Fourth of July
 

Hi I have a 5 month old Yorkie and I'm just worried about fourth of july this year. Anyone have any tips on how to calm your yorkie from the firesworks?

Draco is 5 months too : ). And best bet is to try to desensitize them to loud sounds. Try to distract them toys, treats, and playing. Kind have to get them used to like you have to do with vacuum, sirens, motorcycles, etc. You can find videos with the same sounds to start them off raising the volume and giving them treats or whatever.
I live 2 blocks from a fire station, and 3 from a police station so luckily I don't have to worry about Draco too much and loud noises.

Also here's a helpful link! :) Dog Fear of Loud Noises | Dog and Puppy Training

Ive heard thunder shirts can help i havent tried it even though my jewels gets nervous because she has gotten a little better in time

Thunder shirt is the only thing that works for my Yorkie. Although it would be best to try and get her not afraid of them sense she is a pup but I don't know all the ways of going about that.

my birthday is 4th of july. I mostly just stay home for my dogs.. they get so scared I could not enjoy myself knowing how scared they would be.

One year I went out of town but left them with a friend who lived way out in farm land so that was good.

Maybe you will get lucky and your baby won't react. In my town, people are already shooting them off in the evenings. I was worried that Barney, 6 months, would react. He just stops playing for a few seconds, looks up, and then goes back to his business. Anna, 6 years, will look up and bark, but she doesn't get nervous. Max, 14, used to go crazy at loud noises. I read that the best way to handle it is to not react at all. Do not reassure them or they will think that there is a legitimate reason to be afraid. Don't allow them to jump at you or claw at you. We did this with Max and it seems to have helped. Either that or his hearing is too bad for him to hear loud noises.

I, too, am a little nervous about fireworks. Bella hates loud noises.

My two go with us on the Fourth of July to the river to watch the fireworks. I have done it since they were puppies, and they usually sleep during the show. I would try to expose her to them and make it a positive experience, so she doesn't fear them.

We just had a huuuuge lightning/thunder storm last night and my two couldn't have cared less.

Good post. During playing firecrackers going off on the stereo or computer, you can feed your dog a treat or get the dog busy chasing a ball or jumping around having fun with you. It really does help to plan ahead and get your dog used to loud sounds ahead of time and then stay very very calm and matter of fact when the fireworks do start. Don't look at the dog immediately or react in any way except to toss a ball or go get treats or get the dog working at running around jumping and playing. It's work but in the long run it helps your dog see loud noises as just another part of life. Also, playing your white noise or the stereo loudly with upbeat music can help to defuse the power of the sound from the fireworks if you are home and not at the park. If you go to the park, it is good to have a carrier for the dog and a blanket to cover it as a place to go inside if they won't play or interact with you during the loud display and want to "den" for solace. And if the dog is very panicked, you'll have to take the dog away to avoid a terrible fear situation later on and over time desensitize them for next year. Having a Thundershirt at the ready couldn't hurt either if you have gotten earlier signals that your dog has noise-related fear.

Thank you so much for the advice & helpful link...really puts me at ease with all these helpful tips that I can try on my little Mylah...hopefully since she is still a puppy she will adjust to the noise just fine. Last night I played noises from fireworks from my phone but all she wanted to do was chew my phone, seems like it didn't phase her so hopefully she reacts the same way without the chewing lol.

Yeah I will never leave my little Mylah home alone on 4th of July due to the fact that she might freak out even more if no one is home with her. But I definitely don't know if I want to expose her to noise that she will be terrified of...I might just try it and if she gets too scared I will probably end up going back home with her. Thanks for sharing :) Hope u have a wonderful bday! Happy Early bday

Tia is HIGHLY afraid of noises, like fireworks and thunder. The thunder shirt does work wonders for her, but she is still afraid. She will not take a treat of any sort and playing the tv loud or having loud music doesn't help. She is scared to death. We had a bad storm today and I had to use the thunder shirt. She was still shaking, but she wasn't freaking (running around like crazy) as much. I purchased mine at Bed Bath N Beyond.

We have always taken our babies with us to the fireworks, put them on our laps, sit back, relaxed, had some treats and enjoyed. I guess they thought that was what they were suppose to do to, so they sit back, have a few treat and watch them along with us. They aren't scared of storms either.

I take Heidi to them so she can have a wide variety of experiences & not be fearful. She's usually too excited wanting people to pet & talk to her, that when the big booms go off, she could care less. Sometimes she will look at me like, "Should I be worried about that?" and I'm not worried about it, so she's fine too. ... As long as some one will give HER all the attention that is! LoL