Fireworks – keeping your dog safe.

It’s firework time again, although in a lot of areas firework time seems to be 52 weeks of the year.Keeping your dogs calm when night after night it sounds like bombs are being dropped around your home isn’t easy.

You can get meds from a vet and essential oils can help to calm dogs down but sometimes it seems like nothing works and the more we stress about it the worse it is for our dogs. Think of the child frightened of thunder and a loving parent hides under the table with that child to comfort him or her. In actual fact that would be reinforcing that thunder needs to be hidden from. Far better to keep calm and tell the child its just a couple of clouds colliding so let’s play a game together.

If we start preparing in advance for bonfire night we will be giving our dogs messages that something is happening. Above all we must remain calm. If meds work fine but if not the more we fuss a dog the more nervous it can become. As hard as it may seem some dogs prefer to do what they would do in the wild and what their basic instinct tells them. In the wild they would dig a hole, get in it, and keep their head down until it was all over. We can provide that by giving them a den or quiet corner and if they settle in it let them do what their instinct tells them to do. If it’s a crate put a blanket over most of it. If its in a corner put something part way across the corner – dogs like to know they can’t be taken by surprise so the more closed around they are the better. Some dogs prefer to be with us which is great as long as we keep them and ourselves calm. I know its a long night and it may entail an ‘accident’ but its often safer not to do a last minute ‘let out’. Far too many dogs go missing when they’ve been out in the dark and sudden bang has made them bolt. Keep nervous dogs on a lead, that way you can’t lose them and they will feel safer knowing you are attached to them. Take them out early in the day if at all possible, when the firework thugs haven’t woken up, and give them exercise to tire them a little. If your dog loves the car you could go for a drive into the country, park on a hill and watch the pretty colours without the loud bangs.