[Whoiscoconut]

I'm just curious, what other owners do to help their pups get adjusted to noise. I think I'm probably the odd one but I like to use loud things whenever pups come home. vaccums, fireworks, I've taken some pups to bowling allies and gun ranges so they adjust to loud noises early on. My parents had a few fosters that hid during the 4th of july and I absolutely hated seeing that, just the distress and unease of them struggling through it. So for me Noise adjustment is really important for us during puppy hood. There were some fireworks last night so I took pup out and she looks for a minute then just pounced up and was ready to play, so we played in the yard for about 20-25mins until she flopped down. Today I vacuumed and started in the back rooms and worked my way towards her, she barked once at it about halfway through and then just followed me around the rest of the house as I finished. Which is the first time I've ever had a pup not run from the vacuum on their first meeting with it. lol
So I was just curious if anyone else does special trainings to adjust their babies to noise?

 

[PeggyTheParti]

Part of our puppy classes was feeding treats and practising calm while a recording of fireworks played or a vacuum growled by.

At home, I play firecracker sound effects on a bass-heavy Bluetooth speaker. I sit it on top of the fridge, as apparently it's important the noise come from above to be an effective substitute. Pop - treat - pop - treat. A little play, too.

I can recall two times in Peggy's first year that she was visibly startled during these practise sessions. And when we experienced fireworks for real, we were in our front yard, in the dark, and they were entirely unexpected. She froze and woofed. I was lucky to have treats in my pocket. A few of those and she was fine.

I'm really hoping this week goes well.....

 

[Whoiscoconut]

Part of our puppy classes was feeding treats and practising calm while a recording of fireworks played or a vacuum growled by.

At home, I play firecracker sound effects on a bass-heavy Bluetooth speaker. I sit it on top of the fridge, as apparently it's important the noise come from above to be an effective substitute. Pop - treat - pop - treat. A little play, too.

I can recall two times in Peggy's first year that she was visibly startled during these practise sessions. And when we experienced fireworks for real, we were in our front yard, in the dark, and they were entirely unexpected. She froze and woofed. I was lucky to have treats in my pocket. A few of those and she was fine.

I'm really hoping this week goes well.....

A speaker on the fridge is a really good idea! I love it! I swear there’s like 50 threads on my neighborhood app about the fireworks starting early this year.

 

[PeggyTheParti]

A speaker on the fridge is a really good idea! I love it! I swear there’s like 50 threads on my neighborhood app about the fireworks starting early this year.

It's so awful. They're not even allowed within our city limits anymore, but we live right at the edge, so we might as well be in the Wild West when the 4th rolls around. Plus, some people just don't seem to care about the rules. I wish we could all just be content with one big community display, contained within half an hour on the actual day.

My last dog didn't react to fireworks at all. Not even a lifted head. I did no special training with her, and got her after that very important early socialization window had already closed. Wish I knew the secret.

 

[VanessaC]

I mostly used gunfire to desensitize Groot by taking him to an outdoor shooting rage when he was pretty young. I parked pretty far away, monitored his reactions, and gradually got closer.. Now he flinches less than I do whenever we go shooting. By the time 4th of July rolled around, he was unbothered by the whole thing...

 

[Dogs4Life]

Fireworks started here a few weeks back. We hear them every single night (as long as it's not raining), and the houses setting them off are closer this year. They aren't allowed of course, but no one is stopping them. Thankfully my dogs are not fazed. Sometimes they will bark in surprise, but mostly that has stopped.

 

[Whoiscoconut]

I don’t mind them. They started a few weeks ago here. I do think it’s very different this year though. It’s more often which with puppy I’m thankful for as I want to get her adjusted to them, and that’s easier when they go off each night. Lol I’m guessing with covid and everyone being cooped up people just want to have some social distancing enjoyment. Lol.

 

[cowpony]

Fireworks are illegal where I live, and it's actually enforced. I stay homeon the 4th.

Pogo got really bad about fireworks for a few years. He got exposed to loud noises in the worst possible way, by going up with us to the barn when the neighbors were setting off fireworks. The barn dogs were all terrified of loud noises. The horses were terrified of the fireworks and would race crazily around the pasture. We were edgy about the possibility of a panicked horse going through a fence. Pogo and Snarky, observing all this nervousness, deduced that fireworks must be really bad news.

They did get better after about five years of vacationing 3 miles down the road from a fireworks store. After a couple dozen weekends spent hiding in the closet while the humans calmly hung out talking and reading, the dogs concluded that maybe seeking out a bomb shelter wasn't necessary after all.

 

[Vee]

I like to do a lot of noisey things with pups, the Hoover, hv dryer, and my kids (are a big help without realising 😂) Are somethings I like to put on around pups at home and I use noise soundtrack tracks on YouTube, especially noises of things that are hard to show them regularly in the flesh (sirens, motorbikes, Fireworks, thunder) I play the track very low and gradually turning it up, the neighbours will think I’m mad but oh well 🤷🏼‍♀️

 

[Streetcar]

I've used happy dancing combined with treats and mimicking fireworks sounds to good advantage. Doing noisy things during puppyhood is great, and I love how you began vacuuming farther away and drew nearer.

Some of noise reaction may be set so early, like socializing. My most recent (and late) cat was born feral, and based on best estimates of his birthdate, he could have heard and been fairly near fireworks in his birth month of August (sigh; it lasts a while here). My guy adored fireworks and would run to the window to try and see the boom booms, until late in his life.

