Saint Johns

[Jetti]

It is nearly 2 o'clock in the morning and my poor Paco has been barking nonstop since 10.30 in the evening.

He is SO upset, his heart is racing and he is running through the house like mad. There is very loud music and

firework all the time. Apart from the fact that I am going crazy, my heart runs over with love and pity - I just

wish there was something I could for him. You have to see and hear this to believe it.

Sorry, I just had to get it off my chest. Hopefully it will stop soon.

[kjwarnold]

There are many of us here in the U.S. who have been through that with our 4th of July celebrations. And the folks in the U.K. get to experience it with Guy Fawkes Day. For us, we would put a short leash on Willie and put him in bed with us. He couldn't jump off the bed because of the leash and it seemed to help to be near us. If it was particularly bad, we gave him a little Benadryl. He eventually lost his hearing and the barking stopped. I'm so thankful neither of our boys reacts to fireworks now.

[Sam I Am]

There is another thread on dogs going crazy with thunder, firecrackers etc. Cant find it. However I have to absolutely agree with kjarnold. Thunder was a real problem with Jock. Running, panting going up and down the stairs... nothing I tried worked. Until I read that if you tether your dog to you, they will calm down. And you know it works! The first few times he was still a bit upset, but I just totally ignored him, but had his lead tied to my belt on my pants. Even went to bed at night if there was a storm and he just curled up beside me. Now when it starts to thunder, I call him and get out his "special" collar and lead I only use for that occasion , and he trots up to me waiting for me to put it on. He then is totally calm.

[beccadiane374]

I may have to try the tethering thing. Fireworks are legal in our area & are already going off (had one come thru a window in our house on Sunday.... ) and Tanner doesn't like them so much. He doesn't seem upset by them as much as he doesn't know what's going on & wants to find them and the barking is, well...loud. And July 4th is still over a week away.....

[Jetti]

Oh Thank you VERY much - I will try that. I allways thought that one shouldn't pamper them on those

occasions but I will do ANYTHING to relieve his suffering. Last night it went on till 3 in the morning.

[BetsyNoodle]

Our Cairn, Murphy, has classic symptoms of Thunderstorm Phobia. Our vet told us that dogs can have phobic reactions to loud noises as well (gunshots, fireworks, trains, etc). He also told us if you don't address the distress your dog is experiencing, phobic reactions tend to get worse, not better. The last time Murphy began barking wildly and racing around the house during a thunderstorm, I put his crate beside my bed, put him inside, and covered it with a light sheet. He immediately calmed and went to sleep. If that didn't work, I was going to use a tether attached to my belt.

One of the things that did NOT work for us was recording the thunder and playing it back in an effort to desensitize Murphy. Our Cairn was much too smart for this. He recognized immediately it was not actual thunder, and just laid there calmly while we played the recording!

[DawnandTuk-tuk]

Fortunately Tuk isn't afraid of fireworks. He will bark at them if he's outside, but inside I just turn on the tv or radio and he ignores them (we can even leave the house so long as I have cover noise and he's crated or put in my room, but we don't usually). My sis and SIL both have dogs that freak out over fireworks and so for New Year's and the 4th of July have to be home during fireworks time or their dogs will do crazy things. A poor dog my SIL had (he passed away a number of years ago) actually broke a window trying to get outside because of fireworks, fortunately the dog wasn't hurt.

[Sandi16]

Louie does this with thunder. We have doggy doors, so he runs out to attacck it and gets so worked up. We make him go in his crate and cover it. It seems to work.

[Hawkeye]

Thunderstorms can torment some dogs; our previous cairn was terrible with them. Penny would be glued to my side and just tremble. The poor baby...she would have to sleep with us during the storms. Funny thing about it, she acquired this fear of storms around 7 or 8 years old and could not calm her after. Our new dog Bailey has been good so far, we got him last August and he was fine. We'll see what this summer brings.

[Jetti]

Yesterday he still was very nervous but today he was allmost back to normal but his voice is hoarse from all

the barking.

Yes BetsyNoodle, I tried to desentitize my Paco too and he too is much too smart to react to what is not the

"real thing" to him. Well........It is allmost over now. Saint Peter on the 29th, is the last of the big festivities. After

that we only have to carefull where we take him in order not to "hit" any of the smaller festivities. Boy, do

those Portuguese like their firecrackers and firework. I wish they would spend their money elsewhere. (This

is my Dutch stinginess speaking LOL)