Keeping Your Pet Calm and Happy on New Years Eve

New Year’s Eve is right around the corner! And the sounds of celebration – the horns, fireworks, continuous doorbells announcing guests – are great fun for people, but not always for our dogs. In fact, 46% of dog owners reported their dog showed signs of stress during the holidays; that stress could be due to noise aversion.

Here are some tips to help keep you pet calm and happy:

1. Try to exercise your pet earlier in the day of the event.
2. Keep your pet inside during the fireworks show.
3. Provide a safe place inside for your pet to retreat. When scared of sounds pets can not orient very well. If your pet is happy in a crate, that is a great option.
4. Covering the crate can also be helpful. Removing visual stimulation can calm most pets.
5. Make sure all your pets are wearing ID on a properly fitting collar or harness, in case they escape. Get them microchipped, if they aren’t already.
6. Give your pet something fun to do – like a frozen treat.
7. Sound Therapy is most effective when you first play music before the fireworks start, at a time the dog is already feeling peaceful and relaxed. He will begin to associate the music with being calm and content.

Tactile: You can hold your companion if they will safely allow you.

Medications: For more serious sound phobias, please call us and speak with a doctor to see if there may be a medication that can help relieve your pet’s fear.

We offer a new medication called SILEO at some of our hospitals. SILEO helps to alleviate signs of noise aversion by:

• Calming without sedating, so that the dog remains fully functional to interact normally with the family
• Reducing the dog’s suffering and distress as well as the pet owner’s stress, helping to preserve the human-animal bond.

SILEO is easy for pet owners to administer at home, when needed, during noise events and works on its own without behavior modification or other treatments.

Learn more about SILEO »