bonfire night.

I’m not sure what others will advise, but as I haven’t had Oscar long, when the fireworks were going off this week and he was pricking his ears up and looking interested I started talking to him in an excited voice ‘ooh what’s that Oscar, shall we go see?’

We went outside and there were bangs etc and I took out some treats and the clicker, when he was being all calm or just pricking his ears in interest I was rewarding him.  I got him doing his training out on the decking, with the bangs still going off, and he was fine.

His papers from DT said he was phobic of fireworks, have yet to see it though!

Simba, on the other hand, runs away and hides in my bedroom.  She’s a lot better than she was last year, I tend to ignore her nervous freak outs and then give her cuddles and treats when she chills a bit.

Turning the tv/radio volume up and acting normally is usually a good idea.

The only puppy I raised, our family cocker spaniel, is bomb proof.  When she was a pup we made a point of exposing her to loud noises and making it fun for her, so she didn’t associate loud noises with ‘scary’.

I’m sure others who are more experienced and knowledgeable than me will advise, but the above has always worked for us with our dogs as yet.

Look to the breed girls Willow is a gundog so just act as normal she should not be bothered by fireworks.
Val

Piper gets a bit stressed but I ignore her and just let her settle in her own time – St John’s Wort works a treat to help keep her calmer though  🙂