How to help dogs cope with Halloween noise
How to save your pooch some Halloween angst
Halloween is officially cancelled in our household. No stream of neighbourhood kids in luminous ghost costumes or this year’s de rigueur characters (Pokemon’s Pikachu or Ash Ketchum, anyone?) collecting candy door to door. No taking off for dress-up parties, and definitely no flirtation with fireworks.
We’re no killjoys, however. We leave sweets on the doorstep under a flashing witch proclaiming “free candy.”
It’s just that Oct. 31 is quite simply the most terrifying day of the year for our 14-year-old beagle Billy — even without the ghouls mooching around people’s yards.
Billy’s nerves, like those of many dogs in the city, have never been able to buffer the bangs of myriad fireworks in the hood. After many Halloweens spent with him hiding under a bed, licking his lips, shaking intensely and staring wildly before occasionally going into a seizure-like state for a few minutes, for the past few years we lapped up a hotdog tip: check out of the festivities and go straight to the airport.
Fireworks are banned in the vicinity of airports. According to Transport Canada’s Canadian Aviation Regulations, it’s illegal to “launch a model rocket or a rocket of a type used in a fireworks display into cloud or in a manner that is or is likely to be hazardous to aviation safety.”
Billy’s Halloween tradition now revolves around a visual, but silent, treat — all from the comfort of a fully soundproofed suite at the Fairmont Vancouver airport hotel. We watch a swath of fireworks splattering across the Vancouver skyline in the distance, while close up there’s more than a few Airbus A380s and Boeing 747s wheeling past on the tarmac below With its triple glazing, “only six per cent of sound” reaches the nervous nelly pooch.
Dr. Rebecca Ledger, an animal behaviour scientist and Vancouver Sun columnist, says Billy’s symptoms are a common reaction in dogs to loud noises, and they can be far worse.
“I’ve had (animal) patients who have jumped out of third-storey windows, bolted through traffic and gone missing for days, and who have developed PTSD as a result of a noisy event,” she says.
Ledger says some dogs have a genetic predisposition to noise phobia, while others are “bombproof.” Triggers are typically noises that are loud and sudden, such as a newspaper stand slamming shut or a fire alarm. Ledger suggests calling your vet ahead of an obvious date such as Halloween to see if a panic attack could be avoidable using a sedative.
“If this isn’t possible, then let your dog hide to get away from the noise as best he can,” she says. “Some dogs are happier in the bathroom, in the basement, in a closet, or under the bed where the noise is deadened. You can provide a den using a cardboard box covered with blankets too.”
Other tips include keeping windows and curtains shut, and playing music to mask the noise (although we tried cranking up the radio or television, but it wasn’t easy to synchronize it perfectly
with the erratically timed firework displays). Owners can also reach for the dog version of earplugs.
“I love the Happy Hoodie, which is a soft hood that covers the dog’s ears and keeps the noise out,” Ledger says.
Most owners worry that being attentive or cuddling the dog when it’s scared will reinforce the firework fear, Ledger says.
“If consoling your dog in the moment helps, then do it. But, then if you really want to work on teaching your dog not to be afraid, then speak to a veterinary behaviourist about how to successfully desensitize the dog way ahead of time before the next event.”
If you’re de-stressing your pooch (and yourself ) at the airport, there’s even a dog-friendly park. A winding, undulating strip with firs, pathway and even a tiny waterfall and pond, Chester Johnson Park is punctuated by the historic totems that most people pass at the airport. There’s also McDonald Beach, an off-leash area a few minutes’ drive away on Sea Island — and both supply dog relief bags, to boot.
Having booked almost a year in advance at a lower rate, Billy the spoiled pooch is still getting his 4-diamond experience again this fall. Even if we have a feeling his hearing has completely gone due to old age anyway.