How To Calm Your Dog During Fireworks

Dogs And Fireworks Just Don't Get Along
Dora's Story
Signs And Symptoms Of Anxiety Caused By Fireworks
Natural Methods For Calming Your Dog
How CBD Helps Your Pet With Fireworks
CBD For Dogs
Innovet Pet'd Top Products
Administering CBD For Help With Fireworks
Fireworks And Dogs: One Last Thought

The Fourth of July is slowly approaching, and as we get closer to Independence Day, it's important to think about our pets. One of the most common ways of celebrating Independence Day is with firework displays. A fireworks display comes with bright flashes and other loud noises.

Today, we are going to talk about the way most dogs, though not all dogs, hear fireworks and pets run away in fear. Similar to storm phobia, loud booms and other loud noises can make our dogs afraid of their surroundings. That's no fun for you or your canine companion, but it's hard for a dog that's afraid to stay calm.

There are many things that pet parents need to know about fireworks season, July fireworks, fireworks in general, white noise, noise phobias, how to keep your dog calm, and other tips for handling your pet's anxiety when fireworks start.

You know that your dog is safe, but your dog doesn't understand that, so it's imperative that you take steps to manage your dog's stress. Pet parents can hire a professional dog trainer or practice going for a long walk before the fireworks start. However, these are not always the most ideal ways to help dogs that are scared of fireworks. But thankfully, many pet parents are finding CBD oil to be a big help for stress caused by fireworks, thunderstorms, and other loud noises.

Let's take a close look at other tips to help you create a safe space for your pup on July 4th!

Dogs and Fireworks Just Don't Get Along

Fireworks can cause your dogs a lot of stress, especially for a pup that is already scared of fireworks. More and more dogs experience adverse dog behavior in response to fireworks in July, so know that other dog owners are trying to figure out how to remain calm and keep your dog calm, too.

Loud booms can make your dog even more afraid of fireworks because the white noise will upset your dog's ear. This can also result in some dangerous situations if your dog's anxiety causes your pet to take off as they try to get away from the loud booms in search of a quiet space. It makes sense that your pup will try to find a safe space because fireworks cause them to feel afraid and scared.

It's important to know about the way the Fourth of July and its many fireworks can create noise that doesn't feel safe for dogs. While it's never fun to learn about things that cause fear in our pets, these tips can help you learn how to minimize the noise, lower your pet's fear, and keep your dog from trying to escape the noises.

How Fireworks Scare Our Pets

Imagine you’re sitting at home, all comfortable and snuggled up on the couch, when your neighbor randomly sets off a barrage of fireworks. That alone can make many of us jump up in fright, but that’s only the start of what your dog and cat hear when they hear fireworks.

Now, imagine that it’s not just one neighbor setting off fireworks, but their next-door neighbor too, whose two next-door neighbors are all also setting off fireworks. Four houses shooting off fireworks randomly vs. just one, and that’s what it’s like for our dogs and cats, who can hear four times further away than we can.

But for our courageous pets, it doesn’t stop there. Not only can they hear fireworks four times further away than you, but they can also hear way more frequencies from them, all of them incredibly high pitched and painful to the ear too. Where our hearing cuts off around 23,000hz, our dogs can hear pitches up to 45,000hz. We can hear ever-so-slightly lower pitches, though!

Unfortunately, for our cats, they beat both us and dogs in both departments, hearing frequencies up to 64,000hz and as low as 45hz vs. 64hz (humans) and 67hz (dogs).

Dogs with Fireworks Anxiety

Dora’s Story

One of the many ways to combat the anxious behavior your pet might feel as a result of fireworks on the Fourth of July is anxiety medication. Often considered a mild sedative, medications prescribed for anxious dogs are designed to keep your dog calm are often a common answer prescribed by vets for this issue. However, it's worth considering whether or not there might be some better options out there.

If you haven't heard of Dora, it's a story worth looking into. The tale involves a dog named Dora being frightened by the sounds of fireworks on the Fourth of July, and seeking to get away from the noise, Dora tried to escape and run away from the noise. Not only did she escape and hide from her owners, but Dora managed to escape from a fenced-in area and hide from her dog owners.

In order to reduce the likelihood of this happening to your pet, you must work on the fireworks fear that your dog feels. The best option would be to keep your dog away from fireworks and take them to places where they cannot hear the loud sounds, but this isn't often possible.

But have no fear. There are ways to protect your animals from the noise and sound of loud fireworks. The sounds of fireworks can be scary, but thankfully for Dora, her microchip made it possible for her people to find her after she was brought to a shelter. From there, the shelter contacted Dora's family, allowing them to have a happy reunion.

While Dora's story had a happy ending, many more pets stay missing or are injured as a result of these situations. Alongside thunderstorms, New Year's Eve and the Fourth of July are prime times for your pets to potentially get lost. It's not always clear why dogs are afraid of fireworks, but the results often speak for themselves. On top of giving your pets something for the firework anxiety, it's highly important that you get your pets microchipped if they aren't already.

Signs and Symptoms of Anxiety Caused By Fireworks

When you know what your dog’s normal behavior looks like, along with the traditional symptoms of nervousness, it’s often pretty easy to tell when your dog is experiencing anxiety due to fireworks, loud noises, etc.

The main symptoms of anxiety induced by fireworks include:

Shaking
Hyperactivity / Restlessness
Pacing
Hiding
Attention-seeking
Tuck tail and pinned ears

Often the biggest thing pet owners struggle with when it comes to their pet’s anxiety isn’t knowing whether they are experiencing it. Instead, it’s knowing how to care for it and what kind of care is warranted.

