Has anyone had any success desensitising a dog to fireworks? Our rescue dog is terrified of fireworks, and will hide under the bed. We’ve tried doing desensitisation by playing fireworks sounds on a speaker, but he can tell they’re not the real thing.
Mine was a puppy, not sure if it’ll work for a grown dog. But during festivities, I play calming music very loudly. Enough to drown out the worst of the fireworks. We live very close to where the official fireworks go off, so music loudness won’t bother other people.
When it’s time for the fireworks, we play fetch with her favorite ball. We cuddle. I feed her or give her a treat. (Edit to add: basically the idea is to keep them distracted during the worst of the fireworks)
It’s important that you don’t act like there’s fireworks going off, nothing is happening. Dogs look to you for how to react to anything, which is also why playing fireworks sounds doesn’t work, since you know it’s fake.