He helped me acclimate my last dog to them. Unfortunately, Oliver was four years when he joined our family, and until this year, they have distressed him a lot. This year we are having frequent booms, as in many cities, and he's not as bothered. We are just kind of tired of them, and I know our local firefighters are well done with all the grassfires they've been causing in this very dry year 😵😬😠😤.

 

[bluegirl1997]

Our city isn’t doing fireworks this year because of COVID-19 AND it’s raining so we couldn’t set them off anyway. We aren’t allowing stores to sell them until October. So we’ll see if people bought them out of town! Usually happens. My dogs bark but not overly concernedly. They really freak out over other silly little things but not fireworks.


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[fjm]

Mine were fine until they were 6 or 7 years old, then Sophy decided even distant bangs were dangerous - there was someone shooting in the distance when we were out walking one day, so far away that I was not even aware of what she was reacting to. Poppy then decided that if brave, confident Sophy didn't like bangs they must be really, really dangerous...

I worked on desensitising, we have special treats, etc, etc but Sophy still gets very distressed. Whenever possible I set up a space for her in my cloakroom which has no windows and an extractor fan for white noise. If necessary I can set the washing machine and tumble dryer going to create more masking noise. Only problem is that she prefers me to stay with her, which means hours perched on the loo with a book...

When taken by surprise by thunderstorms in the night she will come under the duvet with me and let me rub her ears till she feels calmer. She is wracked by long, trembling shudders till the noise passes by, though. Poppy, meanwhile, tells me she is terrified if she happens to notice the noise but usually sleeps through it all, completely oblivious!

 

[rkj__]

We never did anything special, but neither of my dogs care about fireworks.


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[Dogs4Life]

Fireworks are illegal where I live, and it's actually enforced.

Wish that would happen here! It's been nice when it rains at night.

 

[Asta's Mom]

Nothing at all. Training with gunshots reinforced that loud signs - maybe I should check in with Mom. Yep, good thing to do. Right on, Asta.

 

[PeggyTheParti]

Peggy coped with tonight's unexpected mid-pee booms the way she copes with most strange or scary things: A little growl, a nuzzle into my palm in case there's a treat there, and then onto more interesting things.

Hope all your poodles (and other animals) are doing okay!

 

[For Want of Poodle]

I took Annie out a few weeks ago just as a large thunderstorm rolled in. She was pooping as the first booms rolled in.... she glanced up, continued with her business, and then asked to keep walking (instead, we went home). There were no thunderstorms or fireworks when she was a young puppy so I played a several hour you tube track of a thunderstorm a few nights. She did react to fireworks suddenly at 6 or 8 months (had been fine before)... so then every time there was a fireworks show I would throw a bag of popcorn in the microwave and then sit and give her a piece every time one let off. She LOVES popcorn and the sounds are similar, so quickly learned to hear fireworks and look for a piece. This year they dont seem to bother her at all.

For people with young puppies - I highly recommend Sophia Yin's socialization checklist. I didn't follow it perfectly but it was great to glance through and see what I was forgetting in that super critical early puppyhood stage.

 

[PeggyTheParti]

Oh shoot! Thunderstorms! I didn't even think of that. We don't really get any out here, but any trips home (if we're ever allowed to travel again) will undoubtedly have a few. Not sure there's any way to mimic one for training purposes....

But love the popcorn/fireworks idea! Really good one. Peggy's yak cheese also sometimes makes a really loud pop in the microwave, so I'm hoping she already associates that sound with the anticipation of yumminess.

 

[vandog]

There were a lot of fire works/crackers going off near me last night and my spoo slept through them all and didn’t even flinch. We were outside going potty and there was a steady stream of them and she looked around but did her business and brought me a toy to throw a few times then went inside to go to bed. When she was a puppy we played YouTube clips of thunder storms (get them a fair amount here), fire works, and loud tools/noises and treated them. Did the same with the vacuum and she will sleep through it and I will have to move her out of the way 😂 or any loud tools. There was a compressor nail gun that we were using to put baseboards on (renovations) and she laid in the middle of the floor and didn’t even flinch.
I wanted to start early with her associating those noises with not being scary because my last spoo hated thunderstorms or fire works and would get scared and cower and it was super upsetting for her.

 

[rock55]

I'm just curious, what other owners do to help their pups get adjusted to noise. I think I'm probably the odd one but I like to use loud things whenever pups come home. vaccums, fireworks, I've taken some pups to bowling allies and gun ranges so they adjust to loud noises early on. My parents had a few fosters that hid during the 4th of july and I absolutely hated seeing that, just the distress and unease of them struggling through it. So for me Noise adjustment is really important for us during puppy hood. There were some fireworks last night so I took pup out and she looks for a minute then just pounced up and was ready to play, so we played in the yard for about 20-25mins until she flopped down. Today I vacuumed and started in the back rooms and worked my way towards her, she barked once at it about halfway through and then just followed me around the rest of the house as I finished. Which is the first time I've ever had a pup not run from the vacuum on their first meeting with it. lol
So I was just curious if anyone else does special trainings to adjust their babies to noise?

I do a trick session with my pup during fireworks....they are already happening here. I ask him to do a trick then I treat afterward. When the noise stops, we stop. My puppy does not bark nor does he show fear around fireworks so I’d say something we are doing is working.