My dog panics!?

Question

I have a 6 year old dog who panics when he hears fireworks.
This may not seem strange but we used to live near the beach (in spain) and they set off a lot of fire works here and he wasn't bothered at all.

Now, he has panic attacks (we think a kid threw a firework on our terrace when we were out)

We leave the door open so that he can get inside, but he has started to scratch the doors. (sometimes i'm at work till late and he's alone)

Is there anything we can do to help him stop having panic attacks.

Answer 1

Helping Your Dog Overcome the Fear of Thunder and Other Startling Noises
It’s not uncommon for dogs to be frightened of thunder, firecrackers or other loud sounds. These types of fears may develop even though your dog has had no traumatic experiences associated with the sound. Many fear-related problems can be successfully resolved. However, if left untreated, your dog's fearful behavior will probably get worse.
The most common behavior problems associated with fear of loud noises are destruction and escaping. When your dog becomes frightened, she tries to reduce her fear. She may try to escape to a place where the sounds of thunder or firecrackers are less intense. If, by leaving the yard or going into a certain room or area of the house, she feels less afraid, then the escape or destructive behavior is reinforced because it successfully lessens her fear. For some dogs, just the activity or physical exertion associated with one of these behaviors may be an outlet for their anxiety. Unfortunately, escape and/or destructive behavior can be a problem for you and could also result in physical injury to your dog.
Things that are present in the environment whenever your dog hears the startling noise can, from her viewpoint, become associated with the frightening sound. Over a period of time, she may become afraid of other things in the environment that she associates with the noise that frightens her. For example, dogs that are afraid of thunder may later become afraid of the wind, dark clouds and flashes of light that often precede the sound of thunder. Dogs that are afraid of firecrackers may become afraid of the children who have the firecrackers or may become afraid to go in the backyard, if that’s where they usually hear the noise.
What You Can Do To Help
Create A Safe Place: Try to create a safe place for your dog to go to when she hears the noises that frighten her. But remember, this must be a safe location from her perspective, not yours. Notice where she goes, or tries to go, when she’s frightened, and if at all possible, give her access to that place. If she’s trying to get inside the house, consider installing a dog door. If she’s trying to get under your bed, give her access to your bedroom. You can also create a "hidey-hole" that’s dark, small and shielded from the frightening sound as much as possible (a fan or radio playing will help block out the sound). Encourage her to go there when you’re home and the thunder or other noise occurs. Feed her in that location and associate other "good things" happening to her there. She must be able to come and go from this location freely. Confining her in the "hidey-hole" when she doesn’t want to be there will only cause more problems. The "safe place" approach may work with some dogs, but not all. Some dogs are motivated to move and be active when frightened and "hiding out" won’t help them feel less fearful.
Distract Your Dog: This method works best when your dog is just beginning to get anxious. Encourage her to engage in any activity that captures her attention and distracts her from behaving fearfully. Start when she first alerts you to the noise and is not yet showing a lot of fearful behavior, but is only watchful. Immediately try to interest her in doing something that she really enjoys. Get out the tennis ball and play fetch (in an escape-proof area) or practice some commands that she knows. Give her a lot of praise and treats for paying attention to the game or the commands. As the storm or the noise builds, you may not be able to keep her attention on the activity, but it might delay the start of the fearful behavior for longer and longer each time you do it. If you can’t keep her attention and she begins acting afraid, stop the process. If you continue, you may inadvertently reinforce her fearful behavior.
Behavior Modification: Behavior modification techniques are often successful in reducing fears and phobias. The appropriate techniques are called "counter-conditioning" and "desensitization." This means to condition or teach your dog to respond in non-fearful ways to sounds and other stimuli that previously frightened her. This must be done very gradually. Begin by exposing her to an intensity level of noise that doesn’t frighten her and pair it with something pleasant, like a treat or a fun game. Gradually increase the volume as you continue to offer her something pleasant. Through this process, she’ll come to associate "good things" with the previously feared sound.
Example:
Make a tape with firecracker noises on it.
Play the tape at such a low volume that your dog doesn’t respond fearfully. While the tape is playing, feed her dinner, give her a treat or play her favorite game.
In your next session, play the tape a little louder while you feed her or play her favorite game.
Continue increasing the volume through many sessions over a period of several weeks or months. If at any time while the tape is playing, she displays fearful behavior, STOP. Begin your next session at a lower volume - one that doesn’t produce anxiety - and proceed more slowly.
If these techniques aren’t used correctly, they won’t be successful and can even make the problem worse.
For some fears, it can be difficult to recreate the fear stimulus. For example, thunder is accompanied by changes in barometric pressure, lightening and rain, and your dog’s fearful response may be to the combination of these things and not just the thunder. You may need professional assistance to create and implement this kind of behavior modification program.
Consult Your Veterinarian: Medication may be available which can make your dog less anxious for short time periods. Your veterinarian is the only person who is licensed and qualified to prescribe medication for your dog. Don’t attempt to give your dog any over-the-counter or prescription medication without consulting your veterinarian. Animals don’t respond to drugs the same way people do, and a medication that may be safe for humans could be fatal to your dog. Drug therapy, alone, won’t reduce fears and phobias permanently, but in extreme cases, behavior modification and medication used together might be the best approach.
What Not To Do
Attempting to reassure your dog when she’s afraid may reinforce her fearful behavior. If you pet, soothe or give treats to her when she’s behaving fearfully, she may interpret this as a reward for her fearful behavior. Instead, try to behave normally, as if you don’t notice her fearfulness.
Putting your dog in a crate to prevent her from being destructive during a thunderstorm is not recommended. She’ll still be afraid when she’s in the crate and is likely to injure herself, perhaps even severely, while attempting to get out of the crate.
Don’t punish your dog for being afraid. Punishment will only make her more fearful.
Don’t try to force your dog to experience or be close to the sound that frightens her. Making her stay close to a group of children who are lighting firecrackers will only make her more afraid, and could cause her to become aggressive in an attempt to escape from the situation.
Obedience classes won’t make your dog less afraid of thunder or other noises, but could help boost her general confidence.

