Supporting Your Dogs During Halloween & Fireworks Season

This can be a scary and unsettling time for many dogs - but especially for those that are more sensitive, anxious, nervous or fearful.

First & foremost - please be sure to take all the necessary measures to keep your dogs safe and supported during Halloween & fireworks season.

So many dogs are reported as missing this time of year because they've bolted out of open doors or panicked and escaped from gardens.

Halloween can be as challenging as fireworks for many dogs - with lots of knocking on the door and strange voices, children out on the streets and strange looking costumes and decorations both inside and outside homes.

SAFETY & MANAGEMENT

1. IDENTIFICATION: Make sure your microchip details and ID tags are up to date - Just in case the worst should happen.

2. SECURE SPACE: Ensure ALL family members know to secure your dog before opening the door. If you have children or young adults in the house who may open the door without thinking it may be better to put a pen/barrier around the front door to prevent your dog darting out if they open it without securing them first.

3. INTERACTION: Ensure all family members are aware that your dog may not wish to be touched when in a fearful state - especially children. A dog that is highly stressed and trying to cope with feeling afraid is highly likely to bite a child that tries to touch them, even though they may normally be the best of friends. Teach your children to give your dog space if they look upset or unsettled.

4. WALKS: Walk your dog during daylight hours if at all possible. If you have to walk them of an evening, keep your walk as short as possible, do pee’s & poo’s (your dog not you!) and then head home and make up their walk time with alternative mentally stimulating activities and enrichment - these can also help settle them.

If you live in a busy and built up area and have to walk your dog in the evenings, is it possible to drive them to a quieter neighbourhood for their walk where it's less likely to have lots of trick or treat activity or fireworks being let off randomly.

5. EQUIPMENT: Ensure your walk equipment is appropriate & secure. Have them wear an additional safety back up if there is any danger of them panicking and escaping a collar or harness.

Have a double ended lead clipped on both a harness and a collar and if you think there is a very real danger of your dog escaping, use the back up of a slip lead but as a secondary measure (so your dog is not walked with the slip lead in play - it is only there in the event of an emergency)

6. WALK SAFETY: Avoid having your dog off lead around this time of year. It can only take one incident for your dog to bolt in the unfortunate event of fireworks being let off unexpectedly.

Keep them on a lead or long line for extra freedom so you can keep them safe. This can apply even in daytime (More details below)

7. TOILETING: Take your dog into the garden for pee’s and poo’s before all the activities start. Most dogs would be able to hold then through the night - but if they need to, a quick visit to the garden on lead as late as possible after everything has finished (hopefully!)

I would recommend supervising your dogs in the garden at this time of year anyway. Fireworks, as we know, can be let of at any time of the day and if you are there to offer them support should anything go off, this can help to minimize the degree of fear and ensure they don’t try to escape in a panic.

If your dog is very nervous/anxious/fearful - it may be a good idea to take them into the garden on a lead or long line as these dogs can be determined to escape if terrified.

DURING EVENTS

1. MEDICATION: If you know your dog struggles with fireworks, please do speak to your Vet well ahead of time, to see if they can support your dog with some fast acting anti-anxiety medication that could be given as and when needed.

2. ACT NORMAL: Remain Calm Yourself and go about things as normal. Our body language and behaviour can have an impact on our dogs - they are very adept at social referencing!

If we're all antsy and worrying about trying to help them feel better, our anxiety and weird behaviour can increase their concern.

If you do find you're feeling a little anxious because your dog is getting upset - focus on taking some deep belly breaths, relaxing & dropping your shoulders, softening your face muscles to help shift your energy into a more relaxed and positive state.

3. FOOD: Feed your dog a good hour before any fireworks are expected. The 'full tummy feeling' can help them feel calmer.

4. EXERCISE: Provide your dog with an appropriate amount of exercise during the day - this does not necessarily mean run them around or go for a crazy long walk, a nice sniffing walk can actually be more tiring and relaxing than getting your dog ramped up by a high arousing long & energetic walk.

5. RELAXATION: Provide your dog with additional relaxation and decompression activities during the daytime as well as evening (see below for some suggestions of enrichment activities)

SPACE MANAGEMENT

✅ Keep all doors and windows closed and draw all the curtains to help minimize the impact of any external activity/noise/bangs.

✅ Turn on the lights to help reduce the effect of the flashes from fireworks.

✅ Allow your dog to choose what they want to do. Avoid trying to cajole them into doing something you feel will help them. Support them as best you can in the choices they make:

🐶Some want to run and hide and be left alone
🐶 Some want to be cuddled tight
🐶 Some want to be with you or close to you but not necessarily cuddled or touched

✅ Create a safe space or den area ahead of time for your dog to get into if that’s what they choose but don't try to encourage them to get in there. Just let them choose to be where they determine they feel most safe.

🐶Cover a crate and fill with cosy bedding to make a den
🐶Make a blanket den behind a chair or sofa
🐶 Throw a large blanket over a table and create a cosy area underneath

OPTIONS FOR ANXIETY REDUCTION

THUNDERSHIRT or ANXIETY WRAPS: Can be very effective for some dogs and I do know of many Romanian dogs who have even shown reduced anxiety and fear through simply wearing a jumper or one of the surgical suits.

Again, this will be dependent on your dog as an individual, please do not force your dog to wear something if this isn't what they're used - it could make things worse.

NATURAL HERBAL REMEDIES: Ideally start giving these a couple of weeks before hand. These are things that can assist with calming anxious dogs alongside other measures - but they won't calm an anxious dog all by themselves.

