Help Your Pet Cope with Loud Fireworks

Editor's Note: As you prepare for Independence Day revelery, we thought you might find this column from Lake Forest Patch contributor Kim Campbell Thorton particularly relevant. Thorton has been writing about pets for 25 years, and her articles and books have won many awards.

Our black and tan Cavalier, Twyla, normally thinks she is as big and brave as a Rottweiler, but one thing sends her into a frenzy of fearful shaking: fireworks. She’s not alone. Up to 20 percent of dogs of all ages and breeds suffer severe noise phobias, not only to fireworks but also thunderstorms, gunshots or other loud sounds.

We’re lucky that Twyla’s fear of “bombs bursting in air” is relatively mild. Some dogs go into full-blown panic mode when they hear such sounds, jumping through windows or glass doors, digging through carpet at doorways or digging out of the yard and running away. (Cats can also develop fears of certain noises, but they usually just run and hide.)

Shelters take in large numbers of spooked pets every 5th of July, like the escaped Australian Shepherd we found wandering in our complex after a night of fireworks a few years ago.

Fear of loud or unexpected noises is triggered by what's called the orienting response, the brain’s mechanism for being aware. When humans or dogs hear certain sounds, the brain instantly processes them to determine if they signal danger. Sensitivity to sound is instinctive to all dogs, but canines that tend to be anxious are more likely to develop noise phobias.

Sometimes, fear of sounds can be linked to a specific event such as a fireworks display. In some dogs, the fear progresses over time, so a dog afraid of fireworks gets worse each time Independence Day rolls around. 

If your dog is fearful of fireworks or other loud noises, you can try a number of ways to desensitize and countercondition it: sound and music CDs, pheromones, aromatherapy and, in severe cases, medication.

Exposing a dog to the sounds of fireworks or thunder (not that we have much of that here) through sound CDs and gradually increasing the volume and duration of the sounds can help to reduce the animal’s overall level of fear. Using a Dog Appeasing Pheromone product, which usually comes in the form of a diffuser spray, or a natural stress relief formula such as Rescue Remedy, which can be placed on the tongue or in the dog’s water, can also help.

Can you prevent noise phobias from developing in the first place? Early exposure—before 14 weeks of age—to loud or unexpected sounds can help inoculate a puppy against noise fears. This might be especially important in herding breeds such as Australian Shepherds and Border Collies, which have been found to have a genetic predisposition for noise phobias.

To be on the safe side, keep your dog or cat indoors on the 4th. Twyla? She’ll be spending the evening in her safe place: her crate.