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Written by Jon Bowen
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 In the UK fireworks are more popular now than ever before, with almost every celebration involving a display of some sort. Whilst Guy Fawkes' night and New Year's Eve should be single events, children and adults mess around with fireworks for weeks leading up to and after the events themselves.
Whilst most dogs hardly notice loud noises, about 1 in 5 dogs react very badly to thunder and fireworks. These phobias are so common that we come to think of them as natural, but they aren't. Phobias can become serious to cause a lot of suffering and may eventually dominate a dog's life, so they should be always be treated at the soonest possible opportunity.
Unfortunately, although most phobias can be treated very successfully, the treatment does take a number of weeks so that with November already upon us it is too late to do anything before this year's celebrations start. Hopefully I can give you a few hints to help you get through fireworks this year and make a promise to start treatment in preparation for next year!
So what is a phobia and how is it different from normal fear?
Fear protects us from harm, by stopping us from doing things that place us at risk. For example, a healthy fear of trains would stop us from stepping onto a railway line. In contrast, a person with a phobia of trains might not want to go near the station, could not travel on a train or perhaps even walk across a level crossing. Such a person might even experience palpitations if they just looked at a photograph of a train.
Phobia is therefore not a protective thing, it prevents us from living a normal life. Precisely the same thing can happen to dogs, but whereas we can become phobic of almost anything, dogs mostly become phobic of noises.
Why do some dogs develop phobias, while others do not?
Part of the answer lies in the dog's development. Individual temperament is partly genetically inherited, and partly the result of experience. Some animals, or people, have a genetically based innate predisposition to be more nervous than others. This affects the way that they respond to what happens around them.
Experience is important in two ways.
Firstly, young pups that have no confidence-building experiences of moderately loud noises during their socialisation period are much more susceptible to developing noise phobias. By having no good experiences to fall back on, they will find their first exposure to really loud noises very frightening.
Secondly, individual very scary experiences can cause phobias, especially in nervous or poorly socialised dogs. The typical example is of a firework that falls and explodes right next to a dog, who then becomes terrified of all similar noises. Such frightening experiences do not need to be as direct or traumatic as this, and young dogs are quite susceptible to the influence of adults. A pup that sees one of its parents or another dog looking startled and frightened by a loud noise may begin to behave the same way as it grows up.
Most dogs with sound phobia simply run off to hide at the first sign of a loud noise, but phobias can become much worse than that. Dogs often associate events with the places where they happen, so a dog that hears a firework in a particular park may flatly refuse to set foot there again.
Also, once a dog has started to develop a single phobia it can begin a chain reaction that creates fears of many other similar noises. This is because the phobic reaction is so instinctive and immediate. The dog has no time to think about whether the noise it has heard is actually dangerous or not because its first reaction is to panic and flee.
This is a bit like the way that we instinctively pull our hand away a hot surface without even being aware of what we are doing. It is an emergency reaction that protects us from harm. So any noises that sound like the bangs the dog originally feared can begin to cause a dog to startle unconsciously, and this leads to a phobia of more and more other sounds. Bouncing footballs, doors slamming, cars backfiring and a whole host of other things are similar enough to a firework bang for a dog to become sensitive to them.
There is another problem with fireworks.
They not only go bang, but also shriek and crackle in a way that can sound similar to completely unrelated noises like the ringing tone of a phone, the screech of an alarm, or the crackling of a fire.
This process of expanding phobia, which we call ‘generalisation', can end up ruining a dog's life because so many of the things the dog comes to fear are a part of normal everyday life.
Getting through firework events and storms
So what can be done to prevent phobias getting worse and what is the best way to survive fireworks?
It is definitely best not to take your dog near any firework event, because a stray firework could land nearby and trigger an even worse phobia. Likewise you should be careful not to take dogs to places where children, or adults, may be messing about with fireworks during the weeks around the firework event. Dogs can develop very profound fears or phobias to storms as well, so don't take your dog out on a walk when there is a possibility of a thunderstorm.
On a night when there are fireworks it is important to let your dog go to a place where he feels safe.
