Dogs and Fireworks: Why Late October Is Already Too Late
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Every year the same thing happens. People start thinking about fireworks on the afternoon of the fifth of November, go looking for something that will help, and find that the thing they have bought needed a fortnight to be any use.
This is not a sales problem. It is a timing problem, and it is worth understanding properly.
Why the timing matters more than the product
Plug-in diffusers work by changing the atmosphere of a room over time. The point is that by the time the first bangs arrive, the room already smells the way it is going to smell. If you plug one in on the night, you have changed the environment at exactly the moment your dog is already unsettled, which is the opposite of what you wanted.
Give them a fortnight. Three weeks is better.
Daily supplements are the same. They are formulated to be given over a stretch, not handed out at teatime on the fifth. Start in late October and you have missed most of what you paid for.
Bonfire Night is the fixed date, but fireworks in most parts of the UK start well before it and carry on afterwards, through to New Year in some areas. Planning for one night is planning for the wrong thing.
The part that costs nothing
Before you buy anything at all, there is a good deal you can do that costs nothing and often matters more.
Walk them before dark. Not after. Once it is dark in early November you are gambling on someone in the next street. Move the walk earlier for a fortnight and you remove the problem entirely.
Close the curtains and put something on. Flashes are half of it. Bangs arriving into a silent house are worse than bangs arriving into a room with the television on. It does not need to be loud, it just needs to be there.
Let them choose where to be. This is the one people get wrong most often. A dog that has taken itself under a table or behind the sofa has made a decision, and it is usually a good one. Coaxing them out to be reassured undoes it. Let them sit it out where they have chosen, and go about your evening normally.
Do not make an occasion of it. Dogs read us more closely than we think. Hovering, checking, and using a concerned voice tells them something is wrong.
Check the microchip details. More dogs are lost on and around Bonfire Night than at any other time of year. If you have moved house or changed your number since the chip was registered, it is worth five minutes now.
What we keep, and when to start it
Plug-in diffusers. We stock the Pet Remedy plug-in diffuser, which runs for around sixty days on a bottle, along with refills. If a room has no free socket, the battery atomiser does the same job without one. Start these by the third week of October.
Sprays. The 200ml calming spray can be used on bedding, and there is a 15ml version small enough for a pocket or the car.
Daily supplements. Our own UK9 CalmingCare sachets are given once a day, and VetSpec Calm & Focused comes either as a supplement or as a complete food if you would rather not add another thing to the routine. These want starting in the middle of October.
Somewhere to retreat to. If the corner your dog has chosen could be more comfortable, the deep-sided donut-style beds are the ones dogs tend to press into. Put it where they have already decided to go, not where you would prefer them to be.
Something for the night itself. A long-lasting chew or a camomile and lavender soft bite gives them something to do with themselves.
A note on what these things are
None of the above is a treatment. They are environmental and dietary products, and they help some dogs more than others. If your dog is genuinely distressed by fireworks — shaking, hiding for hours, refusing food, toileting indoors — that is a conversation to have with your vet, and one worth having in October rather than on the day. There are options a vet can offer that we cannot, and they also need time to be set up properly.
The short version
- Now: check the microchip details are current
- Mid October: start daily supplements
- Third week of October: plug in the diffuser
- Late October: move walks to before dark
- On the night: curtains shut, something on, and leave them where they have chosen to be
If you are not sure what suits your dog, email us and we will tell you honestly, including when the answer is that you do not need to buy anything.