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Bonfire night, the stars are bright,

Seven little bogeymen dressed in white

Can you eat a biscuit

Can you smoke a pipe

Can you go a courting 

At 10 o'clock at night.

 

I never understood the relevance of this little children's song and before anyone corrects me and says it is angels dressed in white, you would be hard pushed to find angels round where I lived as a kid.

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It took me a while and exercised my brain more than usual , but finally there's only one.    

We don’t have village bonfires any more. Our parish council would go spare if there was a burnt patch on their precious Glebe Field. Years ago, when our kids and their friends were much younger, I and

Loppy since the incident with the firework Ben has been a little jumpy, asked vet about calming tablets and he said no. We both assume  he will not be near fireworks when he is older so i will take him in the house where he can see the bonfire and fireworks. If he gets upset take him to back of house sit and watch loud tv  till it's all over.  Gem

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Hope the weekend isn’t a nightmare for you Gem.   Our terrier Jack was absolutely fine for his first seven years, didn’t bat an eyelid at fireworks. Then 4 years ago on NYE we nipped to our local very late, just for the Auld Lang Syne bit.  We put Jack in his cage, which he was used to but we didn’t use very often, put him in the office, radio on, blinds closed, light on and went out happy that nothing would bother the little guy.  We were out for less than 2 hours and got home to a wrecked house.  He’d fought his way out of the cage by getting his little jaw around the vertical bars near the bolts in the door, bent them to such an extent that the bottom bolt was opened, he squeezed out of the cage, dragging it across the room in doing so. He lost a tooth at this point. He then dug up carpet in several doorways, cutting his paws on the gripper rods, then ran upstairs and dragged the duvet off our bed.  We couldn’t believe the devastation that greeted us.  Our dog had never shown any fear of noise and fireworks previously.  We’ve had 3 dogs before Jack and none of them had a problem with noise. 

We now feel restricted and need to think before we go out and leave him home alone. Living in a built-up area we have folks birthday celebration fireworks going off, Diwali, Halloween, Guy Fawkes Night, NYE and any other blinking excuse people have for scaring our pets. We bought a Thunder Jacket for him, that had no effect. He's had calming pills from the Vet and I’ve given him small doses of human calming medication. Nothing works on him.  Jack is 11 now, his fear of fireworks won’t get any better  I fear! 

 

 

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Wow!  Hard to believe what they can do when they get frantic.  I've used a crate at times over the years but never had a problem.

 

With our current pair we leave them loose but separated from each other by baby gates.  One in the kitchen one in the living room.  They seem to get on well but you never know what could happen when you're out.  They could knock those baby gates over if they wanted to but they've never bothered.  Perhaps they are just humoring us.  Never had any thunder or fireworks while we were out as far as I remember.  I've never tried one of those thunder jackets.  They might work for some.  I've always been a bit skeptical.

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Lizzie that must of been a terrible moment both for you and Jack, plus you feel guilty for leaving him. As Ben will be a guide dog when he grows we want him  to get used to all noise but fireworks are a different kettle of fish. We will just see how he reacts and if he's not happy hide in the dark and cuddle him, the downside is firework display is literally over the road in our local park.

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Gem try the way gun dogs are trained to cope with the noise of the shooting field, when it kicks off keep him in the house, kneel beside him giving lots of reassurance but most importantly hold his ear flaps down to dull the noise, it takes time but it works. The first reaction of my old gun dog when he heard the first firework was to run around on the back looking up into the sky for a bird to drop.

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Wish I thought that would work with our dog but it’s in him now to be terrified of any little noise, even a car door shutting out on the road gets him barking, I think he also associates dark with bangs.  We’ve got no chance, our dog-sitter does well out of the situation though, it’s certainly worth paying her to have Jack when we want to eat out rather than come home to a wrecked house.  

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NBL thank you for the advice and i will try it, as a puppy walker the more i can teach Ben the better i feel. We had no problem with our last puppy she loved watching the fireworks from inside the house, see what happens with him tomorrow.

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Lizzie I think your old lad comes under the heading 'old dog, new tricks' etc.

 

The thing to try and do is associate the noise with some thing pleasurable and confirm that noise does not mean danger. With gun dogs that means the 'retrieve' and their masters love, that is the only two treats they ever get. No playing tag and definitely no doggy chocs.

