Composure for stress/fear.

RonandJan said:
We have a practical joker kid in the neighborhood that I am ready to throttle over fireworks.

Here is the deal, they have been setting off fireworks (noise ones mainly) in the afternoons here(yes, we live in the Hicksville of Connecticut) and MMM has been sleeping through them without so much as a bat of the eye.

HOWEVER, we have an idiot, unidentified as yet, kid, who is going through the neighborhood at 2:30 AM and setting off just one or two firecrackers and making Ron and I jump in our sleep. This @$$#*!^ child then lays low for about 15 to 20 minutes and then sets off 1 or 2 more.....then lays low again for 15 to 20 minutes and then sets 1 or 2 more off. Well you doze off and then you jump and of course...........It is making MMM nervous that his people are jumping out of their skin. But I can't be non reactive in the middle of my sleep! :uhoh::uhoh:

Now, I hope that none of you are laughing over this, because I am furious! :uhoh::uhoh: and my neighbor across the street (with the heart condition) has called the police.

I may end up sedating myself and Ron..........MMM would sleep through them if it weren't for us jumping!


DOG TRAINING OPINION ALERT:
Ohhh and do remember, that petting and saying sweetly "it's ok baby, the fireworks won't hurt you, sweetie" is rein-enforcing a behavior you don't want, i.e., shaking and showing fear. Your sweet voice is praise to them, so they think this is the correct behavior for the fireworks sound. You should play a favorite game and distract them from the sound during the fireworks. I never take my dogs to fireworks and I never leave them alone when there is going to be a big show close by. We play the "funnest" games we love to play!
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Argh. I feel for you. The brats, I mean children, at the end of my street did that last year anytime for 11-3am. I never saw them but heard them . My neighbor caught them though. Luckily, I sleep like a stone, so if the dogs reacted I don't know. I however stay up late and the first couple times , I jumped pretty bad.
 
Definitely going to look into that Composure stuff. Sometimes, mine are so anxious they can't even focus enough to realize that nothing bad is actually happening.

As for the 4th, I have a bad track record. I hate the people that shoot fireworks in my neighborhood. I had a feral cat for years that was very afraid of thunder and fireworks. What did they do? Shoot them right under my window. She would hide under furniture for the next day or so. I felt like smacking those people with a bottle rocket.

NYE was no better. Luka chewed a baseball sized hole in my mattress last time someone did fireworks. I was outside and he was in. Came back to a hole in the bed!
 
I get your pain. This was our first year without fireworks - finally banned last year after too many mail boxes destroyed and dead and stray pets.

I remember last year Romeoangevese posted something about theories about soothing your pet when they are stressed. It was really interesting and I have tried it with thunderstorms. I went with the 'dont hold your pet' approach when Deska panicked about loud noises and I still had to drug him. Now I sit with him next to me and talk to him in a normal way and he feels comfortable and is much less reactive. I am able to get his stress levels down more quickly and he can focus on me (so I can distract him more easily). So I think the idea is dont molly coddle the dog so it thinks there must be something to be scared of, but making them feel comfortable and protected is okay. Deska's safe place is always next to me.
 
Yes, it is either non-reactive or distraction.

I learned the hard way with Cleveland. As he was getting sick, I molly coddled him with thunder and fireworks and firearms (yes, we really really live in Hicksville, someone is always firing a gun!) and the more I petted and soothed him the more he became afraid.

We have been totally non reactive during the day with thunder and so forth and MMM continues on like nothing has happened................so far!
 
We're staying home on the Fourth to be with our furkids when fireworks start. I took Layla one year and sat too close. She came completely unglued -- my bomb-proof dog climbed right up my face. Once I got her farther back, she was fine, but I don't ever want to put a dog through that again! Bad Mommy!! :mad:
 
After hearing fireworks for the first time in May, Ginny has decided that she's not only afraid of fireworks, but thunder, my sneezes and coughs. I've had to start crating her at night because every time I cough (which is often), she's up pacing around.

I wish I could make that silly dog realize that myself, DH and Sadie are perfectly calm for a reason: There's nothing to be afraid of!

I just downloaded two cds, one of rain and thunder and one of fireworks to try and desensitize her.

Someone else on the forums (I think Chris) and my dog trainer also recommended trying one of those products that releases calming pheromones. I'm hoping that helps at night, I'd like for her to be able to sleep just her bed again.

I'm going to look for the pharamone thing again tonight.
 
OntarioSheltie said:
After hearing fireworks for the first time in May, Ginny has decided that she's not only afraid of fireworks, but thunder, my sneezes and coughs. I've had to start crating her at night because every time I cough (which is often), she's up pacing around.

I wish I could make that silly dog realize that myself, DH and Sadie are perfectly calm for a reason: There's nothing to be afraid of!

I just downloaded two cds, one of rain and thunder and one of fireworks to try and desensitize her.

Someone else on the forums (I think Chris) and my dog trainer also recommended trying one of those products that releases calming pheromones. I'm hoping that helps at night, I'd like for her to be able to sleep just her bed again.

I'm going to look for the pharamone thing again tonight.
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It's called DAP.
 
I too am home with my pup. She hates fireworks!! I hate fireworks! I had a dog run away when a neighbor shot off bottle rockets one time. To this day (20 some years later) I stay with my dog on the weekend of the 4th of July. I stay with her at home or I take her with me when I am gone. It is just hard to do this when you don't expect them days before and after the 4th. I live in Delaware and very close to my home there are a fireworks display EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT during summer. (Now beginning to hate summer too!) She barks. She runs. I try to click and treat. She can't even hear me! Last Friday I put her in crate next to me in chair. She sat, she barked less. I treated her inbetween barks after saying "quiet". There was no where near as much barking. Not looking forward to tonight! But she will be in crate again! HAPPY HAPPY 4TH EVERYONE!
 
I'm sure someone will be shooting off fireworks tonight....most of the fireworks displays were last night though. Alan says that Emma and Figaro did some barking at the fireworks last night; but nothing too terrible as they weren't that close. Indy didn't notice them.

As for Sasha and Newton, they were sleeping in the car as I was driving back from the Southern Sheltie Gathering...we drove right past NUMEROUS fireworks events....I really didn't hear much noise from any of them as I had the AC and the CD player going. What would wake Sasha and Newton up so that they'd stand and turn around sniffing was the SMELL of the fireworks.

Of course, while they stood up and were very curious about the fireworks smell, they got up and were VERY UPSET when we drove through a skunk stink zone. GACK!
 
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