10 Things Puppy Parents Need to Know About Firework Safety For Puppies!

During the 4th of July, many towns and cities across the United States celebrate with a fireworks display. While they are truly a wonderful sight for humans, they can be stress-inducing for many puppies, dogs, and other pets! Here’s what you need to know about keeping your puppy calm and safe during fireworks.

During the 4th of July, more pets go missing than on any other holiday. In fact, according to PetAmberAlert (a lost pet finder service that helps reunite lost pets with their families), animal control officials across the nation report a surge of up to 30-60% of lost pet reports.

And this statistic encompasses more than just pets that go missing during fireworks displays. 4th of July also brings more outdoor activities, travel, house parties, and BBQs ultimately increasing the potential for dogs to accidentally runoff.

1. Why are puppies and dogs afraid of fireworks?

Pups who are generally afraid of loud noises such as thunder will most likely be susceptible to being anxious with fireworks. The smell, sounds and flashing lights can pose sensory overloads for our puppies. 

It’s good to understand beforehand if your puppy does exhibit anxiety, especially around loud noises. Some physical behaviors to look out for can include shivering, tucking their tail between their hind legs, and large bulging eyes also called whale eyes. 

By preparing beforehand, especially with a nervous puppy or a new puppy that has never experienced fireworks before, can make a world of difference! So how do you keep your puppy calm during fireworks? Through desensitization, creating a safe space, providing comfort, planning for emergency situations, and more precautions you will be ready to keep your puppy calm, happy, and safe during the festivities!

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2. Prep Your Puppy’s I.D.

We can’t stress enough that before any fireworks displays in your area, make sure that even if your puppy remains at home, their tags are all up to date and secure to their collar. If they are microchipped, double-check that the listed contact information, address, and veterinarian information are all in order. Intense sounds such as fireworks can instigate the primal flight instinct in many dogs, causing them to do whatever it takes to flee an area and look for safety. In the event that your puppy does run away and try to hide, having these simple IDs will increase the chances of your puppy being found and returned to you!

3. Start Desensitization Training Early On

The Puppy Academy student, Makai!

An effective method to help your puppy learn not to fear fireworks, and other loud abrupt noises is through desensitization training. Professional puppy training classes like at our school in Hermosa Beach or our online puppy training program will provide a variety of effective training techniques you can practice at home to help with desensitization. There are also a variety of videos and sound loops available online that will play common household appliance noises, street noises, waste management trucks, construction, thunder and lightning, and fireworks all to help your puppy learn to feel comfortable around these sounds. At an early age, start playing these sound loops for your puppy softly in the background and monitor how your puppy responds. 

Pro tip: Practicing easy training routines such as Sit, Stay, or Down, while these sounds play in the background, provides a helpful distraction to keep your pup’s focus on you and training instead of the sounds. If they are remaining calm during the low sounds, you can give them treats to help them build confidence and learn that the sound is not a threat. Gradually you can start to increase the volume on the sounds and continue this training process. 

Desensitization takes time and patience so it’s important to begin doing this far in advance and build on your puppy’s exposure gradually prior to the 4th of July or other activities. 

4. Keep Your Puppy Away from Fireworks

As much as we want to include our puppies in all our festivities, it is more fair to your pup and safer for them to remain at home, where they can be comfortable and monitored under the care of a family member or pet sitter. Having your puppy with you around fireworks can put them under unneeded stress and anxiety, and increase the chances of them getting loose and running away.

5. Create a Safe Place For Your Puppy at Home

The safest place for your puppy during fireworks is indoors, at home. Many puppies will instinctively seek out tight-fitting spaces when they are anxious, like under the bed, couch, or between furniture. If you’ve already crate trained your puppy, their crate can provide a great safe escape from the commotion. You can make the space even more comfortable for them by covering their crate to blackout the flashing lights and even playing white noise to block out the sounds from the fireworks.

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6. Exercise and Walk Your Puppy Before Fireworks

The Puppy Academy students, Hobbes, Beni, and Duke!

