthwhile for posters to tell their stories here of what has worked for them with their firework-phobic pets, and indeed rural pets that are frightened of gunfire, for the season that's in it.
To start, I think it's important for owners to recognise the importance of treating this type of fear at times their dog is not being exposed, and consequently not super-sensitised to it. In other words, treatment needs to start after Halloween, and throughout the year, not now (a few weeks before Halloween). This is hard to do, because the problem lies dormant for so long during the year, and it's a case of out of sight, out of mind!
Sensitisation to a scary thing needs to be approached using systematic, gradual, slow desensitisation, without exposing your pet to the full-blown version of the scary noise during the treatment program.
It's easy enough to download firework, thunder, and gunfire sounds, or indeed buy sounds CDs from dog training websites. These need to be played at a volume which does not upset the dog, and kept at this level for several weeks, whilst the owner establishes a "feelgood factor" in their dog by throwing a tasty treat to the dog when the noises happen. These noises must become humdrum in the presence of nice stuff happening, and the next level should not be moved to until the dog is clearly showing a positive, anticipative response to the sounds at low volume. Crashes, bangs and wallops=nyummy treats, and eventually, a happy emotional response to low noises.
At this stage, it's time to slowly raise the volume, just a bit, and do all the same stuff again. Then raise the volume again. Take as long as you like, but never up the volume until you have that happy, anticipative response, which may take weeks, maybe months. But that's okay.
Eventually, full volume can be achieved... Let this take months if necessary. But once you have that happy response to really loud noises, the owner can start to introduce sudden noises, unexpectedly, but starting at low volume again, and gradually building it up.
So, that's a really quick visit to systematic desensitisation. But to help owners and dogs along the way, there are various bits of gear which offer serious help... There is a rather individual response to each, but they must be tried.

First is the Thundershirt. Most owners report at least some positive response... A lovely gentle, passive way of lowering stress which has been used for millennia by certain human tribes to keep babies calm. It was popularised as a treatment for autistic people by Temple Grandin... Read her books, they're very interesting. She's autistic herself, so speaks from the horse's mouth. The Thundershirt should be left on for the duration of treatment and especially during Halloween.

Second, the Adaptil Diffuser (my personal preference is for diffusers, not collars, which seem to be more hit and miss), located close to the dog's chosen den, and left on 24/7. They cannot work unless they're on constantly.

Third, the above-mentioned chosen den. It's been mentioned already: allow your dog to select his/her safe place, plug the diffuser in nearby, and provide lots and lots of duvets and blankets for your dog to bury into. Close curtains to make sure flashes of lightening or fireworks cannot be seen in the room, leave a radio playing as loud as you can, within reason, to help drown out the noises causing the fear.
Provide the dog with a really delightful, long-lasting chew treat, in the early evening before the fireworks start and the dog has started to react: kongs stuffed with delicious stuff, and I know quite a few people, myself included, who find that bull's pizzles are long-lasting and very much loved by many dogs. Not all dogs will chew at these times, but they ideally should be introduced during the year-round training outlined above, so that chewy stuff becomes a normal part of coping with scary noises.
Bear in mind that snuggling in beside their owner might be your dog's chosen safe zone: that's fine, I'd go with what the dog wants, but just take care not to coo at the dog to calm him/her... Just let the dog be there without drawing too much attention to all the goings-on.

Fourthly, there are some pretty good non-prescription herbal food additives that can help: Kalm Aid is one (I personally don't rate it much), Zylkene is another that I've had some good feedback about. It's available online and from some vets.

Fifthly, don't ever, ever allow yourself be convinced to use the sedative ACP on Halloween night.(acepromazine, often called "ace", or Sedalin) I think it has been de-licensed for use on behavioural issues, and rightly so. It does a lot more harm than good, and is utterly inappropriate to use on frightened dogs.There are a couple of far, far more appropriate psychoactive drugs for the treatment of noise phobias, but they must be used in conjunction with a desensitisation program as outlined above to be truly effective. Your vet can prescribe these meds, preferably with the help of a suitably qualified behaviourist if the vet is not well-read on behavioural interactions with these drugs.
And on the same note, none of these measures is an instant-fix, and often aren't effective used on their own. But in combination with one another, and as part of a bigger desensitisation program, they can be very helpful indeed.

Sixthly, if you're not in time with the desensitisation program, as has already been mentioned, and depending on the dog, it might be no harm to put your dog in kennels or home pet care in a quiet place for the night itself... Or better still book a cottage in the middle of nowhere and take off on a few day's holidays with your dog!

I think that's it, if I've missed anything I'll either add it in, or perhaps other owners with good experiences of various measures with their own dogs could add to this. I'm sure it'll be a subject that comes up again and again in the coming weeks!

Millem

I forgot to add Allianz paid for the majority of the treatments. I just paid the excess and we did it over 2 years. We went to two behaviourists both would completely disagree with each other on treatments. One was a vet and I can honestly say I would never ever give sedatives again to the dog, they paralyse the dog but her mind was still going crazy and she ended up wetting herself. It was a good 6 years ago now. They were those ACP things DBB mentioned. The cd we have is called fear of fireworks which was recommended by other behaviourist you play it down real low every day and gradually increase the volume. You can get Kalm aid from vet that you put in their food. I did get a homeopathic one sent to me by a holistic vet but I can't remember his name. I think it was tom?? And he is based in cork?? Also we put lavander drops when we washed her bed. There is this thing called tellington touch that I vaguely remember the second behaviourist talking about I think it is like the thunder vests. I am pretty sure she sells everything in her shop it is dog training ireland in ballycoolin she is very helpful.

DBB

Tom Farrington?
I'm afraid I don't buy into homoeopathy at all, but Tom is a great vet and a lovely fella :-)

Thanks Millem, for illustrating exactly why ACP should not be used to sedate fearful dogs... It numbs the body but not the mind, so although the dog is absolutely aware of what is happening, he cannot do anything about it. It must be a living hell, and easy to see why it actually worsens fearful behaviour in the longer term.

Also, lavender! Of course! Sprinkled around bedding or maybe an oil burner? Great idea!

Millem

DBB wrote: »

Tom Farrington?
I'm afraid I don't buy into homoeopathy at all, but Tom is a great vet and a lovely fella :-)

Thanks Millem, for illustrating exactly why ACP should not be used to sedate fearful dogs... It numbs the body but not the mind, so although the dog is absolutely aware of what is happening, he cannot do anything about it. It must be a living hell, and easy to see why it actually worsens fearful behaviour in the longer term.

Also, lavender! Of course! Sprinkled around bedding or maybe an oil burner? Great idea!

Yes that is him I had to put it in her water bowl! I was willing to give anything a shot That ACP is dreadful we didn't realise how bad it was, she was a rescue and we only had her 2months and we were so worried she would have a heart attack we didn't have a clue! The last behaviourist said it could have traumatised her more as she could remember the whole thing another thing is to dim the lights and turn up tv or radio. We actually made up a lavender spray in one of those things to spray flowers