My labrador is 8 years old, confident and well trained however, since being a puppy she has been afraid of the sound of fireworks (which understandably a lot of dogs are). We have learned to help her cope with this around 5th November, Christmas and New Year by keeping her company, putting a pheremone plug in on beforehand, reassuring her and providing her with a safe hiding place (behind the TV or upstairs in the bedroom are her favourites). However over the last two years she has developed a similar anxiety over the sound of clay pigeon shooting or the sound of Jet Planes flying over and this has worsened this month whilst visiting North Norfolk where the airforce jets are flying frequently each morning. We have now purchased a calming collar and tried this instead of the plug in. This behaviour is spoiling her enjoyment of being in our holiday home which she looks forward to visiting each summer enjoying walks in the woods and on the beach. Does anyone have any suggestions on either how to reduce or remove her anxiety over this please. Not visiting this location would not resolve the issue as Jet planes fly in a lot of areas.
When I got my pup I got a CD with all sorts of random noises on. You could start off quiet and build up the sound levels. You can associate the sound with nice things, food, and play. It worked for us and you can probably do it via an app now though ! Worth a go ?
Hi. As Edp says try sound associations starting at low levels. You can find a recording of just about any noise on YouTube. I used many different sounds with Hero. In a way we've been in a situation where we can't avoid sounds. We live in North West Norfolk right near an ambulance station, helipad and are on a regular flight path for all sorts of planes and we regularly hear the guns from a shoot on the nearby farm and crow scarers, so Hero has grown up with the noise and now when we hear planes or helicopters he rushes into the garden and watches them fly about. We also associated noises with good things and he looks for the treats still. Fireworks weren't an issue till a neighbour set off a multishot in their garden at New Year but I've gone back to the sound associations on that one. Thunder doesn't bother him or lightening. My issue is getting him to come indoors then if it starts while we're outside. Stupidly though if one of the local crows sits on our roof cawing he will go absolutely bonkers running around and barking at it. It's more the sudden background noise like a car door or gate opening which can wake him from a sleep. Those we have tried everything with and still no success. It's a shame if it's making your lovely dog be scared and not enjoy your holidays, and as you say jets are pretty prevalent round North Norfolk because they practice bomb on the marshes, as they are elsewhere. I hope you manage to find a way to help your girlie cope.
