Helping Your Collie Through Fireworks Season

The next few nights around Bonfire Night are likely to be the noisiest of the year. If your collie hasn’t encountered fireworks yet this season, there is still a great deal you can do to protect them. If they already have, and reacted badly, the advice below applies to you too – and it matters, because how we manage these nights can shape how your dog copes with loud noises for the rest of their life.

Noise phobia is extremely common. Studies have found that up to 49% of dogs in the UK show fear responses to noises, and a study in New Zealand found that 45% of dogs were fearful of fireworks specifically. That isn’t surprising when you consider the dog’s perspective: a sudden, intense bang with no obvious source, no way of knowing where it’s coming from, and therefore no way of escaping it.

The season is also getting longer. Halloween is increasingly accompanied by fireworks, followed by Diwali, the whole week around 5 November and the weekends either side, and then New Year’s Eve. For a fearful dog, that is a long run of frightening nights, and it is a genuine welfare issue.

Why collies are particularly vulnerable

Collies are especially prone to sound sensitivity, and there are several likely reasons. Sound sensitivity can be hereditary. Many collie litters are also raised outside, in barns in quiet countryside, so the puppies hear few household noises, little traffic and very few loud sounds before they go to their new homes. They then often aren’t taken out until their vaccinations are complete, which shortens their window for getting used to the world even further.

Another likely reason lies in the work collies were bred for. Working alongside shepherds on quiet hillsides, and even in the farmyard, there are few sudden bangs or crashes. Unlike gundog breeds, who must cope with the sound of guns as part of their job, collies have never been selected for resilience to loud noises.

Finally, studies have shown that collies are simply more sensitive in general, and more reactive to anything novel. Again, this comes from how they were bred. A good working collie must react instantly when a sheep breaks away from the flock, think for itself, use all of its senses, and hear both distant sheep and the shepherd’s whistles across a hillside. Shepherds bred from the dogs that worked best, and the dogs that worked best were the most responsive and most acutely aware of their surroundings. Those traits are invaluable on the hill, but in a busy modern home they can leave collies struggling to cope, and sound sensitivity is one of the ways this shows.

In my experience (and this is anecdotal), many collie puppies cope well with their first fireworks season. Owners understandably assume that because their puppy was fine last year, they will be fine this year. But the second year is often when the fear starts to develop. Noise phobia commonly begins between one and two years of age, and it tends to worsen as the dog gets older. So if your young collie was relaxed last November, please don’t assume they will be this time.

Signs that your collie is frightened

The early signs of stress are easy to miss, and you may see them earlier in the evening before things escalate:

• lip licking and yawning
• a lowered posture with the ears back
• freezing or avoidance
• reacting to small cues, such as refusing to go into the garden after dark
• restlessness as it gets dark, and as they start to smell bonfire smoke in the air

As the fear increases, you may see trembling, panting and pacing, hiding, running about barking, refusing food, vomiting, diarrhoea, urination or defecation. Some dogs try to escape or bolt – which is why so many dogs are reported missing on local social media pages at this time of year. Some become so distressed that they chew at their feet or tail. Occasionally, a collie may redirect aggression onto another dog or a person in the household.

If your dog behaves like this, please don’t dismiss it as “just how they are”. These dogs are terrified, and they need help.

How to get through the next few nights

Prevention is far easier than treatment. A single bad experience – a firework going off during an evening walk, or in the garden when you thought the display was over – can trigger a noise phobia that lasts for the rest of a dog’s life. So whether or not my own collies are worried by fireworks, I manage every one of them in the same way at this time of year.

Walk early, then stay in

Give your dog a good long walk in the afternoon, as late as you can before it gets dark. Then keep them in for the night, and don’t let them into the garden until the fireworks have well and truly finished – to be safe, that is usually after midnight.

This applies to puppies too. Matilda is young and needs to go out more often, but we live in the countryside where fireworks are less likely. If I lived in a town, I wouldn’t risk it. The odd accident in the house is far better than a frightened puppy who goes on to develop a lifelong fear.

I was offered a vet appointment for Matilda on the 5th November at 5.30pm, but refused to take it – our vet is in a town and the risk of her encountering fireworks on the way in or out of the vets is too great.

Make the house a refuge

• Draw all the curtains and turn the lights on, so flashes are less visible through the windows.
• Put the TV or music on to help mask the bangs. Something with a beat works well, but check beforehand that your dog isn’t worried by the music itself.
• Let your dog hide if they want to. Collies often choose the bathroom, probably because it tends to be the smallest room, often in the middle of the house, with the smallest window – sound travels far more easily through glass than through brick.
• If you can, give them access to the quietest room with no windows, and if they are really fearful, set up a den: a bed or crate covered with layers of duvets, hanging over the door. Even if it doesn’t block much of the sound, being enclosed on all sides helps a dog feel safer.
• Never try to stop your dog going to their chosen hiding place.

Comfort them – it won’t make things worse

You cannot make a fear worse by comforting your dog. If they want to be with you, let them. Cuddle them if they want it, but don’t if they don’t. Stay calm yourself: slow, long strokes and talking to them just as you normally would tell your dog there is nothing to worry about.

