A holiday euphoria cannot possibly go without pyrotechnic things, and if you feel that you are at every step from sudden explosions, imagine how it is to your home pets who have no idea what is happening around it.
How to calm your dog during fireworks? In order to protect it from excessive stress, we have put together a list of tips, such as avoiding evening walks, as well as sliding curtains and lowering shutters in rooms where your pet is most likely to stay.
Try to put yourself in the skin of your dog and imagine that your everyday sounds and scents suddenly replace the sharp smell of powder and sudden loud sounds without having any idea where they come from and you can not escape. In order to help owners and their furry pets overcome the holiday “war madness”.
Here are some helpful tips to help your dog:
1. Hold it on a leash
At the time of the holiday, the dog should be on a leash.
A dog in a panic is incapable of listening. Keeping a dog on the chain will not help you to overcome the fear, but you will prevent it from flipping and stabbing under the car’s wheels.
How to train a hunting dog to walk on a leash
A dog who fled and who hit a car may have permanent traumatic consequences.
Probably will be permanently afraid of cars and traffic. If you live in a city and your walk takes place by road, you will have a lot of problems to calm your dog in the future.
2. Leave the phone number on the necklace
It would be good for your dog on the necklace to have a stamp with the phone numbers. If it accidentally escapes, it’s more likely that someone will call you and return it quickly.
A microchip is legally obligatory, but for celebrating holidays, it is difficult to find a veterinarian who will read it.
3. Recognize his stress
Learn to recognize the signs of stress in a dog.
Dogs under stress are often restless, they do not have peace, they walk in and out, they breathe, they eat their saliva from their mouths.
How often is it necessary to take the hunting dog to the vet
As an owner, be calm because your behavior also affects dog behavior. If you are calm and act calmly and your dog will do the same. If you panic and have a hysterical reaction, your dog will also be upset.
4. The dog should stay inside the house during the holidays
Doghouse is not good enough shelter.
Dogs that live outside live in at least during the holidays and during the shooting. There is also the possibility that the firecracker or rocket will end up in the yard, explode beside the dog and injure him.
What do you need to know to keep hunting dog outside
Let your dog search for shelter under the bed or in the corner of the room if he so wishes.
5. Put it next to you
If a dog seeks your closeness, do not push him and push himself away!
Let him stay with you if he calms it. Many dogs calm down and fall asleep if they let them lie on the couch near you while watching television.
In this way, your dog will be quiet knowing that it is next to you and that you will protect it.
If you have planned to travel somewhere for a holiday, consider timely the boarding of a pet or otherwise provide him with care while you are away.
6. Rather walk your dog in the dark at the time of the holiday
Avoid evening walks or walking at the time of the shooting.
Take a long walk in the morning or afternoon as the dog will not be left without a daily dose of motion, games, and action.
In the dark, there are light effects that increase stress in the dog. A dog will find it more difficult to handle than if it happens in daylight.
7. Feed it early
Feed your dog a bit earlier so that stress does not affect the appetite of a dog (many dogs do not want to eat under stress). Stress can affect increased urinary or stool (diarrhea).
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8. Neutralize external sounds
Slide curtains and lower shutters before shooting and fireworks begin, at least in the room where the dog retains most.
Shutters and thick curtains will mute the sounds and prevent the flash of fireworks. Turn on and amplify the TV to neutralize the sounds coming from the outside.
9. Entertain the dog
Try to divert the dog with games and desserts from shooting, but if the dog is too disturbed and does not respond to your stimulation and demands, let it calm down.
Never force a dog to do something because a dog who is under severe stress and in a panic state is not able to listen to and respond to commands. If the firecracker suddenly breaks, react with a cheerful tone.
10. Think about medication therapy
Continuous exposure to stress can be caused by long-term psychological damage and heart attack.
In dogs showing a high level of stress and being in a panic, you should consider medication therapy.
Never give yourself any medication to calm yourself, but you have not consulted with a veterinarian before!
If your dog is particularly prone to stress due to noise and fireworks, talk to your veterinarian about the possibilities of sedation.