Another great way to help keep your puppy calm during fireworks is to give your puppy enough time to walk, play, and do their business prior to the fireworks! By providing your puppy activity prior to the fireworks, you’re helping to stimulate their brain which in turn will help get them tired and make it easier for them to settle down.  

Take your puppy for a walk or have outdoor playtime with them while it's still daylight, to reduce the risk of fireworks startling your puppy while you're still outdoors. If your puppy needs to go out to potty when it's dark, keep them on leash to take them out and ensure their harness, leash, and your yard are all secured in case your pup tries to dash! Try to settle your puppy down in their crate before the fireworks start so they have some quiet time to really calm down, get comfortable, and feel safe.

7. Secure the All the Exits of Your Home

Make sure to double-check that all entrances and exits (doors, gates, fences, windows, etc.) are securely closed and locked. Anxious puppies will seek out shelter from the noise and can easily bolt out of an open exit if left unchecked. Pups have even been known to tear through screen doors and jump over backyard fences to escape in a panicked state, so take the steps to make sure your home is as secure as possible before fireworks even begin.

8. Minimize Your Puppy’s Exposure to Fireworks

Keep your puppy calm during fireworks by blocking out as much visibility and sound to the fireworks as possible. As we mentioned earlier, you can block out the fireworks flashing lights by covering your pup’s crate with towels or blankets, and you can lower the shades in the room to minimize the light coming in. Creating a “zen room” for your puppy in a separate room of the house that can be closed off to reduce outside noise, and has their crate in there for extra security and comfort, can be a great help for this! Playing white noise, like the TV, fan, or other sounds like calming music can help keep your puppy calm during fireworks.

9. Provide Your Puppy with Comfort

@pebblespawfestlife

Your presence or that of a trusted person will provide your puppy with a world of confidence and help keep your puppy calm during fireworks and other loud noises! Help your puppy cope with their anxiety by just sitting with them nearby, or practicing some easy commands with them to get their mind working on something positive! Avoid coddling or over-petting your puppy, which can feed into their fear and anxiety. Instead, if you want to praise your pup for doing good, use an upbeat tone and use single clear words, as if you’re in training mode, like “Good!”, which can be accompanied by a treat or a quick pat of affection!

10. Talk to Your Veterinarian and a Puppy Trainer

If your pup has already exhibited severe anxiety due to loud noises like fireworks, there are some great natural remedies that can help soothe their anxiety if your veterinarian thinks it may be beneficial for them to try. Non-medicinal tools like thunder shirts or using weighted blankets have also been effective at helping some anxious puppies remain calm during fireworks. 

Of course, building your puppy’s confidence first is the most effective way to help them keep calm during fireworks! Consult a puppy trainer who can help work both you and your puppy through some desensitization and confidence-building training! 

Our online puppy school provides classes to help puppy owners teach their puppies with controlled and safe methods to feel comfortable around new environments and sounds.

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Puppyhood Made Easy for New Owners: Socializing Your Puppy to Dogs & People!

Socialization prepares your puppy for interactions with new people and dogs for years to come. Here’s how to plan for and manage this very important growing phase in your puppy’s life.

The Puppy Academy student, Lulu!

The day has finally arrived when you planned on introducing your new puppy to the rest of the family, friends, and the family pup! These first interactions are in your puppy’s early socialization phase which means they are helping lay the building blocks for your puppy’s future interactions with new people and dogs. With the tips that we listed out below, plan these meetings ahead so your puppy has the best experience possible!

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Socializing with the Older Dog(s) in the Home

Some adult dogs just love their new siblings right away! But what if that’s not your case? We’ve heard in the past from clients that bring home a new puppy. Their older dog doesn’t immediately want to play with them and even seems to be bothered by the new puppy. This is totally normal! Every puppy and adult dog has different personalities and temperaments and in particular, with puppies who can have higher energy compared to an adult dog, in some situations it can take a few days of settling in and bonding to really start to get comfortable around each other.