This is especially the case with fireworks! Many pet owners don’t feel it reasonable to put their pups and kittens on full-fledged anxiety medication for something that only happens for a short period of time out of the year. Thanks to hemp CBD, pet owners now have the ability to help their pet’s anxiety without worrying about the side effects that can come from sedative anxiety medications.

Natural Methods For Calming Your Dog

When you just want to calm your dog down, it's not always the best idea to resort to sedatives or other big guns with harsh side effects. There are natural substances you can use to help with calming your pooch down in a gentle way, avoiding the vast majority of those side effects.

CBD For Easing Dog Anxiety

Among numerous other benefits and uses, CBD is a fantastic option for helping to put dog anxiety to bed. Prescription medications can come with so many nasty side effects, but this helpful and natural product can ease their stress without those adverse effects.

CBD works amazingly well when paired with other tactics, like making sure your dog is crate trained or you have a pressure wrap for your pet. Always consult your dog's vet before you give CBD to your crate-trained pet. Your vet can provide you with thorough explanations of CBD treats, oils, and other products to help with the signs and symptoms of noise fears. Make sure you let your vet know that your dog has a fear of sounds so that the veterinarian sees the whole picture.

How CBD Helps Your Pet With Fireworks

Many of us are familiar with how much CBD can help with all the stress and anxiety we deal with day in and out. Research has been very favorable to CBD as a viable treatment for anxiety, especially when prescription drugs want to be avoided.

Like us, our dogs and cats have an endocannabinoid system (ECS) that benefits from the compounds in hemp CBD products. In fact, in full spectrum CBD products (the most popular form) there are over 100 different compounds that boost and support the ECS.

By attaching to ECS receptors in the nervous system, the compounds in CBD help restore and balance the anxiety-mediating regulatory system. This helps the nervous system better interpret anxiety-inducing signals like fireworks, helping it stay calm by realizing they are harmless, which helps our dogs stay calm.

Unlike its cousin marijuana, hemp doesn’t contain large quantities of the compound THC, which creates an intoxicating high when consumed in amounts found in marijuana plants. This makes CBD products described from hemp safe for pets like our dogs and cats.

CBD For Dogs

Knowledge about CBD for humans is growing immensely, assisting with epilepsy, cancer, and anxiety. In more recent learning, it has also been discovered to be useful in treating dogs, cats, and others! Because of its natural, holistic nature, it can be a great way to ease nervous behavior as well as other issues without all the side effects. All you have to do is find the right products!

Choosing The Best And Safest CBD

Choosing the best CBD for your pet can be downright anxiety-inducing in, in-of-itself, but we are here to make it easy. Before you give CBD to your pet, make sure it includes all the following.

CBD Checklist

Certificate of Analysis (COA) / 3rd Party Lab Tested
USDA Organic
100% Full Spectrum
All Natural Ingredients
Zero Chemical or Pesticide Residue
100% Non-GMO, No Additives or Preservatives

Another great thing to look for in a CBD product is that it uses a hemp carrier oil vs. an MCT oil. And when you don’t want to spend hours and hours looking for all of that you can simply check Innovet Pet CBD.

Innovet Pet’s Top Products

Innovet has some great pet CBD products to offer, including oils and treats.

Natural CBD products can help with a lot of issues, such as:

Chronic pain
Symptoms of Autoimmune Disease, Cardiovascular Disease, Neurodegenerative Disease, and Inflammatory Bowel Disease
The spreading and growth of cancerous cells
Immune system weakness
Epilepsy and seizures
Arthritis symptoms
The production of energy by cancer cells
Tumor growth

Check out these fantastic options that your pet will love and get a lot of benefits from!

CBD Oil

Innovet's PurCBD hemp oil is a fantastic tool for assisting your pet with pain, anxiety, and a multitude of other situations. It can help with minimizing health problems as well as protecting against future issues. In addition to that, it's natural and helps to avoid issues with side effects.

You also won't need to worry about any psychoactive effects, as this oil, as well as the CBD treats, come from safe hemp plants, providing all the benefits with no adverse effects and no “high”. Thanks to the convenient container, it's very easy to keep control of every drop.

CBD Treats

If you want to just be able to provide the benefits to your dog in a pleasant treat, then there are options for that as well! Innovet's Hemp Dog Treats offer a variety of dosage guides for dogs of different sizes on each package. Furthermore, there are some great flavors, like steak and cheese, maple bacon and berries, and salmon and sweet potato.

For those who have older dogs or just want something that might be easier on their teeth, the apple and turkey Hemp Soft Chews are also a great way to go!

Administering CBD For Help With Fireworks

When you’ve never given your dog CBD before, the best form to try is the classic full spectrum oil form like PurCBD+. With a handy dropper, not only is this form incredibly easy to give (drop it in their food or directly on the tongue), it is effortlessly easy to try out different dosages to find what works best for your dog. To start, you can refer to the back of the label, where you’ll find a good starting dosage based on your dog’s body weight.

When administering CBD oil, plan to give your dog CBD about 30 minutes before they start. For other forms like CBD treats that need extra digestion time, you’ll want to aim for about 60 minutes before.

Fireworks And Dogs: One Last Thought

While we all want to be able to calm our furry friends when they're feeling frightened, thunder and fireworks are a recipe for suffering. Unlike other humans, they can't understand us when we tell them that they're safe or that the scary noises will pass. However, we can help them to relax in a gentle, natural way.

It's wise to keep an eye on your dog during the noisier holidays and make sure they're doing okay. Handing them a calming CBD treat, giving them some affection, and making sure they are safe and sound is a great way to go. Getting them microchipped can't hurt either!