The sedative should be given before the noise of a fever starts at the New Year’s Eve, so that it would function in time.
Never give your lover a sedative (like any other medication) on your own hands without prior consultation with a veterinarian!
11. Do not punish him
Most important of all – do not punish a dog, even if it responds with an unwanted behavior to the shooting, it will only aggravate the fears. Some dogs can react aggressively due to stress.
12. Exiting during New Year’s Eve with a dog
Do not take a pet to the New Year’s Eve. A great crowd and noisy spectacles of throwing fireworks and putting fireworks on it will not be pleasant to him.
How to train a hunting dog to walk on a leash
My own personal experience with hunting dogs
My personal experience says that hunting dogs are less vulnerable to fireworks during the holidays.
First of all, in their basic training, they say that they have to get used to the shot from the rifle.
In this way, hunting dogs are less sensitive to the fireworks burst, but certainly, they do not enjoy the sudden sounds that occur while dogs are at home.
The perception of the dog indicates that they connect the home with peace and with the daily routine of life and rest.
The fireworks bang while at home can certainly cause a disturbance in them, but certainly to a lesser extent than with, for example, home dogs.
Each dog responds individually to external exposures. For official dogs, a test of reaction to a shot is obligatory, if scared, followed by disqualification. However, everything can be learned, and even get used to the shooting.
I learned all my dogs not to panic in the event of a shooting. I have a starting pistol that fills the so-called fake bullets and the shot is very loud. I am working with a puppy in such a way that I am next to the wall and the assistant is 50 meters away. When it falls from the pistol, I watch the puppy’s reaction. If the reaction is moderate, it is enough to help and encourage it. If it’s panic, I’m doing the same thing by making sure that the puppy understands that he is protected by me 100% (this includes taking it in the arms).
With puppies that have good genetic predispositions, that is, either they do not respond or moderately react to the shot, the habit continues to decrease the distance of me and assistants in the next 2 weeks.
The third week is an assistant at a distance meter and if the puppy does not show fear, the fourth week is a puppy and a pistol with me.
The usual reaction of a puppy when I shoot from a gun is interest and curiosity, to see what it is (which usually ends with sneezing and fretting).
The biggest mistake in working with dogs who are panicking in the shooting is to completely ignore their fear. As a first step is to let the dog find a place where he feels safe (let him in the house always). Further work depends precisely on that because it is precisely the choice of that place and its reaction when it hides in this magical place defines the way of approach.
Someone’s experience tells me that, if a dog that grew up, suffering from panic fear of thunder or shooting, chooses a hidden place, regardless of where the owner is located and does not cease to be scared of fear.
When it goes to that place (usually under the bed), working with it is extremely difficult and most often only sedatives and leave the dog alone in that place that he chose as “safe” the only way and the only choice. Any other and different treatment, getting used to the sound of thunder and shooting by playing sounds on audio devices is the same torture and abuse of a dog.
A dog that calms down on it for him is a magical place, even sleeps, is a dog with which I can work to free a dog from fear.
If this place is not in the house, that is, with the owner, regardless of the dog continuing to shake, the work is again possible because the dog has demonstrated that the owner is “safe” for him.
In this case, the work is based on that, the magical relationship that exists on the owner-dog relationship.
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For dogs who are afraid and literally shaking with fear, it is usually sufficient to prepare a special room where the sounds coming from outside will be minimized to a minimum. You can also give him some kind of interest that will distract him from disturbing sounds and light.
It would be good in time to prepare a room where your pet will be on New Year’s Eve. If possible, let it be a room that does not look directly to the squares and places where the fireworks will be the strongest. Lower the shutters or otherwise prevent the flickering of the fireworks into the room.
Raising the sound of a TV or radio is another useful trick to try to cover the noise coming from the outside. Try to take a walk as early as possible to avoid going out when shooting is most intense. Make all the preparations in time, because when the shooting and fireworks start, and the animal gets upset, it’s harder to settle more.
A few hours before the fireworks, place the animal in the prepared room, boost the television and give it some kind of toy he loves most, let’s have fun with her.
