How Can I Stop My Dog Being Frightened of Fireworks?
With New Year’s Eve coming up, it is important to prepare in advance of firework displays so you and your dog can both be more calm. Understanding your dog’s behaviour and working towards changing it will make fireworks much more enjoyable for everyone.
Why Are Dogs Frightened of Fireworks?
Dogs’ hearing is so much better than ours. They can hear noises that are four times farther away than humans can and they can hear much higher frequencies than humans. Humans can hear up to 20,000hz, compared to dogs who can hear up to 50,000hz. Fireworks sound loud to us, so imagine how much louder they must sound to your dog!
On top of this, your dog doesn’t know what the noises are or understand where they are coming from. So it is perfectly reasonable for your dog to be anxious when they hear fireworks.
Why You Shouldn’t Ignore Your Dog’s Fear
It’s important to address your dog’s fear of fireworks, rather than allowing it to continue.
By ignoring it, your dog is likely to become more fearful of fireworks in the future, and could be more fearful in general.
Helping your dog to overcome their fear and providing coping strategies for them can also help build the bond between you both. This will help with many other aspects of dog training and behaviour.
So How Can You Help Your Dog?
Desensitisation means gradually getting your dog used to the sound of fireworks so they no longer experience fear when they hear them.
- Start by playing firework sounds on your phone at a very low volu. YouTube is a great place to find these. Give your dog a calm activity to do while the sounds are playing. A snuffle mat, Kong or chew are great options. At this stage, we are aiming for no reaction to the noise.
- After a few days of this, you can then start to gradually increase the volume. If your dog shows any signs of distress, stop the training and next time you do it play the video at a lower volume.
- You can gradually start making the experience more realistic for your dog. Play the firework noises at night time or add flashes of light by playing a fireworks video on your tv.
- Over several weeks, or even months, your dog will stop reacting to the firework noises.
Remember, you cannot do this training too slowly!
You may not have been able to prepare enough in advance for desensitising your dog to the sounds of fireworks. If this is the case, these simple changes may help your dog cope better with their anxiety. See my next blog post for these!
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Links and References
Dogs’ and Humans’ Hearing: Barber, A.L.A., Wilkinson, A., Ratcliffe, V.F., Guo, K. and Mills, D.S., 2020. A Comparison of Hearing and Auditory Functioning Between Dogs and Humans. Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews, 15.
Importance of bonding with your dog: Hiby, E.F., Rooney, N.J. and Bradshaw, J.W.S. 2004. ‘Dog Training Methods: their use, effectiveness and interaction with behaviour and welfare’. Animal Welfare 13(1): 63-70.
Dogs Trust Sound Desensitisation: Sound Therapy & Firework Training for Dogs | Dogs Trust
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