From Zoomies to Zen: Calming Your Dog During Fireworks season

At House of Mutt, we often welcome dogs who come to us to escape the stress of fireworks in the city; and over the years, we’ve found a few tried-and-tested techniques for helping stressed dogs keep their calm. Here are some that work well for us:

Block out the bangs - Seal in the calm. Close the windows, pull the curtains, and pop on some relaxing music or a familiar TV show to help drown out the booms and keep things chill. Sit yourself down and watch TV or whatever you want to do to relax. It’ll mean you miss out of seeing the fireworks but it’ll greatly help your dog take their focus away from what’s happening outside.

Build a den - Got a snug corner? Turn it into your pet’s personal chill-out zone. Whether it’s on the sofa under a blanket next to you, or by putting a heavy rug over their crate for the duration of the fireworks, or by temporarily fixing a ‘tent’ blanket over their bed — let them know there’s a perfect hidey-hole available if they need it. Here we have a couple of Teepees up and find that anxious dogs love tucking themselves away in there - their sides and backs are covered (ie ‘safe’) but they can still see their way out.

Keep calm & Carry on - Most important of all, your pet can sense your mood so try to stay calm and relaxed. It’s a real case of leading by example. Remember to reward their calm behaviour with fuss and attention, not when/if they are careering around the house stressing. That’s the hard bit as our natural inclination is to try to calm an anxious dog by providing lots of fuss/praise but in their mind that can reinforce that they were absolutely right about their perceived dangers! Provide calm, clear instruction during the ‘panic’ phrase; provide love and cuddles during the ‘coping’ phase :)