OK so Angel has been going to the dunes since she was 4-6 weeks old and could give a crap less about gunshots, fireworks, loud noises, buggies, quads etc

We got Turbo when he was 5 months old, and he had led a very sheltered life prior to us getting him. We had taken him to the dunes and he was OK. We took him shooting once and it took all of Doug's strength to hold onto him in a harness when we started shooting before he got him in the truck, meanwhile Angel is looking at him like is your problem?

Poor Bubba, fireworks going off tonight and he is stuck to me like glue. I just gave him a 25mg benedryl to help him relax a little. Even our foster pup doesn't care about the fireworks. I feel so bad for my big Turbolicious he is such a great guy, and it can't be fun for him to be so anxious. Any thoughts or ideas on how to get him over this?

lol put him in the garage and close the door untill its safe to come out

I would be scared what our garage (what was left of it) would look like. This dog feels no pain. Sliced his paw pad in half down to the bone once and never heard a whimper from him

should have him hang out with Bell. a few shots of whiskey, and 10 to 12 beers then im sure he would care less about whats going on.

its called shell shock and its either really easy to break or the dog is toast, we use to train hunting dogs and shell shocked puppies would flip out, next time you are shooting, have him look at you and pet him, then have another person pull a round off, try to keep his attention on you and give positive reinforcement through out the whole thing and DO NOT react to the shots, just love him or her, it ussually took about 10 rounds before they start toning out the shots and listening to you.

Thanks, but we tried that already. No dice. He and his big ol self spent the night laying on my lap being reassured but he heart going 900 mph. Poor Boo Boo! Guess he just gets a benedryl to help him relax a little.

We have a 90lb Male Black Lab that flips out at fireworks, gunshots and lightning/Thunder. He will pull the chainlink apart with his mouth, He will ram wooden fences and rip them apart with his paws, I covered the fence gates with Sheetmetal and he digs his claws and RIPS the sheetmetal till he can get his mouth on it and tears it apart. This Winter he finally broke a house window and once he got a corner broken out he chewed out the rest of the glass.

When he is normal, he is docile as can be, even when he freaks out he isnt aggressive to humans, he just wants out of the backyard, then he tries to knock down the front door to get inside and if you let him inside he want back out to the backyard.

We have tried sitting with him during the noise and petting, we tried having his own little mini fireworks show just for him to get used to it, We tried putting him in a cage but he just rolls it over.

We finally get him doggy sleeping pills and drug him to almost the point of Coma and put a harness on him and tie him to a patio post incase he wakes up.

If a 90lb dog has that much power a 500lb bear must be insane.

LA--That is how Turbo is, great, goofy and happy dog 99% of the time. He is not destructive but gets scared and shakes like a leaf, MUST be touching me or Doug when they go off and just frightened. Like I said our other dog and our 10 week old foster pup were still in the backyard chewing bones and could care less about the noise. Guess he will just get another 25mg benedryl around 8 PM before it gets dark. He is about 80 pounds, and I can give him another if he is still terrified.

We did this with our lab from the day we got him home at 5 weeks.

These were suggestions from a person who trains gun dogs.

Make loud noises frequently.

We would bang pots together numerous times throughout the day. The noise must come as a surprise and also anticipated. So , do this in front of the dog and from the other room. This way the dog becomes comfortable with noise they see coming (like a firework or a gun) and also the unexpected. At first we rewarded the behavior with heavy treats and slowly weened him off. We would also hold and pet him during this process.

Once the dog starts to get comfortable with these noises start lighting fireworks off outside with the dog inside and being petted. Again reinforce with treats. We would do one fire cracker every few hours. Dog inside and sometimes outside. Sometimes he would see us lighting them and others came as a surprise from the other side of the garage.

The positive reinforcement and rewards are key.

Now, when the dog sees the paintball gun, he his stoked. Oh yeah, we used a paintball gun to simulate the real thing. He also loves fireworks. Now we try and get him to sit instead of retrieving them.

We started on him from day one it was just a normal sound to him after a week or two. We continue to like fireworks still (4.5 yrs later) year round. At least once every two weeks he is exposed to the paintball gun or a single firecracker. The paintball gun can be easily used in a garage or even a room with rubber balls being shot into a blanket (with a mask on of course and under adult supervision).

Hope this helps you out. Good luck.




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Check this to.

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