Fireworks - is your dog or cat scared by them?
FIREWORK SEASON IS NIGH!
It’s coming up fast, that time of year where humans can let off explosives they buy in the shops. Some dogs and other pets cope very well with the sounds, smells and visual things going on, sometimes for hours. Others don’t. My daughter is a vet nurse in a busy city practice and every year animals are brought in in shock or injured from trying to escape fireworks and sometimes don’t make it home. I’m talking mainly about dogs in this article but this applies to all animals, pets or no.
Pretty as fireworks are to look at for us humans (I’ve loved the big displays at Disneyland and am left in awe at the pyrotechnical wizardry of them), they aren’t so pretty for our non human friends. Putting yourself in the shoes of animals who already doesn’t speak our language or understand our ways and moral purposes, you can get a glimpse of some of what they must endure when fireworks are let off within their perception range.
We know what fireworks are, why they are being let off. Animals don’t! They don’t know it’s not the end of the world, although given some of the reactions some have, they must feel it really is and they are fearing for their lives and their loved ones. According to reports from many rescue agencies, more pets go missing during firework season than any other time, in their panic to escape them. This can cause injuries to them and cause accidents if they get out onto roads and highways. And not just animals, but people too, not everyone has fond memories of loud bangs and flashing lights in the sky. And frankly, given the year on year reports of people intentionally injuring people and animals with fireworks just sickens me and gives me no reason to celebrate Guy Fawkes.
HOW DOES FIREWORK FEAR START?
Fear of fireworks can start at an early age, although there is evidence that the time of year they are born can affect this either way, as can breed and genetics, onset of fear, habituation and resilience efforts, low innate tolerance to sounds, exposure, experience and social observations can affect animals, dogs in particular. In other words, loads of reasons from a bang going off unexpectedly, to too many bangs going off over a period of time, to it being passed down from their mum.
It seems the fear starts in the first year of being born in many cases and with over half the dog owning population in a recent research study (Riemer, 2019) reporting their dogs being affected by fireworks, that’s a large proportion. In a position statement on fireworks, the Dogs Trust said “A Dogs Trust survey of 3,750 pet owners found that two-thirds of dogs are worried by fireworks and that 93% of their owners alter their routine during fireworks celebrations to try to minimise the trauma on their pets.?” That’s huge welfare implication and concern.
WHAT CAN WE DO?
That’s a good question and the answer is, well there’s several ways we can help. Short term and long term. Stephanie Riemer (2020) wrote an excellent research paper on short and long term protocols, worth a read.
Short term - If you know your dog is likely to be stressed, book a chat with your vet about short acting medications to help your dog through the worst of this. For me, as a welfare behaviourist, I’m all about the emotional and physical welfare of your pet, get them the pharmaceutical help now. Even if you are against taking drugs to help yourselves, that’s cool it’s your choice, but please do help your pets that’s what the drugs are there for, to improve their welfare.
Plan ahead and ensure on the days fireworks are more likely that you’ve made some adjustments to your routine so that dogs can be exercised earlier rather than risk being out during the fireworks. Even if your dog or shows no outward signs of stress, give them the benefit of the doubt and provide this for them rather than risk an accident.
White noise played during the worst bits can help mask the sounds and close all the curtains or blinds to minimise the flashy lights. Keep your cat indoors, trust me, one of mine went missing one firework season and I don’t wish that torture on anyone.
Provide them with a cosy den in case they want to hide or they put themselves somewhere, in fact actively encourage them them to hide then leave them be and avoid coaxing out as this might stress more with wanting to please you but being terrified to move. Avoid telling them off for barking, they are trying to feel better, bit like us when we cry. You telling them off might just make them feel more confused.
I have friends who hire a remote cottage for a week during the worst bits of firework season to avoid them, not saying you need that level of dedication but it’s one way of easing the burden and never time wasted when spent with your dog. We’ve taken ours up for night time adventures into the hills to watch fireworks from high up, while we drank hot cocoa and oooh’d and ahhhh’d at the displays in the valley below while the dogs ran around snuffling for bunnies and stuff in the dark. Good times.
Mildly upset dogs or pets might benefit from being interacted with a relaxed and calm manner, or enjoy a training session during fireworks. One of mine loved peanut butter and only got peanut butter on high days and fireworks days. They’d hear the first boom and their face would light up in anticipation of me grabbing a spoon and the jar. So cute!
If they seek you for reassurance, please do give it calmly. There’s some advice out there saying don’t or you’ll reinforce the fear. By ignoring them seeking safety with you, you only reinforce their notion that you aren’t a reliable comfort blankey. And the fear thing is for another time, it’s quite tricky! Feliway have released an Optimum range range which may benefit your fur god, other products and nutriceuticals or supplements may help for mild cases too.
Below is a neat infographic helpful for all sorts of animals.
Long term - Hire a professional to work with you from the next year when the worst is over and in conjunction with your vet. Long term prognosis is better when you implement long term strategies such as sound therapy and a process called systematic desensitisation and counter conditioning (basically changing the underlying emotion in a strategic way) sooner rather than later. Not forgetting that if your dog or cat has sound sensitivities, they may have an underlying pain component, out of the cases I work on for behaviour and noise phobia, the majority are found to have discomfort, pain or memory of physical pain.
Think about how much more sensitive you are to light, sound, touch and other things when you have a headache or toothache or chronic pain issues. Same for animals, they are flesh, bone and brain and feel pain and anxiety too. Lobby your MP for silent fireworks or better yet, ban on sale of fireworks and paid displays with trained and insured professionals lighting the fuse or sign one of the many petitions out there asking for changes to sale of fireworks and so on.
Thanks for reading and I wish you all a safe and happy time of year.
If you liked this blog, hit share and tell all your mates and let me know too!
Katie
References:
Riemer, S., 2019. Not a one-way road—Severity, progression and prevention of firework fears in dogs. PLOS ONE, [online] 14(9), p.e0218150. Available at: <https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0218150&type=printable> [Accessed 10 October 2020].
Riemer, S., 2020. Effectiveness of treatments for firework fears in dogs. Journal of Veterinary Behavior, [online] 37, pp.61-70. Available at: <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S155878782030037X> [Accessed 11 October 2020].
