The week after the fireworks

Fireworks in the Houston suburbs do not happen on one night. They start on the second of July, peak on the fourth, and run through the weekend, with a few leftover boxes going off for a week after. Most of the advice you will read is about the night itself. This post is about the week after, which is when a dog that panicked decides whether the fear is a memory or a habit.

What the dog is doing now

• Refusing to go into the yard after dark, or bolting back to the door after a few seconds.
• Pacing at dusk and checking windows, because the noise came at dusk.
• Crate refusal, if the crate was where it was during the fireworks and nobody made it feel like a den.
• Shadowing one person from room to room and panting when they leave.
• Startling at the garage door, a dropped pan or a truck on the street.

Any of these in the second week of July is normal. Any of them in August is a pattern, and patterns are what our trainers spend the most time undoing.

Rebuild the yard first

Go into the yard with the dog on a leash at dusk, walk one lap, and come back in before it gets worried. The next night, two laps. Then five minutes of place on the patio, then a game of recall on a long line across the grass while the light fades. The dog needs to relearn that the yard at dusk is boring, and it learns that by being there and having nothing happen, a little longer every night, with you holding the other end of the leash.

Then the crate, then the walk

If the crate became the scary place, feed every meal in it for the week, door open, and give the dog a stuffed toy in it every afternoon with the door closed for ten minutes while the house is calm. The crate should be the safest room in the house by August, because September is hurricane peak and the crate is how a dog evacuates. The walk stays structured and stays on the morning schedule; a dog that is scanning and stiff on the evening walk gets a shorter one, at the same time, every day, until it is walking normally again.

Do not skip the walk because the dog is nervous. A dog that stays home for a week learns that home is the only safe place, and that is a bigger problem than the fireworks were.

When it is more than a bad week

Noise sensitivity that turns into general anxiety, a dog that will not be left alone, or one that has started guarding a person or a room needs more than a routine. Anxiety is one of our trainers' specialties, and Platinum at $3,750 for three weeks is built for it: structure, place, the crate as a den, controlled exposure in real environments, and unlimited private lessons afterward so the plan survives New Year's Eve, which is the next test. A dog that starts in July is home and settled well before the year ends.

Written by

Best Dog University Team

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