If you already know that your dog likes to run and hide in a particular room then make sure that this is accessible at all times, otherwise he could panic when he finds this ‘escape route' cut off.
Otherwise make up a special room that your dog can go to feel safe.
· We want to minimise the amount of noise entering this room from outside and the dog must not see the flashes of the fireworks as they explode, so close the windows and use heavy curtains to make the room dark. Put in lots of blankets for your dog to dig, and some of your old clothes so he feels close to you.
· It helps to give your dog a really comfy bed to sleep in, with all his favourite comfy blankets and toys.
Bowls of food and water are essential, and it is a good idea to make sure that your dog has emptied his bladder an hour before the display starts.
· If you know that a firework display is due on a particular evening then give your dog a large stodgy carbohydrate rich meal in the late afternoon on that day. Pasta, mashed potato or overcooked rice are ideal, and will help to make your dog feel calm and sleepy as the night draws in. Just be careful if your dog has a sensitive stomach.
· As long as your dog does not mind it, moderately loud rhythmic music with a good beat is a good way to mask the firework noises from outside, so put a hi-fi system in the room and keep the volume at a loud but comfortable level.
· It is tempting to try to soothe your dog to relieve his fears, but this is the worst thing to do.
It gives your dog the impression that there is something to be frightened of, and may even reward him for acting frightened. Also, If your dog comes to think of you as the only person who can soothe the fears then he may panic if there are fireworks when you aren't around to help.
· Ignore your dog when he is looking scared and only show attention and affection when he has cheered up. Then it is OK to give your dog a game and some food treats as a reward.
· Finally, it is a good idea to try to keep your dog in a happy mood by playing lots of games and doing little bits of training using food rewards. This will stop him from falling into a state of anxious tension.
If you follow these general rules then you and your dog should get through firework night in one piece.
Treating phobias
Some of you reading this article will have only just discovered that your dog has a problem with loud noises. Either you have never seen your dog's reaction to fireworks before Guy Fawkes' night, or something happened around then that made your dog develop a phobia that had not existed before. Others of you knew that your dog had a problem with loud noises but this year things were much worse than before.
The truth is that anyone who has a dog that tries to hide when there is thunder or fireworks, or who needs a sedative on firework night should make a New Year's resolution to treat the problem before it gets worse.
First of all we need to consider the relationship between medical illness and behaviour problems. Any dog that suddenly becomes phobic of loud noises for no reason should be suspected of having a medical problem. This could include a metabolic disorder like Hypothyroidism, senility or a number of other problems. Senility is common in dogs of over 7 years and an early sign is the development of new fears and phobias to things that the dog previously tolerated. As well as being fearful these dogs often look confused or disoriented, they may soil the house and become anxious in unfamiliar places. Hypothyroid dogs appear sluggish, obese and irritable. They often lose hair symmetrically over the body.
If your dog has suddenly become phobic or has any signs of illness or senility then you should contact your vet for an investigation before considering that the noise phobia is of a purely behavioural origin.
Having ruled out medical problems you need to think about how severe your dog's problems are. Most dogs just run and hide when they hear loud noises, or they pace about and look nervous. These are the best candidates for treatment because they have not developed a really severe phobia yet. Some of these dogs will go on to become fearful of going outside, destructive in the house, phobic of many additional noises or even aggressive so it is best to do something now, while the phobia is manageable.
If your dog has any of these worse symptoms then go to your vet for a medical check and a referral to a properly trained and insured behaviourist.
So what sorts of things are commonly suggested for treating phobia problems?
It is easy to get carried away and start talking about using drugs and special behavioural treatments to reduce phobias, but your reaction to your dog's fearfulness is every bit as important. For example, it is very tempting to try to sympathise with a dog that is looking anxious or distressed. On the other hand, sometimes phobic dogs can be so frustrating that you lose your temper.
Both reactions are only likely to make the dog much worse. Sympathy and soothing will reward fearful behaviour so that the dog keeps showing fear to get attention, and getting angry just makes the situation far more tense and worrying for the dog. It is much better to try to act happy and relaxed yourself, and to only show your dog attention when it starts to look relaxed and happy too.
