Hi , i have posted on her myself  and read other posts of dogs scared of fireworks !,Lola has been terrified of them from the first day we rescued her (she was 6 1/2 months old then ,) but something happened that made me realise that she is not just scared of fireworks ,but all loud noises ,and i dont just mean scared i mean completley terrified !my friend and myself took her for a walk yesterday morning ,we were later than usual ,within a few minuets of getting up onto the common ,we saw a large van in the gorse we knew it should not be there and almost immediatly three what looked like teenagers ran out of the bushes ,saw us & pulled up their hoods to cover heads & faces & ran off into other trees etc ,we realised something was wrong ,at this point the van burst into flames ,my friend called the fire service ,&i like an idiot i  went after them !! (i know not a good idea ,i was just so angry,!!  not sure what i thought i was going to do !!),they had gone by this time anyway ,but when i returned ,with Lola ,the van was pooring black smoke etc ,and was also making noises ,glass breaking etc ,at this point we realised that Lola was off & running like a maniac in the opposite direction ,it took me almost 15 mins to catch her ,she was running back home ,and she was in a terrible state ,i could not take her off her lead again until we got home ,she hid in her basket under the kitchen table ,shaking uncontrolably, it was pitiful to see & no amount of reassuring helped ,i knew she was scared of fireworks ,but now this i am worried as you never know when any loud bang/noise can happen ,i have no idea how to handle this ,i shall have a word with our vet as he is great .but if any of you out there have gone through this ,& come out the other end .....how did you do it ,i am afraid to let her off her lead now ,thanks in advance Sue & a still just a little freeked out Lola xx

Our younger dog was very frightened of loud noises, fireworks, hubby using the drill, 'planes  going overhead etc- she also did a runner the first fireworks night - jumped the side gate and ran (next door fortunately) to the field (she was 6 months). She is now 22 months and is slowly getting a lot better :) We haven't done anything in particular- just ignored her if she is frightened and tried to carry on in a normal way. I know that you can get tapes of fireworks and thunder - these may help. We had a lot of workmen in the house making a fair bit of noise in the autumn and she is now much better with power tools etc.

Daisy

Hi Sue, we used to have a border collie who was terrified of any loud noise too. The worst thing you can do is to try to reassure them, it just makes them more nervous. Just act as if everything is normal and ignore her until she is calm again. You can now get cd's with all sorts of sounds on which you can play everyday starting off with the volume low, very gradually getting louder over a period of a couple of months, the idea being to desensitize her of loud noises. You can also buy Bachs Rescue Remedies for when she has completely lost it to calm her.
http://bachflower.com/

I have used the DAP diffuser available from vets and find it certainly takes the edge off fireworks noises in the sense that my dog was a lot calmer. HEr breeder did use a fireworks tape when she was a tiny puppy, so she was pretty good generally with noises, but last year got scared by some very very noisy fireworks :( and her worry seemed to then escalate.

I have also got the Sounds Scary CD - it is much the best i feel, with lots of fireworks noises and also a booklet explaining how to desensitise and countercondition. I feel this has really helped my dog - but she wasn't as bad as yours! I would consider visiting a behaviourist i think, one who has experience of this kind of problem, as they may be able to help. Also if you are out, and there is  a loud noise, immediately throw her toy or give her her fav. food treat, as this will help her associate noises with good things. It will take some time though, but helps. If she is really scared of course this may be hard as she may be too scared to play or eat, but if the noise is far away you can try.

good luck,
Lindsay

Hi everyone ,thanks for taking time out to answer what i know is a topic that to a lot of people is one of those that has been done to death ,! we thought she was getting a little better than when we first had her ,but this is just heart breaking to watch ,i know not to reassure her when she is terrified (easier said than done !)iwhen i eventually caught her she was in such a bad way it was difficult not to just hold her .if only to stop the awful shaking .I have tried a tape ,trying to take her mind off it with treats ,toys etc ,but i think you are right , she needs more help than i can give her,she was at the groomers yesterday & when we fist rescued her she was also very scared of being clipped ,now she cant wait to go with Carrie ,she is also fine with her baths !so i am hoping as she now knows she does not have to be scared at these times ,hopefully she will realise that loud noises are not ALL bad ! Take care Sue & Lola xx

http://www.dogdayz.co.uk/

This CD has been specially produced with instructions on how to desensitise your dog to noise.