New Year's Eve fireworks: the calm plan starts now.

Fireworks in the Houston suburbs do not wait for midnight on December 31. They start the week of Christmas and run every night until New Year's Day, and a noise-sensitive dog has a bad week rather than a bad hour. The plan has to start now.

Three weeks out

• Build crate calm: the crate in the quietest interior room, a covered top, a chew that takes an hour
• Play recorded fireworks at low volume during meals, and raise it a notch a day
• Practice place with a fan or white noise running
• Check the tag and the microchip record; escapes peak on the 31st

On the night

Walk before dusk, feed early, and settle the dog in the crate with the noise on before the first bang. Stay calm and ordinary; a dog reads panic. Do not take the dog to a party or a display, and do not leave it in a yard. A dog that hides during storms usually hides during fireworks too, and the same anxiety work applies to both.

The AVMA's fireworks guidance covers the medical side. If your dog's fear is severe, the thunderstorm and fireworks pages explain the longer program, and January is a good month to start it.

The escape problem

Harris County Pets and BARC see a spike in stray intakes on January 1 for one reason: fences and doors that hold every other night of the year fail when a dog is in a panic. A dog that has never jumped a fence will clear it, a dog that has never bolted will go through a door left open for a guest, and a dog loose at midnight on a Houston road is in real danger. Walk the fence line in daylight, check the gate latches, and keep the dog on a leash if it goes outside after dark on the 31st, even in your own yard.

• Tag with a current phone number, and the microchip record updated online
• A recent photo on your phone
• The dog indoors from dusk on December 31 through the morning of January 1
• Guests told to close the door behind them, and a leash by the door in case

What the crate work looks like

The dog eats dinner in the crate every night from now on, door open, then door closed for the length of a chew. Add a fan, then a recording of fireworks at a volume the dog ignores, then a notch louder each day. By the 31st the crate with noise is a normal evening. A dog that arrives at that night without the build behind it cannot be talked into calm at midnight, and the families who try end up holding a shaking dog until two in the morning. Three weeks of ten-minute sessions is the alternative, and it costs nothing.

Written by

Best Dog University Team

Board and train trainers in Cypress, Houston. 16+ years, 900+ dogs. About our team