The fourth of July is usually full of festive, fun activities for humans: hot dogs, hamburgers, parade, beer and beach – but for dogs, is full of fourth Fireworks and fear,
Last year, around 4 July, I heard Snap, Cracked and Pop, Pop, Pop of Empromptu fireworks. What did I hear next? As the jingle jungle of my dog’s collar, they quickly collided with the couch, where they were happily taking a nap, and ran away from the noise in an attempt to go away from the noise and take shelter at their safe place.
Apart from being an executive manufacturer for CBS News 24/7, I am also a volunteer trainer Canine companionWhich provides expert-educated service dogs to adults, children and giants along with the disabled. I am often asked for dog training and socialization tips, and I am happy to share everything I have learned with canine colleagues from my time.
Canine companions encourage their volunteer Puppy Rai to highlight their dear friends to expose various types of experiences, sites and sounds, as they are important to help the dogs prepare for their service. After all, when those service animals are working, they will need to maintain attention through all distractions.
Here all they recommend for the owners of all pets who want to keep their dogs calm during fireworks:
First and foremost, do not move your dog to fireworks shows if you can avoid it. Some dogs are great around noise, but if something goes wrong then it is a very risky situation. Remember, dogs have a much more sensitive hearing than humans and are able to listen to sounds four times away from as we can do, and fireworks are very loud.
Exercising your puppy or dog before the day is also a good idea. There are great ways to tire both physical and mental stimulation and prepare them to spend the evening in their kenel at home. Some fun ideas for mental stimulation include:
- To hide and search at home. To do this, leave your dog sitting or down, then hide somewhere in the house. Call them to you, and be prepared to praise and reward when they find you.
- Give their food (or part of their food) to capture and stimulate them as a frozen kong, or other toys as they focus on getting their food. To make a frozen kong, take a part of the dog’s meal and soak it in warm water for about 20-30 minutes until it has increased in size. Then, do a kong or similar toys and soaked kibal in the center of freeze. We recommend doing this a day or two in advance, so it is already frozen when you need to use it.
- There are some funny training sessions throughout the day! Work on some things, for which they may need to move a little further, such as jumping, touching, remembering, etc.
If you have a dog who has shown sensitivity to noise, or if it is the first fourth of a puppy and you are not sure how they will react, then here are some useful suggestions that are to make it a good experience:
- Use a kennel! Treat them (even before fireworks start) to reward them for calm behavior.
- Play music or TV in the background to help out the noise of fireworks.
- Take the kennel to the cool room of your house – perhaps a room with a bathroom or lowest windows towards the center of your house.
- Pour a blanket on the caneal to help keep the noise out. It still looks like a den for them, which they like.
- Stay calm and confident. If the dog is afraid or shows fear, it is important for us that we remain confident and do not code them. They will feed our body language. Confidently tell them that this is fine, do the act as it is not a big thing and give them some kibels to try to distract them.
- Every time a firework stops, give them a piece of kibal. The more you can combine loud noise with some fun and delicious, the better!