Answer 2

It's cruel to have a dog when you are not going to be home. Especially when he could have gone to a loving home instead. You should put him out of his misery, or rip out his eyes so he can't see you leave. Perhaps you can bring him with you to work and keep him in the car until you are done. Some dogs can be trained to enjoy alcoholic beverages; you could get him wated every night so that he has a hangover in the morning and wants to be alone all day.

Yes, I am being sarcastic and making fun of the people who replied to your serious question by trying to make you feel bad for having a dog and a job at the same time. It's not cruel to leave a dog by itself for long periods of time; it's cruel not to properly train a dog to be able to handle being alone for long periods of time.
However, your question was not really realted to being alone, but to being nervous about loud noises.

My dog was afraid of thunder, but I got him over of it by having everyone laugh and pet him whenever it thundered. Now he thinks it is a fun thing. Try combining something he likes with the sound of fireworks and perhaps he can get over it too. (No, I don't mean putting a firecracker in a Snausage :)

Most people I know go the medication route and get their dogs drugged up before fireworks related holidays (ie 4th of July in US.) This seems to work well, and although it but may not be the best solution in my opinion, if your dog is actually panicking, then this might actually be best for your situation as a panicking dog can be dangerous to itself and others, however unintentionally.

Answer 3

Oh shut the **** up bronnimoose

If people that worked didnt have dogs there would be a hell of a lot of strays on the roads and loads more dogs in kennels needing homes!

I know that dogs need much more looking after than cats (i have a cat and work does that make me a bad owner? No!! Cos he is quite happy to go out all day!)

As long as an animal has access to food and water there fine. Obviously if there staying in for a long time let them go to the toilet first!