How to help dogs overcome their fears can read here
Keep calm your dog when he starts fireworks
The most important thing is that the owner is calm, because when the animal feels that the owner is not afraid, and she will be calmer and more relaxed. If you feel your fear, it will only excite and disturb further. However, there are animals that literally get bogged down when the shooting starts and you can not calm down in any way.
Such animals are trembling, they can vomit from fear, and in some cases, they can even be dangerous for the environment, because they are frustrated. If the fear of an animal is really pronounced, the animal can be given a sedative, which will calm it down or slow down, and in this way reduce the sensitivity to noise.
This is the most humane solution for extremely disturbed animals, as some dogs need a few weeks to recover completely from shock.
In any case, be sure to remove the children from such animals at a time when they are most intimidated, because, although otherwise calm, they can become aggressive at the moment of fear.
Dogs living in yards are generally not as scary as they are taught on thunder, but some more scary dogs escape when fireworks begin and firing firecrackers.
It is very important to put such dogs in the house (garage or any enclosure where they will feel safer). If you do not have this possibility, make sure that the dog can not escape in any way, because at the time of panic, the dog that is released can end up under the wheels of the car.
What drugs to use for calm
- Calm Aid tablets – beef-pelleted tablets for irritable and disturbed dogs and cats. They are used in anxiety, stress (fireworks, thunderstorms), travel, behavioral problems, etc. Contains L-tryptophan – an essential amino acid that affects the production of serotonin (it has a relaxing and calming effect); L-theanine-amino acid having a relaxing effect; Thiamine (Vit. B1) – its defect associated with nervous system disorders; nicotinamide; vitamin B6 and others. ingredients. It can be given at the prescribed dose for the current effect, and for a long-term effect, give half a dose a day for three months. For dogs over 30 kg, 2 and a half pills per day are given.
- Canpref – plant syrup for dogs for oral use. It contains plants that have an effect on the nervous system. Herbal extracts and lithium in the homeopathic solution have a customized action on the nervous system of disturbed and irritating dogs. Canpref will reduce noise, transport, and unknown situations, in a way to calm the dog without losing concentration and ability to move. It is used preventively in cases of anxiety during fireworks, thunderstorms, exhibitions, and competitions, etc. It is allowed for dogs above 20 kg – 5 ml three times a day with a teaspoon.
- Petvital Bach – mixtures for a variety of stressful situations – with adapted plant ingredients.
- Diacalm tablets for calming dogs and cats in stressful situations. Dietetic preparation for dogs and cats with natural ingredients that help relax and calm your pets in stressful situations such as travel, exhibitions, environmental changes, thunderstorms, fireworks, and so on. The preparation (preferably) is given an hour in advance. Dogs: 2-3 pills per 10 kg body weight. Cats: 1 tablet. It is advisable to use the preparation without interruption for 2-3 weeks, and give it at most 2 times a day. Active ingredients: hops (humulus lupulus), valerian root (valeriana officinalis) ginger extract (zinginber officinalis) and others.
- Sedalin gel is an anesthetic of sedative action that diminishes the feeling of fear but also reduces motor activity by relaxing muscles. Sedalin gel does not seem to be applicable in these situations because a dog needs to do it and walk, and Sedalin may not be able to do it.
Purchase gifts
You almost already know what your kids and other loved ones want for New Year and Christmas, and are slowly preparing to buy presents that will delight them.
However, in addition to human beings who know how to tell you what they want, there are family members who do not even know how to express themselves when it comes to wishes and presents – your pets.
As honorable members of many families, we believe that they also deserved to receive a gift – for all the days when they were improving your mood, you were the only friends, good listeners and the only reason to get out, stretch your legs and get out of the computer and work.
Choose a gift for your pet
Instead of food, this year you could change the gift and buy them something more interesting.
Every dog is a favorite of all our foods, and besides that, the toys that they eat all day. Your furry friend still deserves the whole pizza … but in the form of a toy. If your dog likes to sleep on the floor from time to time, get him a bed for sleep.
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