Everyone has or knows someone who has a dog who is scared of fireworks, but are the dogs really to blame?
Many people complain about how fireworks turn their dogs into a shivering nervous wreck and spend hundreds each year on calming vests, scented pheromone plugins and herbal tables to try and get them through it.
I have never once had a dog who has been scared or even acknowledged the noise of fireworks going off and this is not merely by chance.
Any dog owner or prospective dog owner should know, dogs often look to people for how they should react to something they haven’t had experience of – just like a child would to a parent.
You want a confident, self assured dog that knows the difference between imminent danger and New Years Eve!
From 8 weeks and fully vaccinated – take them past noisy, potentially unsettling things and make it fun! Distract your dog from the surroundings by jogging, playing and using your voice and even clapping.
Just like the dogs Pavlov went on about, your dog will soon realise there’s nothing to worry about and the more you do it – link fun and excitement to those sounds rather than terror.
If you know your dog is not in any danger – overly show them everything is okay. By acknowledging their fears and showing a protective behaviour, you are effectively telling your dog – they are correct to be afraid.
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