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E-mail
received at dog fun on 30/10/01.
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please
can you help!
my
dog is really REALLY scared of fireworks, even if
they are miles away she shakes for hours and works
herself up into a panic which cannot be good for
her. we try to take her mind of them but nothing
seems to work (short of getting doubler glazing
and turning the tv up to max)
any
help would be very welcome
Dave
K (for Peppy)
Jade's
reply.
Dear
Dave & Peppy,
Thank you for your e-mail. I am sorry to hear about
Peppy, fireworks are horrible and I must admit that
they even scare a big Doberman like me! The best
that I can suggest to you is to try and keep the
atmosphere in the house as normal as possible during
the next few days and make the nights full and busy.
Unfortunately I don't have a magic cure that I can
offer but from my own
experience I can tell you that things should improve
year after year. Avoid adding to the stress as your
dog will be very sensitive to your moods and so
as you become upset at the situation your dog will
think that something is definitely wrong. By being
over sympathetic or changing your behaviour you
could make things worse. Hard as it might be try
to stay happy and calm, be reassuring but avoid
passing on any negative signals(I know that this
is not easy). As you yourself said keep the tv turned
up or the radio on and possibly avoid night walks
for the next week. If you ever get chance vote to
have fireworks banned from general sale! (I will).
If
things are getting so bad that your dogs health
is at definite risk you can get help to keep your
dog calm from your vet, but this in my opinion should
be a last resort. Other than that I can only say
that Peppy is not suffering alone and I will keep
my 'paws' crossed for her.
Good
luck for the next few days.
All
the best, Jade the Doberman
Some
great advice from Nicola (thanks Nicola,
Jade the Doberman)
Hi, Noticed the 'my Dog is scared of fire works' on
your help page.
I have a Doberman and gets nervous/scatty when he
is unsure of certain things. I took my dobe to a behaviour
specialist and he said when your dog starts acting
nervous COMPLETELY IGNORE them when they are acting
this way (unless they are going to hurt themselves).
I tried this and found it hard because when your dogs
worried you instinctively want to fuss them and try
and make them feel better. Doing that though only
enforces the 'bad' behaviour and they soon realise
that its a way of getting attention and that they
should be nervous. As soon as my dog seems alittle
nervous (e.g if he can hear noises outside) I turn
my back to him, make no eye contact and i dont touch
the dog and carry on just a normal not looking towards
the noise etc-make sure everyone follows the
lead though in the home else it will not work. This
does work it takes an iron clad heart to do it though!
it takes time to remedy all situations so patience
is the key. If your dog sees you are not worried then
they will find no need to be. On top of this advice
i was recommended to use SERENUM which is like an
anti-depressant for dogs and also helps with there
bouts of anxiety. It is fantastic and is herbal and
can be found in pet stores and on the web (where it
is cheaper). This also worked well with my doberman.
Serenum had no 'sleepy' side affects.
Regards~Nicola UK
As
with the rest of Dog Fun we are only offering advice,
we have learned a lot through our own experience and
would like to further that knowledge with your help.
If you have any good tips or advice that would help
dog owners drop us a line to jade@dogfun.co.uk
and we will display your advice and give you credit
for your help! |
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