United Kingdom

I have a Yorkie which freaks the fuck out whenever there's fireworks, trembles and shakes and wants to be held the entire time.

I also have a great Pyrenees and he might bark at a particularly close one but otherwise he just sleeps through it all.

Nods I have a chihuahua. He barks whe he hears the first few. Settles down after that.

But on sat night I was taking him for a walk. Got to the end of my road. Just as a huge local display about 200m away started. Bloody loud.

Dog turns and heads home so bloody quick. He practically dragged 6ft me all the way. Was not happy when that close. But settled down once inside.

I had a cocker spaniel that would sit in the garden watching with us, the display was 1/2 a mile away.

My dog will bark at fireworks, but will mostly ignore them if we have the TV on or music playing. It's mostly only a problem if one goes off when she goes out in the garden at night to "do her business".

I've known other animals that will completely freak out at them however, even despite having had attempts to expose them properly.

It is worth trying 8f you get a puppy but a lot of people have rescue dogs, some of whom have had a tough life that makes them jumpy. My friend has a retired racing greyhound and has been trained to respond to a bang but, out of the racing context she just freaks out, and that's a lot of dog to be suddenly frantic.

Not all dogs (and other pets) can be desensitised to fireworks, and as the UK has more pets the amount needing alternatives will increase also.

We live in a society where it's becoming increasingly easier to treat the symptoms of issues than it is to treat the causes of issues.

Sometimes treating the cause isn't possible.

Sometimes treating the cause is a lot tougher than just popping a pill and suppressing the cause.

I personally think it's possible that we're becoming too reliant on drugs. Many dogs were still scared of fireworks twenty years ago, but if you heard the owner saying that they wanted to sedate them rather than just stay up with them, calming them and helping them, you'd think they were mad.

Kind of hard when it's a once-per-year event. Desensitisation is an effective training strategy, but takes time and effort. You might have some success with loud fireworks recordings, but nothing can really replicate the pure noise, light, reverberation and smell of the real deal.

Medicating pets for a day or two is not the end of the world and helps them not having to experience the utter helpless panic.

I have a real beef with the anti-medication crowd, they completely ignore how life altering it can be for those that need them, just because they don't suffer themselves so don't see the need for anyone to have them.

It's it better not to need them? Of course. Should you try alternatives first? Absolutely. Is it a failure if it turns out the medication is the only thing that actually helps? Abso-fucking-lutely not.

It's easier than that to desensitise, there's 8 hour videos of fireworks on youtube. Put it on starting really quiet so you can barely hear it for a bit each day, then slowly increase the volume. I foster so I do it with every dog that comes in, usually every day for 2 weeks. None of mine even flinch.

There's a lot who don't want to put the work in, but their dogs are already desensitised to loads of other loud noises like the TV, Ambulances passing, even low flying planes. Think of all the people who put war films on and don't think twice about all the bombs and gunshots.