Hi, I've just read the post on fireworks and it started me thinking. My puppy is 10 weeks old and has never seen/heard fireworks yet, I'm not sure how I should react if he is scared when he first hears them, should I cuddle him and make a fuss or calmly reassure him everything is fine, play with him and give him one of his favourite chews? Thanks for any advise.
J

Best thing is just to act as if you can't hear anything! Don't respond to the noise at all - don't make eye contact with the pup. If he can see you're not bothered, it's more than likely he'll copy you ....
:)
Edit: An alternative is to randomly drop titbits near him when a particularly loud bang goes off (you should be watching his reactions out of the corner of your eye) - if he starts to associate bangs with titbits, he's not likely to be too upset!

Hi J,
I got Bess as a pup a couple of weeks before Bonfire Night and the kids and I walked her round the village looking at the fireworks. We just acted as if it was nothing out of the ordinary. We didn't carry her or fuss her but if she reacted to a big one we said things like "whoohoo, that was a good one" in a cheerful voice and carried on walking. She really enjoys them now. She thought Millenium night was great!

Kath.

On the subject of fireworks, Copper has heard them recently when we go for our walk at night (we live on a housing estate so there are plenty going off just now!) and I just ignore them. He has taken this lead from me and when the bang goes off he sneaks round my legs a bit. I just give him a wee clap and praise him for not barking and all is well. This is of course when the fireworks are being let off some distance away. If they were close and he was distressed I would probably pick him up (not so easy if you have a large dog!!).

CG

simple answer, dont react, dont give him praise or chews etc, just get on with it and pretend youre deaf, worked with tessa nd she completley ignores them, much to my neighbours amazement as her four legged granddaughter (a staffie) is petrifed