People are often worried about how their pets might react to the arrival of firework season. While some dogs may not be affected by fireworks, others are more sensitive to the constant bangs or flashes. My Labrador was afraid of fireworks. He refused to go outside at nightfall during winter. I will now share how we helped him. In the hopes that you can train your dog to not be afraid of fireworks in the future, and sometimes even enjoy it. The key to this training is noise association. This will require a CD that contains firework sounds and other frightening sounds. vuurwerkgeluiden They are easily available online at many shops like e-bay. There are many CDs to choose from. You can search by names like "Sounds Scary", Fear of Fireworks," or "CLIX Sounds" to find the right CD. I used "Sounds Scary", a CD that I found on the Internet, and connected it to a DAP diffuser in my training space.
It takes patience but this works. The first step is to adjust the volume level on your CD player so it is barely audible. Dogs have more sensitive ears, so they can still hear the CD. The curtains can be drawn so that the room becomes darker, but not too much. Your DAP is on and your CD playing. Play with your dog and any of its favorite dog toys. Always be positive and enthusiastic. Reward your pet for playing back by giving it a treat. Each session should last approximately 30 minutes.
Day two, turn up the volume of your CD player and go through the same play process. If you begin to sense fear, lower the volume and continue playing more games. Play with Kong Paste or soft Cheese by filling a Kong toy. This will provide a strong positive link between the firework sounds, and being rewarded. This will help you to see where we're going. Keep increasing the volume of your noises, one notch at a time, until you're at half the level you can bear. Keep the noise level at the same level, but have the DAP turned off. Hopefully, you won't notice any differences in the behavior.
It's time to make it a bit noisier. For your next session, you might increase the maximum noise level by about 70%. Keep playing with your pet and rewarding them. You will then be done with your training after approximately a week. It is possible that your dog has learned to associate loud noises and rewards with having fun. hond bang voor vuurwerk
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