 

I would take Jack to the shooting club at Ravenshead, start at the road Jack on lead and walk down the path toward the range itself. Fist sign of hesitation drop on one knee give his head a quick ruffle whist holding his tabs closed and talking to him, this would take about 5mins, stand up walk closer and repeat. At the end of it all he got to retrieve his dummy the lucky lad, as he only got to do this twice a day so in his mind it was a big treat. A few go's at this and fear of loud bangs was a thing of the past.

 

I of course didn't think this up it's been standard training for years in one way or another. If you think of a line of guns all shooting and all the labs/spaniels at the master feet eagerly awaiting to be sent out it certainly works.

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NBL thank you for the advice i thought i would try it tonight but the noise from the park is deafining. Ben is sitting in corners and shaking we can"t calm him down.   My friend who lives in the middle of nowhere "literally" cottage on a farm has told us to bring Ben he can be with their dogs away from noise. Its 3/4 of an hour journey but w orth it so can calm down, sit with him in back of car cuddled in his blanket, what we do for our pets.

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32 Years tomorrow got married.............had to do it on 'Bonfire night'........in court in Peterborough next morning......shan't tell ya what for ....lol.....no Honeymoon...........all our family members said it would'nt last,....for once they were wrong............married on Shakespeare street (gold room ) had already been married in the 'red room'.a few years afore,.........no family members attended.......but me Mam and uncle John with Auntie Eileen attended our reception at the ''Masons'' in old Basford....great night ,made our own Cobs...........pianist Harry and the regulars made our night with a great sing song,not forgetting Edna (god rest her soul) the landlady...........

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3 hours ago, NewBasfordlad said:

Gem if you take him out to the farm again tomorrow and I certainly would if possible and it is only going off in the distance try taking him outside and doing it all again. You might just get a better reaction when the noise is further away.

We are staying for a few days as hubby has volunteered to help lay kitchen tiles. I have to  be very careful in what i teach Ben, my main role is to socialise and train him to be obedient but i will take and use your advice as he can't be scared of unexpected noise. I tried your method earlier today but as i went to the floor and put my hands on his ears he thought it was a game knocked me flat on my back and sat on me. Better luck next time.

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Whoops:rolleyes: I forgot to mention the first thing you teach a gundog it to sit to command and stay there until told different. Very easy to do with a young pup, but of course I have no idea what you really are allowed to do. A specialist trainer once told me "Sometimes it can be more about what you don't do than what you actually do" so I suppose you have to be careful so he is ready for his onward training.

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NBL a bloomin big ooops, tried again earlier today same result "well it would be" .Hubby asked who told you that said someone on NS comes from Basford, well if he's from Basford knows what he's on about. Ben was trained from the start to sit and stay and he is perfect other things a total nightmare,  taking him around farm to see his reaction to animals he has never seen so if he's startled this time i know what to do.

Hubby like yourself was a Basford lad born and bred till he took off "up north" thanks for help and information.

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Nottingham City Council deserve a big pat on the back for last nights firework display on the Forest Rec last night, they have certainly up the game with these fireworks, at one point I did think they where trying to blow up the sky? My ears where still ringing when we arrived back at The Loin Inn fantastic night & all for free! .. Oooooo had a pint in the Lion called Rat Hot Chili Pepper Red Chilli Beer .... Superb.   

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On ‎03‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 4:27 PM, NewBasfordlad said:

Gem try the way gun dogs are trained to cope with the noise of the shooting field, when it kicks off keep him in the house, kneel beside him giving lots of reassurance but most importantly hold his ear flaps down to dull the noise, it takes time but it works. T

Thanks NBL  for the last two days  I have been trying out your advice, we are still at the farm and the last two days there has been shooting in nearby woods.  Obviously he will need more training but he does not react by jumping and trying to run he still reacts but not in the same way.  We are bringing him  to the farm on a weekly basis until problem is cured.  I have also posted your advice on a website that we puppy walkers use  to exchange tips.   Gem

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Gem that is very good news.

 

Now I know you have shooters about we can go a little further. We were told to start about 200 yards away from the guns, carry on as suggested before and if the dog is happy you can reduce the distance by about 25 yards and start again, slow process but as I have said before it does work.

 

Good luck with all your efforts.

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