The environment is very important too.
Dogs often want to escape from what frightens them, perhaps going to hide in the bathroom or under the bed. A lot of dogs like to put their heads in a corner of the room where two solid walls meet. They often dig into these corners to try to find a way to escape. This is because the sound level in a corner is low and the dog can feel in control because the noise appears to be coming from behind. Hence trying to dig further into the corner.
Since these are the only ways in which your dog is able to control the sound level it is essential that escape routes are always available. A dog that cannot escape may become very distressed or destructive.
Now we move on to the more sophisticated stuff.
Providing escape routes and reacting in the right way will help to stop the behaviour getting worse but it won't make the situation much better.
Desensitisation and counterconditioning
At the moment the only treatment that has a proven track record of success is a combination of desensitisation and counter-conditioning.
To understand how this works think of a ‘swingometer' with a big indicator needle that can swing like a pendulum. Imagine that on one side of the swingometer scale is fear and the other side relaxation and happiness. In its normal position the needle hangs straight down, pointing at nothing. No emotional reaction at all. When a dog hears a loud noise the arrow swings towards fear, and in the case of phobia it goes right to the furthest point…maximum fear.
With desensitisation the dog is repeatedly exposed to recorded sounds of fireworks and the other noises it is frightened of, starting at a very low level. At this low level the fear reaction is minimal so the needle barely moves and the dog soon learns to ignore the noise. Over many sessions the sound level is increased very gradually until the dog finally ignores the recorded sounds even at the highest levels.
Desensitisation is very important but the best it can achieve is a dog with no swingometer reaction at all: no emotional response to the sound. Unfortunately, dogs that have been desensitised to a noise can all to easily become sensitised again by really loud noises so that the emotional swingometer will start to react to noises just the same as before.
The answer to this problem comes from comes counter-conditioning.
Having fully desensitised the dog to the scary noises we use counter-conditioning to associate the same noises with something pleasant like food or play that makes the dog relaxed and happy. We play the same recordings all over again, but now only when we are feeding the dog or playing a game. At each session the swingometer starts to swing a little more toward ‘relaxed and happy' so that at the end of training even the loudest noises just trigger more happiness. We have replaced the emotional response of fear with one of happiness and relaxation.
Once again the process involves a gradual increase in sound levels, but at the end of treatment the swingometer movements are so strongly away from fear that re-sensitisation is very difficult.
Good recordings of fireworks and other loud noises are hard to find, because old sound effects recordings are simply not good enough quality and don't cover the full range of noises that might come from a firework display or thunderstorm.
To do behavioural therapy properly you need long 15-minute tracks where all the sounds are of the same sound level. That way the dog does not get any sudden and scary surprises halfway through the track.
Of course, in real life sounds don't appear like this, so we have added a last and very simple step to get around this. On the CD there are lots of short track which you can play on repeat or in a sequence. All you do is sit with some food treats or a toy, and each time you hear a noise you act excited and playful or give a treat. Soon your dog will start to react like you do. This is great because you can use the same behaviour to train your dog to react to real noises. This enables you to take therapy to the final level: real noises.
The Sounds Scary package contain all the instructions you need to carry out each stage of therapy, and two discs with noises of thunder, fireworks and gunshots as well as rain and hail. 90% of dogs with a fear of fireworks are also scared of these other noises so for proper treatment the dog must be exposed to all of them. The recordings incorporate special technology to emphasise the movement of sounds so that they are as realistic as possible. A simple to follow poster explains how to set up your hi-fi system so that it works best, and summarises the treatment methods in a few sentences so that you can get going as fast as possible.
I hope that this has given you some idea of how your dog's phobia problems can be treated.
If you want to make a start with treating your dog's phobia then why not get a copy of the Sounds Scary combined firework, thunder and gunshots CD!
Click here to purchase your "Sounds Scary" CD
Copyright Sounds Scary Ltd 2004
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