Rescue Remedy (Bach Flowers)
Valerian & Scullcap
Adaptil plug in

TTOUCH OR MASSAGE: If your dog likes to be touched then doing TTouch or massage on them can be a great way to help them cope and relax a little - please bear in mind though, many dogs when in a fearful state don't want to be touched - know the signs.

Go ahead and reassure your dog if that's what they want or need and seek from you. YOU WILL NOT REINFORCE THEIR FEAR this has been scientifically disproven so please, support your dogs when they are scared, anything else is just inhumane. CLICK HERE to read a wonderful article by Patricia McConnell on this

SELF SOOTHING ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES: If your dog is awake and ok but showing signs of concern, then a super tasty enrichment activity may help give them something else to think about.

Enrichment activities are not just about novel ways to feed treats or food, they encourage our dogs to engage in behaviours that can have a calming effect on them. Sniffing and snuffling, chewing and licking are all activities that can help our dogs to naturally relax themselves.

Snuffle mats or sprinkled treats all over the floor
Folded towels full of sprinkled treats in all the folds so your dog has to rummage and snuffle
Bowls or boxes filled with scrunched up paper, plastic balls or your dogs toys, sprinkled with tasty treats so they have to rummage through the objects to snuffle out the treats.
Stuffed Kongs or Calcium Bones
Muffin trays smeared with yummy things and sprinkled with treats
Deer Antlers, Yak Chews and other such natural power chews

PLAY: Some dogs can be encouraged to engage in games, which can be a great way to distract them and help them cope and relieve tension - Tug, Rough and Tumble, Chase and find it games can all be great distracting tension busters.

BUT please do not keep on at your dog to play if they’re clearly not showing interest in doing so. Putting pressure on them to engage with you can increase their anxiety.

CALMING MUSIC & NOISE MASKING OPTIONS

MUSIC: Many people recommend playing classical music to help with fireworks - and although this has been found to have a calming effect on some dogs - I actually recommend music with a strong regular beat when there are actual fireworks going off - we have old school trance playing 😁

I find the calming music just doesn't cover the bangs well enough.

There has also been quite a few reports of Taiko Drumming music being effective at both calming and masking the bangs of fireworks. I've added some links below to some of these options.

Scientists have developed short films to soothe cats and dogs on Bonfire Night – narrated by Dr Who star David Tennant. In response, insurance firm More Than has launched the world’s first film antidotes, which they claim are scientifically designed to reduce stress in our pets. Click HERE to find a link to the Woofering Heights Video

I've also found playing Solfeggio frequency music on a daily basis - both during the day and in the evenings around firework season - can have a positive impact baseline stress levels.

This is also something that could also have a positive impact on how well they cope with Fireworks season.

CLICK HERE FOR A LINK TO Solfeggio frequency music

CLICK HERE FOR A LINK to Taiko Drum Music

MACHINES: Popping the washing machine on can also be a good noise masking activity - depending on where it is in the house of course and as long as your dog is not bothered by it.

Also putting fans on can be a good way to mask external noises. Fans work well because you not only have the hum of the fan but also the fan pushes the air around the room - bouncing it off the walls and breaking up the sound waves.

WHITE NOISE: You could also try a white noise app such as Rain which has been found to be effective at masking the noises and a member in our private Facebook group has also mentioned that Alexa has an app that provides a range of white noise options which may be useful.

START YOUR NOISE MASKING EARLY: Whatever music or white noise you choose, start playing it well before any planned fireworks are due to start, have it playing at a moderate level and then calmly increase the volume when you know the fireworks are about to begin.

This can help prevent your dog getting into a panic state and is preferable to you dashing around trying to put things in place once your dog has heard the bangs & started to escalate.

BELT & BRACES AT WALKIES TIME
THROUGHOUT THE HALLOWEEN & FIREWORKS PERIOD.

I usually recommend - especially those with anxious and nervous dogs - to restrict or avoid off lead walks altogether for a week or so around this time.

Even if you’re walking your dog during the daytime, if they've been upset by people knocking on your door, strange costumes and fireworks - their stress levels and anxiety can still be elevated even the next day, especially if there have been repeated incidents.

This means they could be more likely to react to things they wouldn’t normally and more likely to be affected by things they may not be normally.

This also means - for a dog that has been really upset by fireworks - you could let them off lead the day after and the mere sound of a bang or pop could be enough to cause a complete panic reaction.

Keep them on a long line attached to a harness ideally so they can still roam and sniff but will be safely attached to you.

Your dog won’t die from not being let off lead for a couple of weeks, but they could die from bolting in panic because something startles them when they’re already in an elevated stress state.

ONCE THE TRICK OR TREATING/FIREWORKS ARE OVER

Once the worst of the fireworks are over, calming or classical music can be ideal for helping soothe your dog and bring their anxiety levels back down.

If your dog likes to be touched you could do a little massage or TTouch, and provide them with some sensory stimulation enrichment - licking, chewing type of enrichment activity - to help them de-stress and rebalance their stress levels.

LONGER TERM SOLUTIONS

You can of course use sound therapy to begin desensitising and counter conditioning your dogs to fireworks, thunder etc. but this will be of little use if fireworks night is upon you. This work needs to be done over a long period and repeated often to ensure your dog is fully habituated and relaxed around the sounds.

There is some basic guidance on how to do this in this article by the Blue Cross HERE

Some dogs, however, are simply very sound sensitive and even with sound therapy can struggle to cope with bangs and fireworks. I would recommend speaking to your Vet to discuss possible medication options that may be able to support your dog through this period and at times when needed.

Please stay safe this Halloween and fireworks season and I hope these tips will help you to help your dog be less affected by all the shenanigans!

Categories: : Fearful Romanian Dogs, Living with Romanian Rescue Dogs, Understanding Your Romanian Dog