We recommend that when you plan to introduce your new puppy to your older family dog, pick a neutral setting for their first-ever meeting where your older dog can start to build a bond with your puppy. If your pup is a little bit older and already has their vaccinations, start outside start outside with your new puppy and other dog going for a relaxed walk on a leash. Be prepared for the possibility of zig-zagging, sniffing, and tangled leashes, especially if you have a very young puppy that doesn’t know the “Heel” command yet! If your pup is on the younger side, utilize a playpen they can hang out in safely outdoors, and with your other dog on leash, let them approach and sniff out the playpen and new pup from the other side!

Next, when you move their meeting inside your home, put them in a smaller but easy-to-monitor area. Let your older dog get used to the new puppy and supervise their interaction. Sometimes playtime can escalate with a younger puppy that still doesn’t understand the limits between what’s acceptable play and what’s not. We’ll go into more detail about this in a later section. So to keep the interactions positive, keep them short at first, for five to ten minutes at a time with breaks in between to de-escalate excitement when needed! 

Crate training is an invaluable asset when it comes to socialization with another dog in the home. Letting your puppy just hang out in their crate while observing the other dog (or vice versa!) helps them to get used to having the other dog present but also introduces them in a calm way. Lastly, crates and playpens also provide your puppy or adult dog a place to get some alone time from interacting with one another and time to recharge. 

Socializing with People

Meeting new people at home or outside during a walk, you might notice that your puppy may either get very excited or a bit apprehensive to greet someone. Depending on your puppy’s personality, let’s cover some scenarios and what to do!

 If you have family or friends coming over to your house to “meet the puppy” practice a little prep work with your guests! Before someone comes over, let them know that you are in the process of training your puppy to calmly greet people. So, when they arrive at your door, and if your excited puppy is jumping or barking for attention, your guests know to simply walk by your puppy without reaching down to pet them. This begins to teach your puppy that excited behavior won’t beget attention, in fact, the exact opposite. Only when your puppy is calm and settled, then instruct your guests that it’s okay to interact with your puppy. Essentially, you’ve helped reinforce that good, calm behavior will get your puppy the attention that they crave.

But what about puppies that just don’t want to settle down? Again, crate training is key in this situation. Place your puppy in their crate if they are just too excited and let them wait it out. The crate is simply helping you achieve the same result of teaching your puppy calm greetings. The alone time and space will help your puppy relax and, eventually, once they are calm enough, you can let them out to greet the new guests. 

Another scenario you may encounter is when you are out with your puppy on a walk. For example, it’s inevitable that with a cute little puppy that some people will want to just run up and pet them! This is an opportunity for a great training session by engaging people to help teach your puppy a calm greeting! Ask them to give your puppy a treat for a calm, “Sit”, and only once your puppy settles and sits, then they can greet your puppy. If your puppy doesn’t know the command “Sit” just yet, just ask them to wait until your puppy settles down before approaching and giving them a treat or a pet. 

What about nervous or more reserved puppies? How do you handle meeting new people? First, we recommend that you don’t force your puppy to interact with people or dogs for that matter if they are showing signs of being anxious or nervous. There is a common misconception that you should try to break a puppy “out of their shell” to get them to socialize, but in fact, that can reinforce their anxiety about strangers. This is when we encourage puppy owners to practice socialization through existence.  

Existence Training

@heybert_co

What does it mean to train your puppy to simply exist in new places or around new people and dogs? 

Let’s look at what socialization means first...There’s a misconception that “socialization” means having your puppy meet as many people and dogs and places as possible in the first few months of life. We’ve seen two different outcomes from this belief. The first are puppies with explosive energy every time they meet a new person, dog, or go somewhere new. And second, reinforcement of apprehension in puppies that are more reserved or nervous about meeting new people and dogs. 

So, existence is simply letting your puppy settle and observe things happening around them while remaining in a calm state like a “Sit”, “Down”, and or “Stay”. If your puppy doesn’t know those commands just yet, you can just hold your puppy next to you on a leash and let them watch as the world passes by. Or, practice redirecting your puppy’s attention with food and their leash, by calling their name and luring them back to you each time people or other dogs walk past them and reward your puppy for being engaged and calm in their setting. 

