Fire crackers

[Michael Romanos]

It's that time of the year again in New Zealand. Guy Fawkes and fireworks.
My Pem Taylor who is terrified of thunder and lightning is equally terrified of fire crackers. His body shakes like a leaf and he'll run and hide behind anyone's legs. Tonight, he jumped up on my youngest son's (Nathan) bed and shook so much that he woke the youngster up. And it is going to get worse before it gets better with November 5 the day and night for celebrating Guy Fawkes in ernest. Australia has recently banned all fireworks from being in the hands of individual people. They can only be used for public displays by responsible organisations. But in NZ they are still allowed to be purchased by anyone up to 10 days before November 5. This is despite all the destruction they cause - inhuries to people - some very severe, fires, vandalism, used to cruelly injure animals and terrify a lot of pets and wild animals including birds. Aside from the fact crackers are a huge waste of money, I have been anti-Guy Fawkes for some years.
Taylor is my first Corgi frightened of fire crackers. I have taken my other Corgis to fire work displays and they were quite at home with all the noise and the colours and the commotion. It makes me wonder if I should put Taylor in the 'deep end' and expose him directly to a fire works display. Would that get him over his great fearfulness. I somehow don't think so

[Jane Austen]

I think if you had some taped audio of fireworks on hand and played it very low and get Taylor used to that level and then increasing the volume gradually you may in time reduce his fear of firecrackers. I have heard about this tecnique used before. I don't know where I heard about it. The same thing can be done for thunder or other large noises.

[Michael Romanos]

That sounds (excuse the pun) like a very good idea, Jane. I have taken Taylor to many concerts - mostly very noisy with loud music, loud and booming percussions etc and he's heard lots of loud noisy things on tv such as war flims and Rambo-type movies and he has been right at home with it all. How does one acquire a tape or audio of thunder and crackers?

[corgimom]

Michael,

Playing a tape of a thunder storm, while engaging in some fun thing at the same time may help Taylor be more relaxed when the real thing happens.
I actually have a tape of a Thunderstorm but it is something I bought several years back during our Halloween time and is just meant for entertainment purposes such as if one was having a Halloween party.

As for the fireworks, Cody had that experience last July with the neighbor behind us shooting them off in his driveway and I was outside talking to an adjacent neighbor.They were popping off directly up above our heads; and the people were laughing because they thought it was funny that Cody got so scared Cody was terrified and was actually ducking with fear. He was on leash and he took off going so fast, with me, that it was the quickest walk/run I ever had with him. As soon as we made it home, he went into the bathroom.

You may be able to desensitize Taylor to the noise with a tape, but if you actually take him to the firworks display, the "sight of it" along with the noise may be just too much for him.

Here is some info I found

http://dogsonly.org/StormFear.html

From Cafe Press, you can order this CD with various noises on it, including fireworks and thunderstorms. I am sure there are others, you just have to check on line.

http://www.cafepress.com/cp/prod.asp...audio.66664317

[Chip's Mom]

Linda:

You are amazing at the things that you can find on the internet for all of us. Thanks for all your time and help in the research.

[corgimom]

Your welcome I saw some other sites with tapes and info regarding fears, but just posted the two.

[Jane Austen]

That website that corgimom posted should be helpful. Some mood tapes have thunderstorms as their main theme. Personally I love the sound of thunder if it is not extra loud.

[dcole]

Linda,

Thanks so much for posting that audio link on cafepress! Their featured CD also includes traffic noise, the one thing that really causes Trevor to cower.

Not that I want him to be comfortable around traffic, of course, but if a garbage truck or any really loud vehicle goes by while we're walking, he will start jumping and spinning around to the point I am afraid he will either slip his collar or choke himself. Maybe this will help.

-Debi

[corgimom]

Originally Posted by dcole

Linda,

Thanks so much for posting that audio link on cafepress! Their featured CD also includes traffic noise, the one thing that really causes Trevor to cower.

Not that I want him to be comfortable around traffic, of course, but if a garbage truck or any really loud vehicle goes by while we're walking, he will start jumping and spinning around to the point I am afraid he will either slip his collar or choke himself. Maybe this will help.

-Debi

Interesting that you say that about Trevor and the spinning around in regards to the loud vehicles or garbage truck. On the Dog Whisperer last night it was the same situation, but in that case with a standard poodle who would twirl herself silly when vehicles came by, while out on a walk with the owner.

We live in an area that is under constant expansion with new homes being built, so from early spring he was exposed on our daily walks to all sorts of trucks and construction equipment zooming by him, and I am glad to say that none of this stuff fazes him, yet during a thunderstorm, he prefers to lie down in the bathroom until it is over.

[Michael Romanos]

Ta Linda. That was very helpful but still difficult not to 'mother' Taylor when he is in a severe tremble.
The following is interesting in respect to this topic: Taylor trotted off-leash past a very noisy and big street gutter cleaning vehicle a few days ago and seemed quite at ease, paying it little attention. But on the return journey on the pavement on the other side of the street about 50 metres away from the street cleaning truck, Taylor stopped and obviously wanted me to put on his leash which I did and we proceeded past the work-in-progress truck. Sometimes he prefers to be on-leash because he feels more secure with me in charge.

[Hayashi_eri]

Poor Taylor...lots of corgi kisses from Buta to calm him down
Fireworks are banned in Singapore due to the accidents & injuries they used to cause during Chinese new years celebrations. Currently we are only able to see fireworks displays a few meters away during major & controlled celebrations.
Come to think of it lots of stuff are banned in Singapore did u know chewing gum is banned in Singapore? It was because of the littering of chewing gums & also ppl sticking them on the walls or statues, thus causing it to be banned.
Cigarettes are damn expensive here too, 20 sticks of Marlboro would cost you SGD$11 (about $6 US dollars)& the prices are still rising...

[CorgiMum]

Luckily we don't have too many firecrackers here in our area, but I always have some of the dog's favourite treats on hand just in case I need to quickly distact them.

I was talking with a friend on the Isle of Wight this morning and she was telling me that they have a lot of them in her area, and she so wished that they had never been brought there.

With all the accidents that children have had through the years with them I would have hoped that firecrackers would either have been banned by now, or at least be available only under very strict licence.

[Jespah]

I agree with CorgiMum on wishing to have fireworks banned. In the past couple of years in Toronto we have had kids playing war with them and launching them across streets and homes to try and hit each other. Sadly a few people have lost their homes in fire that resulted from this idiocy.

Rupe has developed a real terror to the sound of fireworks - even the whistle the proceeds some of the bangs will send him over the edge. I have tried everything except the sound effects in our place to help him. He's had no bad direct experiences and I don't know why this has started. He will even freak if he hears one on TV or the radio, so I don't know that the sound effect training would help him. He is smart enough to know that the sounds only happen at night during the holidays which have fireworks and will go for his walk during the day then have to be dragged out at night. Sometimes smart can be a real pain!