Firework season!

Just wondered if any of your little ladies or gentlemen have a firework phobia like Biscuit, and if so, what do you do to aid this?

I live in a built up area and Biscuit suffers pretty severely, she has been sedated with diazepam for the past 2 firework nights which has been effective. I'm just curious to hear some slightly more natural remedies and how effective they have been, as i'm off to the vets with her this afternoon and don't know whether to get her prescription then or not?

As previously mentioned, it is pretty severe. If left unsedated she will charge at doors and windows, shake, salivate, her hackles are constantly up, pupils dilated and you can't touch her or offer any comfort as she just can't handle it. At my previous house I had a room with no windows so could set up a den for her in there and she could sleep off the sedatives. I don't have that luxury in this house but I have a little den planned out in the living room where the surround sound is, so that will hopefully drown out some noise. Can't stand seeing her in such a state

Rocky usually barks at everyone that goes off and around here that a lot as we have a lot of idiots living around here. He already has his adaptil collar on and we will be getting him another one soon too. The collar seems to work and he also has the adaptil spray to go on his bedding.

Dempsey doesn't get phased by anything, really.

Bandit used to be a bit like Biscuit & we used to get sedatives from the vet every year. We'd wait until he showed signs of nervousness before giving them to him, though.

I take it a thunder shirt or Adaptil don't work?

Haha bless him Caryll! I usually wait and see how she reacts, but don't want to leave it too long as she won't eat when she gets that stressed, so the last thing I want to do it have to put them down her throat when she's already in a mess  

Think the thundershirt just kept her cosy and warm! Tried adaptil, zylkene and pet remedy, both collars, plug ins and sprays for various anxieties whilst she was at the dogs home but nothing relieved her at all. Read up about skullcap and valerian, but a behaviourist i'm working with at the moment has trialed it and had no real results from that either. May just have to stock up on the diazepam..

Yes, I'd stick with what you know works - at least you know it won't harm her.

Precisely, don't want to be messing around with experiments when she's suffering! Thanks

It's horrible seeing them so frightened & knowing you can't do anything to stop it. 

Aww poor bis hope what you chose works well rach, Darcy was fine last year so hopefully she's ok this year too

the boys aren't bothered by fireworks thankfully

I'm lucky that Charlie really isn't phased by fireworks or thunder or anything like that (just the hoover!) A friend of mine has a dog with a severe phobia and he has to be sedated when there are fireworks

It's very quiet where we live, but Lola barked a little last year at some fireworks that we could hear in the distance. Guess we're lucky. She did however, bark like a demented dog this morning when she was asleep on the bed and I was sitting at my dressing table and my tummy rumbled..... 3 times   I've heard 'thundercoats' are good for storms/fireworks...... My hubby used to have 2 Labs that he used to shut in the understairs cupboard (sounds cruel but wasn't!) with blankets and chews and treats when fireworks were going off. Strange, but he has an autistic son who is 23 who still can't stand fireworks and hides away..........

It's horrible when our dogs are so frightened.  I was very careful with Kuchar last Fireworks season (his first) by not taking or letting him out when the fireworks were going full blast, and by treating it as normal when there were bangs so he could see that I was not frightened, and hopefully he'll still be OK this upcoming season.

My first Dobermann though was terrified of fireworks and thunder, and it was all my fault.  She was only 1 or 2 years old and we had a small firework party (a very restrained one with no bangs as the children were little) in our back garden whilst I shut her in a front bedroom with a radio playing.  However, there were bangs going on elsewhere and she got distressed.  After that, only diazepam helped her at all.  

I do sympathise and wish I could offer a cure.  

why cant' they make it firework night not firework fortnight  ,sash is the same,its so horrible to see her so scared  ,i brought her a thunder shirt last year and it did'nt really make that much difference but i will put it on her and spray adaptil on it and i did get her some Zylkene too,just hoping it will work.

thankfully my 2 are not so bothered but Tommy has got more sensitive as he has got older so maybe this year we will see a difference , hope not

stella wrote:why cant' they make it firework night not firework fortnight  ,sash is the same,its so horrible to see her so scared  ,i brought her a thunder shirt last year and it did'nt really make that much difference but i will put it on her and spray adaptil on it and i did get her some Zylkene too,just hoping it will work.

I agree so much Stella, if it was only ONE night we could cope with it (with difficulty in some cases, but at least it would only be for that one night).

last couple of years wasn't too bad round here , something good come out of the credit crunch and double dip recessions I think

Mine arnt botherd either but had a tense moment last year. Was out on walkies and it was all going off when I stroked marley and he freaked out at the bangs right after that. Had to ignore him and act normal as hard as that was for the next few days and he came around. Just shows what a balance there is. An inoccent stroke while they were going off was translated as something bad was going on. A dog that was never botherd before and I gave him the wrong body language and it freaked him. Its def a fine line even if your dog is okay around them.

Nathan wrote:Mine arnt botherd either but had a tense moment last year. Was out on walkies and it was all going off when I stroked marley and he freaked out at the bangs right after that. Had to ignore him and act normal as hard as that was for the next few days and he came around. Just shows what a balance there is. An inoccent stroke while they were going off was translated as something bad was going on A dog that was never botherd before and I gave him the wrong body language and it freaked him. Its def a fine line even if your dog is okay around them.

It's a fine line indeed Nathan.

Ledger isn't keen but oddly loved watching them on tv at new year reminded me tho to start with adding rescue remedy to his water and spraying adaptil

Very grateful to get everyone's suggestions. Douglas is a 47lb scaredy-cat when it comes to fireworks. Living in Edinburgh, there are a lot of them, but we can get out of town when it's during the festival or at New Year - because we know exactly what date and exactly what time. But at the beginning of November, it's like a warzone out there. You never know where, when or how many.

It'll be interesting to see how Bruno reacts to the fireworks this year. I agree that it should be limited to one night a year and not a whole fortnight as it seems to be now!! Not just for the sake of all our babies but for all the wildlife out there that are freaked out too.