Here are a few exercises that you can try! We do recommend that you read up on our “Place” command training blog before trying these.

-Start to teach your puppy the “Place” command at home. Designate a spot, like a pet cot, for example, and have your puppy just stay there while the family goes about their activities. This encourages your puppy to learn how to stay put in their place even when things are happening around them.

-Next, move “Place” training to your backyard or front porch using your puppy’s designated Place target (their pet cot). Again, have them go to their “Place” and just stay there while observing the yard, animals, people and dogs walking by, etc.

-Eventually, once your puppy can comfortably handle staying for periods on their “Place” at home and outside, move “Place” training to a public setting like a park. Practice the same steps from the previous exercises but be prepared that with a new setting there will be far more distractions and you may have to reset and give your puppy more frequent breaks.

Practice these “Place” training exercises for a few minutes at a time, rewarding your puppy with food or treats for staying in their place and remaining calm. As they continue to progress, you’re essentially training your puppy to be okay just existing in a variety of new environments around new people and dogs. Doing this will strengthen your puppy’s confidence but also encourage them to stay engaged with listening and staying with you. 

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Playtime: What It Should Look Like & What to Look Out For

Puppy playtime should be a balancing act of give and take. You will notice that when puppies play together, at some points one puppy will show submissive behaviors like a play bow or go belly up. Then there will be a switch when they will start to pounce or even play nip at the other puppy, and display more dominant behaviors. All of these actions are normal and help teach puppies the right ways of playing with one another and establish boundaries.

But, these are puppies we’re talking about and there will be instances that you need to look out for to interject during playtime. For example, if you regularly let your puppy play with submissive puppies, and they begin to demonstrate more and more dominant behaviors, this may continue to translate over to other play with other dogs later on, eventually escalating. By allowing those behaviors to continue on submissive puppies, you are empowering your puppy to “bully” other puppies and disrupting the balance in playtime.

And that goes the other way, too! If you allow your puppy to take on the submissive role over and over during playtime with other more assertive puppies, you may inadvertently create anxiety in your puppy about playing with other dogs later on. 

There is body language to look for when puppies are playing together that can help clue you in if something is about to happen. For example, less confident puppies may start to drop their ears, crouching behind you or other things, and giving you wide whale eyes, if the other assertive puppy isn’t backing down. This is a perfect situation in which you as your puppy’s leader should step in and break up the play. Both to teach them not to bully the other puppy, but also, if your puppy is the submissive one, to advocate for them.

In the event that your high-energy puppy is playing with another high-energy puppy, you might notice they are riling each other up. This playtime might result in lots of nippiness and noise, like barking or growling. Be prepared to also intervene if their behaviors start to become more and more frequent as they can escalate to a fight. Give your puppy a break from playtime, perhaps even redirect their energy into puppy training for a few minutes, before allowing them to play again. 

Takeaways When it Comes to Socializing Your Puppy!

We covered a lot in this blog so we wanted to give a brief rundown of the key points to remember:

1. Start in neutral settings, and controlled areas like a playpen when introducing your puppy to the adult family dog.

2. When meeting new people, practice calm greetings. Prep your family, friends, and even instruct strangers that want to meet your puppy to only interact with your puppy if they are calm, and not jumping for attention.

3. Don’t force nervous puppies to interact right away. Let them work on simply being around new people and dogs.

4. Practice existence training by teaching your puppy to stay in their “Place” while watching activities happening around them at home, in your yard, and eventually out in public.

5. Look out for submissive and dominant behaviors during playtime. It should be a balancing act. When you notice too much of one type of behavior, intervene and advocate for your puppy and pause play when needed.

Have more questions about socializing your new puppy? Join us every Wednesday at 1 pm PT on Instagram @thepuppyacademy to ask one of our trainers live! 

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