# Fireworks make dogs gunshy



## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

Almost 40 years ago I developed a means to recover guns shy dogs out of necessity, my dog was made gunshy with careless exposure to fireworks.

Its alot easier to prevent than to cure.

If you can, keep your dogs in the house and play the stereo or a radio loud enough to mask the sound of local fireworks, especially in the evening which is prime time for fireworks use.

When I was training other peoples dogs, fireworks exposure was the number one cause of gunshyness and it can happen to very seasoned dogs that have hunted for years.

They don't understand it, so protect them from it.

Happy fourth


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## Sasha and Abby (May 11, 2004)

Good idea!


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## griffman (Jan 17, 2004)

Great reminder Bob! There is no valid reason to expose a dog to fireworks. Fireworks have nothing to do with bird dogs or any dog for that matter!

I've heard many people say that once a dog is gun broke, fireworks should be no problem........this is NOT true!

Gun ranges are another bad spot for dogs. No need to expose your dog to a range full of .50 cals, AR's, Glocks all kicking out rounds at the same time! This is of no value to the dogs.


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

Our dog had a TERRIBLE experience with fireworks last year...leaving the dog at home is a good idea.


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## nickle ditch (Aug 26, 2002)

We celebrated Canada day on Saturday with the city shooting fireworks almost directly behind my house. We had our dogs in the spare room in the basement with the blinds closed. One of the dogs doesn't even notice them and the other dog is terrified. The terrified dog has three years in the field and has had hundreds of shots fired over her. She needs to be held the whole time. You can just see the panic in her eyes.


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## BROWNDOG (Nov 2, 2004)

I just got home from a trip yesterday picking up a new pup and last night I knew the neibors were going to be shooting off fireworks, so I had them let me know when they were going to start and call when finished, I had the tv on loud and pup in crate with a blanket over the top.

Nice timely post Bob..

Happy 4th.


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## Labs_4_Life (Jun 22, 2006)

Out of curiosity, do those of you with dogs that are afraid of fireworks also have problems with thunderstorms? While growing up, our family had a dog that worked great in the field around guns, but when it came to fireworks and thunder, she turned into a completely different dog. In fact, it got so bad that my dad had to give her some kind of prozac for dogs every time a storm rolled through. Luckily, we could somewhat control the fireworks aspect of things--except when the neighbor kids would go around lighting them off unexpectedly.


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

Several of my dogs are fearful of thunder, all of them are fearful of fireworks, none are gunshy.

The only thing I can figure is that they can relate the sound of a shotgun to game.

They also get nervous and restless when the neighbors go thru their annual deer rifle zero checking, different sound I think.

Dogs can distinguish very suttle differences in sounds, ever notice how they will get excited when your own car comes up the road but ignore the other ones.


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## Canuck (Nov 10, 2004)

I had the opposite "problem". My neighbors were letting off fireworks and my yellow lab raced over and tried to pick up one of the lighted rockets. Fortunately she responded to my whistle and immediately returned without the fireworks. Kind of like the story of the guys using explosives to open up the ice on a slough so they could do some duck hunting. By the way my lab is seriously afraid of thunder, as was my last dog who also "liked" fireworks.


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