Over the last few days I have felt very sorry for the many dogs we have been hearing about on face book and twitter who are very upset by fireworks. I have massive sympathy for these dogs and their owners who I know are also very upset by their dogs reaction to the bonfire night celebrations.
I myself am very lucky – both my dogs are very relaxed about fireworks and don’t get stressed at all. This is great as we live in a built up area surrounded by pubs and houses and there are frequent firework parties. These are not limited to bonfire night as the pubs around us often host weddings and other celebrations and fireworks are often let off at these events.
This year was of course Tommy’s first experience of fireworks and I was determined to prepare him for them as well as I could and so we played a sound effects CD with firework noise frequently, both in the car and in different rooms of the house, for weeks before bonfire night.
When it got closer to November 5th and we started to hear fireworks regularly I made sure we were totally relaxed while they were going off and if he reacted in any way I distracted him by getting up and moving to anther room – he follows me around so he was then busy seeing where we were going rather than thinking about the noise he had just heard.
During bigger displays, which happened more as we got closer to bonfire night, I made sure we had a few new toys about and got these out when the bangs started to keep him focused on nice things. I also made sure he had nice walks each afternoon when I was expecting noise and he actually napped through a couple of close displays! It’s worth making sure you know what events are going on around your area so you can be ready if a big firework display is planned.
All this preparation worked and Tommy was his usual chilled out self during the noise and excitement last night and over the weekend.
Stan fans will know what a nervous and unpredictable little boy he is and would probably expect him to be very upset by the noise of fireworks. I certainly had anticipated problems and was worried last New Year as fireworks are let off in massive numbers around midnight where we live and this would be the first time that I could see Stan’s reaction. Well I was amazed to be shown by my boy that I need not have worried. Far from being scared of fireworks he actually likes them! On New Year’s Eve we were outside when the first batch near us were let off a little early and Stan’s reaction was instant – he moved to be in a better position for viewing and sat down to watch! Since then if he hears them he will wander over to a window and he watches them in the sky – often falling asleep by the window while he is waiting for the next one! Just goes to show that our dogs are very special and individual – Stan is one of a kind!
