A stressful time of year

With age, my dogs have started to sadly loose their eyesight and hearing. at this time of year, fireworks are a big problem for our household. Due to their senses being less sharp, some of the old dogs struggle with the unpredictable and unsettling loud bangs and sudden flashes of light in the sky. In their younger days, the dogs were completely unfazed by the noise. While walking my rottweilers on lead in Tottenham, North London one year, a couple of fireworks were set off on the other side of a garden fence fence (about 2meters from us) and it caught me totally off guard (it was February!). I let out a little shriek and my dogs just calmly stood there watching the fireworks. This summed up their attitude to fireworks for many years. As working security dogs, I'd built up allot of training to desensitise them to loud noises and to remain calm in stressful situations. As animals however, there is always a certain amount of unpredictability.

To help my dogs from a young age we'd do regular noisy training.
 - Walking my noisy main roads while on lead
 - Exposing them to police sirens, fire engines etc
 - Encouraging them to explore anything they were inquisitive / unsure about
 - Banging pots and pans (starting quietly and building up)
 - Playing noise CDs of fireworks / thunder / babies crying from puppyhood
 - Teaching an EMERGENCY RECALL

When the dogs became old and their fear of fireworks was inevitable we...
 - Closed the curtains at home earlier during firework season
 - Kept the dogs on lead on all walks
 - Made sure all ID tags and microchips were up to date
 - Never attached the dog lead to their ID collar (in a panic, collars can come off with the ID)
 - Brought forward their routines so they weren't going out for their last toilet late at night
 - Added natural calmers to their food (CBD is something we have been using for Kaiser's arthritis and also calms him for stressful events)
 - Put the TV on all evening
 - Put the radio on all day with either reggae, classical or a talk station
 - Made dens for each dog to retreat to if they wished (under the dinning table for the rottweilers)
 - Encouraged relaxing activities such as kongs, safe chews and searching games

MOST IMPORTANTLY - IT IS GOOD TO COMFORT A SCARED DOG if they want to be comforted. It used to be said that you shouldn't give a dog attention for being afraid, like you're somehow validating their excuse to be scared. Instead - imagine you're terrified of spiders. Being comforted might not make the spider go away but being comforted (in the right way) will not make you more afraid of the spider. If anything you'll appreciate the distraction and reassurance.

I hope all of your dogs are having a stress free time but if not, and you need some advice - please get i touch.

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