And keeping a dog isnt cheap....if people didnt work they wouldnt be able to afford the food,toys,vets bills,insurance,new slippers etc

As for the fireworks, see a vet and they should give you the nearest dog therapy (like someone said....it is true!) or be able to advise you

Answer 4

Behavioural approach is to expose the dog to the noise, in a controlled environment. You can buy a tape with recorded sounds, anything from a vacuum cleaner to fireworks etc ... And play it for your dog. The object is to get your dog relax before he hears the sound and try to keep calm as he hears it. You do it by reassuring the dog as he hears the tape. If the dog has been traumatised and reacts badly then your Vet can oofer Clomicalm that works as a relaxant/mild sedative. Clomicalm is used for very nervous/anxious dogs. It helps calm the dog down so that, on hearing the tape, and with your reassurance at the same time, he becomes to accept the sound. You expose the dog to the sound of the tape, a little longer, tape a little louder a day at a time, still reassuring him. Use the word 'Calm' as you play the tape and pat him/her. Your dog will becomes used to the sound and react with less anxiety to more fireworks (Or other sounds he's afraid of). He will associate them with the word calm, a cuddle hence overcome his/her fear.

Answer 5

Ask your vet for something called DAP - Dog Appeasing Phermones. It comes in a small bottle that inserts into a device that plugs into an outlet (similar to a room deoderizer). Once hot, it releases phermones that simulate the phermones released by a female dog to make her pups feel secure.

It is also sold by the name of Comfort Zone. I've included a link that shows some of the products available. The prices are in US$. The product I got from my vet is similar to the last one shown but I paid much less.

Answer 6

Ok how often do you have fireworks going off, just on halloween or special occassions I am sure. I would say for sure he had a scare. You should keep him in when this is going on, maybe go out with him if he wants to pee for support. Don't leave him outside alone at these times. You can see the vet about giving him something to relax at these times.

Answer 7

Yes, you need to put in time though. Dogs are pack animals and respond to peer behaviour. If you can be with him when there are loud noises going off and show you are not concerned he will begin to calm down. You should raise your voice, or fuss him, or do anything out of the ordinary. Just simply ask him to sit by you and calmly reward him with a "good boy" boy or similar and a treat. If he whine or runs away, be calm, ignore him, then again ask him to sit by you. Every time he is calm and does well, reward him. Every time he doesn't, ignore him, wait and try again. The more normal you are, the better he will be.

Answer 8

take him to obedience class, he has to learn to be calm around an unusual environment/sounds. He might need lots of action, take him to a dog park where he's allowed to run loose for awhile, some dogs, like people, are just naturally uptight, but dogs are much easier to condition to a certain behavior. leave the house for short periods of time and when you return, praise him for being calm(you have to wait and ignore him until he calms or else he sees that he gets attention when he's acting wild, any attention whether good or bad encourages a dog) do this over the span of a week, making each trip out a little longer, he has to learn to self soothe

Answer 9

Yes you can do a fewthings, you ccan buy herbalseditives calledscullcap and valerian which will help the anxiety, you can also buy a plug in called DAP whch is a calmerin dogs. boththese work and we recommend them toall dog owners around fireworks.
you could also use a dark room with the telly or tv on and blocking the noise a bit should help.
you can get any of these things from your local vet or pet shop.

Answer 10

Our dog (recently departed bless her) got worse over the years. We dreaded Guy Fawkes night and New Years Eve. We hoped she'd go abit deaf in her old age. We drew the curtains so she couldnt see the flashes turned telly up and tried to act normally or she'd pick up that we were nervous for her. It used to get so bad we thought she'd die of a heart attack. We didnt make too much fuss cuddled up with her on sofa and watched crappy gameshows on telly which she seemed to appreciate. She fell asleep eventually from nervous exhaustion. One of our cats used to feel the same but only cos he followed her cue. The other one didnt care at all.

Answer 11

Ask your vet for medication, my dog panics when he hears fireworks, thunder and lightning. He tries to get out of the house, the meds work but you have to know when the situation will arise. Hard to do sometimes. Good luck.