It's that season. And last year in early June, we had an incident where we were in an airplane hangar, during a local fair, and the firework display started up directly behind and over the building. I had no idea it was going to happen. It freaked Fleetwood out, I ran him back to the car, but the damage had been done. I knew that it would screw him up.
He didn't seem terribly afraid of fireworks after that, and he wasn't scared of thunderstorms at all. He has been afraid of snappy things, like staple guns or cap guns all along.
This season, as soon as we started hearing firecrackers in the distance, I would pull out his ball and play. He's extremely motivated by his ball, so that works to distract him. He still wants to jump in the car or somewhere 'safe'. He's starting to get more and more anxious at every firework or firecracker display we hear in the distance, though, and is starting to pant, pace, and hide. I haven't had him close to any displays, he can only hear them in the distance.
The day before yesterday, it thunderstormed, and the thunder was freaking him out-- which has never happened before. Now I'm seriously concerned.
I give advice all the time to people as far as managing a phobic dog, that's nothing new, but I want our best shot at desensitizing at this point. I want to try to turn this around. Since I've already tried to teach him "boom=ball", and he's still getting worse, I need another tactic. I know there's DVDs out there that I can get, to help desensitize him to these sounds, but I seriously want Chaz advice. He is NOT a nervy dog, and it kills me to see him like that!
He didn't seem terribly afraid of fireworks after that, and he wasn't scared of thunderstorms at all. He has been afraid of snappy things, like staple guns or cap guns all along.
This season, as soon as we started hearing firecrackers in the distance, I would pull out his ball and play. He's extremely motivated by his ball, so that works to distract him. He still wants to jump in the car or somewhere 'safe'. He's starting to get more and more anxious at every firework or firecracker display we hear in the distance, though, and is starting to pant, pace, and hide. I haven't had him close to any displays, he can only hear them in the distance.
The day before yesterday, it thunderstormed, and the thunder was freaking him out-- which has never happened before. Now I'm seriously concerned.
I give advice all the time to people as far as managing a phobic dog, that's nothing new, but I want our best shot at desensitizing at this point. I want to try to turn this around. Since I've already tried to teach him "boom=ball", and he's still getting worse, I need another tactic. I know there's DVDs out there that I can get, to help desensitize him to these sounds, but I seriously want Chaz advice. He is NOT a nervy dog, and it kills me to see him like that!