Hello everyone In just a few weeks we become first time puppy parents to a black labrador. Our 7 year old son has decided the name Marvel (big superhero fan) and we are beyond excited and feel ready for this new chapter in our lives. This forum and Pippa's books have been an incredible resource but just like being a first time parent to a newborn, you can read all you like but you know as soon as puppy arrives he'll have a different plan! Ha! A concern we have is that his arrival home coincides with a weekend of firework displays. We live about 2 miles from the nearest and biggest firework display in the area and although the sound is muffled because we are surrounded by trees, we do still hear them. Very few of our neighbours have garden displays but it does happen. Of course its not just on this particular weekend but also Christmas & New Year. We've read about how many dogs detest fireworks and it's got us thinking...do we take it as an opportunity to expose him early to the sounds or do we hide him away from them? We absolutely want to do what's best for him and our instinct is to wrap him up in cotton wool and protect him..but is that the right thing to do? I look forward to your words of wisdom and to being able to share Marvel stories with you all soon.
Hello and welcome! We have fireworks every weekend (the joys of living near Sydney harbor?!). They aren't that close but we can definitely hear them. They dont bother our pup, who is now 7 months, at all. I would try to gradually introduce your puppy to the noise. What our trainer suggested with loud noises is introducing them in stages of loudness and handfeeding your dog while the noise happens so that they build a positive association and are less bothered by it in future. This worked really well for Chewie because the minute food appears he forgets about everything else!
