We then had a lull until about 10:30, and it has increased since lunch. Since it's day, it's "just" the noisy ones. Other than that, it's fairly quiet as many of the neighbors are away on vacation.
But it's the parrot who has been freaked out all day. Our neighbour's kids began celebrating this morning, and throughout the day, and our parrot just shrieked. I think they finally got the message and we had a few hours of peace and quiet. The parrot's "sleeping room" is on the far side of the house and there is an air filter running all the time which might help a bit but I checked on her earlier and she was not sleeping, still talking "bedtime, nite nite, tired". She loves the sound of rain, and even thunder doesn't bother her, but the fireworks, this is not the same.
But I feel for the poor bird: Do you have a cellar? Would she be able to spend the night there just this once (with somebody to stay with her)? Or would that just disrupt her routine even more?
The other alternative is this.
http://www.softecollar.com/page6.html
Hope your pooch is feeling better.
What a great idea. Thanks. In our former house there was a water pipe in the room where she slept and she slept so well there...I think she loved the sound of the water. She is finally asleep.
We survived our first Swiss National Day fireworks. My dog barked at the first few but I shut all the windows, turned up the telly real loud and ignored him. That soon sent him back to sleep!
Hope all your pooches did ok too.
If your pets are frightened of fireworks, be aware that Sunday could be traumatic for them. 1 August is loud. Very loud. Think about what you can do to minimize the noise, think about their safety. Lots of good ideas in the previous posts in this thread.
And it bears repeating - if your pet is frightened of fireworks, during the evening take him/her outside only on lead, even if you have a fenced-in garden. Every year, pets run away in a blind panic at the explosions.
Wishing everyone - pets and people - a happy and safe 1 August.
Jos, one of our bunnies was hopping around the place when all of the sudden this loud thunderstorm bang was released on the valley.
Followed by a few more, i noticed Jos jumping with all 4 feet up in the air.. He was running towards me, jumped on my lap , to hide under a blanket..poor thing was shaking like mad.
After i calmed him down a bit,put him back into his cage, where he was restless jumping around from left to right, up and down..
Josie didn't mind to much,she just puts the ears down and couldn't be bothered.
Not sure how they will react on fireworks.. lets wait and see..
I just read an article in the local paper about the number of dog owners who go to the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) for August 1. This is something I am going to look into for next year....providing I can find a place to stay with 3 dogs and a parrot.
I chose to try melatonin after Rescue Remedy and a calming diet my vet gave me failed to do anything. With melatonin, the dogs are still scared and their ears show they're on high alert, but they no longer shake violently out of fear (to my great relief). Also encouraging was the fact that I found articles written by my favorite dog behavior author saying he's used it successfully. His name is Dr. Nicholas Dodman and he's a behaviorist at the Tufts University veterinary school. Google his name and melatonin and you can find the dosages for different sized dogs.
Like many forum members, I have this issue on my list of things to discuss at my next vet appointment. I've read that at least back in the US vets often prescribe medicines (e.g., Xanax) for this issue, but so far my vet only provided a herbal food additive that did nothing for my dogs' noise phobias. Hopefully when I come armed with printouts of articles written by veterinarians he'll start to take my concerns seriously (I have articles that mention dogs dying from heart attacks induced by fear).