26/12/2025
Handling Noise/fireworks phobia in dogs over the holidays.
Reframing how the brain interprets sudden loud noise takes months, not days. This is months of setting up situations where your dog learns to cope with triggers through counter conditioning in very small manageable doses, creating prediction errors, and practicing behaviors that build resilience and confidence.
For the next few days, you’ll need to work solely on MANAGEMENT as we are much too close to NYE to do any training. Once your dog is close to or above threshold, training will not work. This occurs if the dog is exposed to a trigger. It’s likely if the fireworks have already been going in a few nights in a row, your dogs threshold is now smaller s as he’s been trigger stacked (exposed to multiple triggers in a short amount of time without appropriate decompression time). This means he’s more likely to react sooner and more intensely than if it was just a single event.
Management -
1) Medication - ask your vet for something to help minimize their anxiety. Some medications require a loading dose to be taken for a day or so before the event to have a more therapeutic effect. Ask your doctor if the medication they’re prescribing requires a loading dose.
2. Enrichment- I care for several anxious/fireworks phobic dogs every year through my training program. The entire day (or few days) is structured around learning, play, and safety and when combined with medication , I’m able to keep most dogs under threshold.
During the day we exercise (hikes, long line sniffy walks, and off leash group play) and do training like shaping with novel objects or practicing known behaviors . Middle of the day we nap with a preferred food toy (stuffed Kong, lick mat or bully stick), around 4 pm we go back outside to play - I’ll use the flirt pole, play hide and seek, do scent enrichment, or bubbles. Generally some sort of sensory enrichment to keep them thinking.
Around sun down I toss a few tennis shoes into the dryer and everyone gets dinner and meds if needed. Right before fireworks usually start (730 ish) we have a dance party. I put loud music on is we dance with the dogs until I’m exhausted. Once everyone is worn out, I put on the John wick trilogy and tuck everyone into their spots for the night with a frozen treat, long lasting chew or chew proof lick mat like a cookie sheet or cupcake pan.
This has worked like a charm every year that I’ve b done this, for even the most anxious of dogs.
If you are interested in noise phobia training, I will have availability starting mid April. Space for this will be limited. The earlier in the year your dog starts training, before fireworks start, the better!
