Fireworks and Your Dog

The evenings are drawing in, the clocks are about to go back, and somewhere in the South Hams someone is already letting off a rocket three weeks early.

If you have a dog who hates fireworks, you probably already know what the next few weeks look like. The pacing. The trembling. The dog pressed against your legs, or wedged behind the sofa, refusing to come out for anything.

Here’s the part I most want you to hear: there is a great deal you can do about it in October, and very little you can do about it at eight o’clock on the fifth of November. That’s not me being discouraging. It’s the single most useful thing I can tell you, because it means now is the moment this is worth your attention.

Fear isn’t naughtiness, and it isn’t something to train out

A frightened dog isn’t being disobedient, dramatic or difficult. It’s having an emotional response to something it genuinely believes is dangerous, and no amount of obedience will change that. You can have the most beautifully trained dog in Devon and it will still panic at a bang, because sit and stay have nothing to do with how safe a dog feels.

This is the difference between training and behaviour work. Training teaches a dog what to do. Behaviour work changes how a dog feels. With noise fear, feelings are the entire problem, and feelings take time to shift.

What fear actually looks like

Some signs are obvious. Others get missed completely, which is how owners end up telling me their dog “doesn’t mind fireworks” when it very much does.

• Trembling, panting, drooling or pacing.

• Hiding, or trying to get behind or underneath furniture.

• Clinging to you and following you from room to room.

• Refusing food, even food they’d normally sell the house for.

• Freezing, going very still, lip licking, yawning, a stiff body and wide eyes.

• Toileting indoors, barking, or trying to escape the house or garden.

That middle group matters. A dog that goes quiet and still isn’t coping, it’s shutting down. Quietly frightened is still frightened.

Why it usually gets worse each year

Noise fear rarely fades on its own. More often it builds, because every bad firework season teaches the dog that this time of year is genuinely frightening. Dogs that started off merely startled can end up frightened of the dark, of the garden, of the sound of a car door, of anything that has come to predict a bang.

That’s also why the work has to happen while things are calm. You cannot teach a dog that a noise is harmless while it is in the middle of being terrified by it.

What to do now, in October

1. Build the safe place before it’s needed

Pick the quietest spot in the house, ideally away from windows and external walls, and make it genuinely inviting: a covered crate or a den under a table, familiar bedding, something of yours that smells of you. Let your dog use it in ordinary, calm moments over the next few weeks so it becomes a normal part of life rather than somewhere they get shut on a frightening night. A den only works if the dog chose it first.

2. Start sound work, gently and slowly

Firework sound recordings can help, but only if used properly. Play them so quietly that your dog notices and then carries on with what they were doing, and pair that with something genuinely good - dinner, a chew, a game. Build the volume up over days and weeks, and only when your dog stays relaxed at the current level.

If your dog reacts at all, you’ve gone too fast. Turn it down, go back a step, and take longer. Done well, this is what changes a dog’s underlying response. Done too quickly, it rehearses the panic and makes things worse.

3. Sort the practical things

• Walk and toilet your dog before dusk during firework season.

• Check the garden fencing and gates. Frightened dogs get through gaps they’ve never looked at twice.

• Make sure the microchip details and ID tag are up to date, because this is the time of year dogs bolt.

• On the night, close curtains, put on familiar background sound, and stay in with your dog if you possibly can.

4. Speak to your vet this month

If your dog genuinely panics - trying to escape, injuring itself, inconsolable for hours - that’s a conversation to have with your vet now, not on the day. There are things that need planning, trialling and prescribing in advance, and your vet can’t do much at short notice.

It’s also worth asking about pain. A dog that’s uncomfortable has far less capacity to cope with anything stressful, and discomfort is one of the most commonly missed reasons a dog’s tolerance suddenly drops. Your vet looks after the body. My job is to look at the whole dog, including everything going on around them - and the two work much better together.

What not to do

Don’t tell your dog off. Barking, pacing and hiding are fear, not misbehaviour. Telling a frightened dog off adds you to the list of things that are frightening.

Don’t force your dog to face it. Taking a frightened dog out to “get used to” fireworks doesn’t help them cope. It overwhelms them, and overwhelmed dogs learn that the thing really is as bad as they thought.

Don’t drag them out of their hiding place. If your dog has found somewhere it feels safe, that’s a good thing. Let it stay there.

And do comfort your dog. You cannot reinforce fear with kindness. If your dog comes to you for reassurance, give it. The old advice about ignoring a frightened dog has been left behind for good reason.

Living in the countryside doesn’t make it easier

People sometimes assume a rural dog has an easy time of it. In practice, sound carries a long way across open country, village displays can come from a direction you weren’t expecting, and the season here stretches well beyond one night as different events spread across several weekends.

Brought a new dog home this year?

Then this will be their first firework season with you, in a house they’re still learning, without the hiding places they used to rely on. You also may have no idea how they coped with it before.

Assume nothing, prepare as though they’ll find it hard, and if it turns out they sleep through the lot, you’ve lost nothing.

When to get in contact

It’s worth getting behaviour support if your dog:

• Panics rather than simply startles - trying to escape, hurting itself, or inconsolable.

• Has got noticeably worse year on year.

• Has started avoiding the garden, the dark or going out at all.

• Is frightened of other everyday noises too - traffic, gunshot, thunder, the hoover.

• Has changed suddenly, with no obvious reason, which is always worth a vet check as well.

I’m a dog behaviourist working with owners in South Brent, Buckfastleigh and across the South Hams. If this autumn is looking like hard work, please get in contact. We’ll look at what’s actually going on for your dog and put together a plan that fits your house, your routine and the time you’ve got.

And if the fireworks have already started by the time you read this, it’s still worth getting in touch. Some of this helps straight away, and the rest gives you a far better run at it next year.

Common questions about dogs and fireworks

Can I comfort my dog, or does that make it worse?

Comfort them. You cannot make fear worse by being kind. If your dog seeks you out, stay calm, stay close, and let them settle against you.

Will my dog grow out of it?

Usually not. Left alone, noise fear tends to grow rather than fade, because each bad season reinforces it.

Is it too late to start if it’s already late October?

No. You won’t complete a full desensitisation programme in a fortnight, but a proper safe place, the practical precautions and a conversation with your vet all make a real difference this year  and give you a head start on next.

Can a trainer fix firework fear?

Training teaches skills. Firework fear is an emotional response, so it needs behaviour work: changing how your dog feels about the noise, gradually and below the level that frightens them.

My dog just hides. Is that a problem?

Hiding is a sensible coping strategy and not something to stop. It becomes a concern when the dog can’t settle even in the hiding place, or when the hiding starts spreading to ordinary evenings with no fireworks at all.