Calming wraps and snoods, which go around the body or over the ears, can help some dogs. But they need to be introduced gradually, well in advance, so your dog enjoys wearing them. If they only ever appear during fireworks, the dog will associate them with the bangs and they may increase fear.

Make the bangs predict something good

While fireworks are going off, bring out the good stuff: stuffed Kongs, lick mats, snuffle mats, long-lasting chews, games and tug. Studies have associated feeding and play during fireworks with an improvement in dogs’ fear. Each time there is a loud bang, pair it with something your dog loves, so the bang starts to predict something good rather than something terrifying.

If your dog is too frightened to eat or play, don’t worry. Keep offering anyway. It still matters that the good things are there, even if they don’t yet feel safe enough to take them.

If your dog has already had a bad experience

Why it matters to act now

A noise phobia often first develops during the fireworks season itself, anywhere from Halloween or early November through to New Year’s Eve. If a dog has been particularly frightened, their fear can then begin to generalise beyond fireworks over the following months. I regularly see dogs who become frightened of car doors slamming, pans dropping in the kitchen, bottles going into a bottle bank, footballs being kicked or balls hitting cricket bats. Some refuse to walk in a particular direction because something noisy once happened there, until there are very few routes they will take at all. Some refuse to go out after dark, or refuse to leave the house altogether. In the countryside, bird scarers can cause intense fear, making dogs freeze or bolt on walks.

Less commonly, I have seen collies who, after a frightening fireworks episode, fixate on the sky whenever they go outside in the dark, especially when the moon or stars are out. They seem to be watching the lights and bracing for a bang. This can become almost compulsive, and can spread into the daytime, with dogs scanning for planes and vapour trails. Not every dog goes down this path, but it is far better to prevent it than to treat it.

Consider pain

If your collie suddenly becomes fearful of noises at four or five years old, having never been worried before, and there has been no frightening incident to explain it, pain is a likely factor – often musculoskeletal pain. Book a vet check. Tell your vet that your dog has suddenly developed sensitivity to fireworks, and that you are aware sound sensitivity can be associated with pain.

Dogs who freeze when they hear a loud bang are the ones I suspect are most likely to be in pain. The startle response causes the body to tense suddenly, and if that tensing hurts, the dog learns to fear both the sound and the pain. Freezing makes sense if moving might hurt even more.

Take videos to your vet appointment so they can see your dog moving in a relaxed setting. Vets generally like to see:

1. walking directly away from the camera and back towards it, with the head straight forward rather than lifted
2. walking across the camera from left to right and right to left
3. the same in trot

Even if you can’t see an issue with your dog’s movement, a vet may be able to spot something that could need treatment.

Talk to your vet about medication

If your dog already has a fireworks phobia, or has had a frightening experience early in the season, I would strongly encourage you to speak to your vet about prescription anxiety medication now. Over-the-counter calming products are not sufficient for a dog with an established phobia. Prescription medications have been thoroughly tested, and we know they are safe and effective.

If you’re unsure whether medication is appropriate, ask yourself:

• Is my dog’s quality of life affected on fireworks nights? If they are hiding, panting or salivating, the answer is yes.
• Can my dog stay below threshold? If they cannot settle, cannot stay calm next to you, or run about barking all night, that is a quality of life issue too. Barking may look like your collie is enjoying “chasing” the fireworks away, but it is often how collies cope with something that frightens them.
• Is the trigger unavoidable? Fireworks are.
• Is the trigger unpredictable? Fireworks are.

Your vet may discuss options such as Sileo, a gel rubbed onto the gums, which is very effective but may not suit dogs who dislike being handled around the mouth, or Tessie, a newer medication that can be given in food. These are typically given an hour or two before fireworks are expected, and they help keep arousal lower and prevent panic. Please trial any medication on a quiet night first, because occasionally a dog has an unexpected reaction that could make things worse.

If your dog has never been frightened of fireworks, medication isn’t something I would jump to. But it doesn’t hurt to have some in the cupboard, if your vet is happy to prescribe it.

Natural over-the-counter remedies are not an appropriate sole treatment for noise phobia. Evidence for most products is lacking, and studies have not found them particularly effective. As a precaution for a dog who has never been worried, they won’t do any harm – just be aware they may not help.

Looking ahead

If your dog finds fireworks very frightening over the coming days, consider taking them away somewhere quiet for New Year’s Eve if you are able to. The same applies if you know fireworks are bad in your area, or there are other festivals coming up nearby. A week away is often the best option for everyone.

Longer term, gradual desensitisation and counter-conditioning to firework sounds can help, ideally started around March or April to allow plenty of time. The Dogs Trust’s Sound Scary resource talks you through how to do this. Many collies can tell the difference between recordings and the real thing, so it won’t always work, but it is still well worth trying.

If you are planning a new puppy, ask the breeder whether the parents are sound sensitive, and look for a litter raised in the house, where the puppies are exposed to everyday household sounds. Even better is a breeder who takes the puppies out to different places and deliberately works on desensitisation and counter-conditioning to noises.

Further reading

I’ve written about sound phobia in border collies in much more detail on my website, including why it develops and how it can be treated:

• What does sound phobia look like in border collies?
• Training techniques for sound reactive border collies

If your collie is struggling with noise fear, or their fear has started to spread to other sounds and places, please get in touch. The sooner we start, the easier it is to help.