Loud bangs

Earlier on,nextdoor were popping balloons and Vegas got a bit scared and came running inside house panicking.He isnt a noisy dog and only barks if absolutely necessary ,but this time was barking everytime a balloon popped.

Anyone got any suggestions as to how to make him feel at ease because come 5th Nov and new year-its like a WW2 battle ground round here and will be hell for him.When the balloons were popping,i completely ignored him and offered no comfort so it wouldnt instill the fear into him,but he shot over to me and sat between my legs.

Im not sure how to go about helping him because Abe never took any notice of fireworks and would sit upstairs on my bed actually watching nextdoors going off in garden-so dont know where to start.

My Kai is exactly the same Steve, he hates bangs!! November we have to put music on, stick him in his crate with a blanket over him, he sleeps like a baby

The plug in DAP is very good as well.

Dont want to appear thick (but doing a damn fine job of it)-whats a DAP???

Your not thick, i'm very clever, degree in every subject going , am the next einstein me, but i dont know what a DAP is

DAP - Dog Appeasing Pheromones take a look here they do work, but have to be plugged in around 4 weeks before you really need them to get the full effects. It's like a plug in air freshener

Steve, my advice for preventing nervous responses like this is to not panic yourself. The last thing you should do if he appears scared of anything is to rush to him and start making soothing noises (not saying you did ). We might think we're reassuring them, but the dog interprets this behaviour as confirmation he had something to be concerned about in the first place. Don't pander to him, act in an up-beat manner, behave as if nothing's wrong at all and ignore his fear. Whatever he likes doing the most, do that with him while the noises are happening. If there's a thunder storm and he likes fetch, take him out in it to chase a ball in the garden. He'll take his cues from you, so if you behave like nothing bad's happening at all and everything's normal, he'll soon realise there's nothing to be concerned about. But whatever you do, don't try to soothe him!

Hope this helps.

Becs

Hi Steve,
Becs adivice is very good. Do not comfort your dog if he shows fear, do not punish him (not that I think for one moment that you would), do not react to the noises yourself, distract him or close the curtains & put the TV or radio on to help drown out the noise.

A DAP diffusermight help. You can also buy a CD of scary noises. Just search Google for "desensitising cd" to find a stockist. The CD works by exposing the dog to low levels of potentially worrisome sound & very gradually woring up to realistic levels.

Hi Becs and Shadowboxer

I didnt comfort him at all and totally ignored him-i even left the backdoor open so the bangs could still be heard.He was a bit jittery for around 1/2hr afterwards and refused to lay down.

Other than loud bangs-he is absolutely fearless so i guess this is something he is going to have to get used to.

He may never totally be at ease with loud bandg but if you follow the advice he will eventually ignore them - remember to he's a pup.

The CD idea sounds brilliant.

Karen