Sorry to hear about your pups getting stressed out
Never really had a dog bugged or stressed by fireworks, gunfire or thunderstorms
or my loud cars, & we do get some pretty good thunderstorms up here
the bad ones that sit over the area for a time...
They're loud as hell & crack like a whip, will shake the house & rattle the windows...
Then my current Lab, Elvis' will come over & sit by me or my dad
his ears are going crazy, alert & he's looking at us or looking around,
not really acting stressed, more curious, like wtf is that...
He slept thru the firecrackers & BS on last NY Eve...
I have notice them when they become elderly, getting more sensitive to loud noises
if they are by me, I pet them & tell them it's OK
seems to calm them down
Elvis;
He gets more stressed (more hyper) by the coyotes, howling out in the back 40
especially right after they make a kill, he'll sit on the back deck,
keeps looking back at me (or used to, he pretty much ignores them now)
Seems he wants to go out & join them chase them (I won't let him),
I tell him those are bad dogs, stay away for them
or he'll howl sometimes too...
He really goes off if he hears a firetruck sirens, starts howling
he used to do it with the radio on & when he heard a harmonica, as a pup
not stressed but excited, doesn't do it anymore (No Bob Dylan Music here
)
then he does anything with gunshots, firecrackers or thunder...
A lot of times my dogs are around me working with loud tools
or out in or around the garage, me making noise, leaf blower
hammering on or pounding on something or the compressor running etc.
Elvis is 'sort of scared' by the Kirby vacuum cleaner too, I mess with him too
he's fine when it shuts off, barks at it when it's on
or goes & lays in his kennel until I'm done...
He doesn't like the water hose either, I think he associates it with 'a bath'
only water dog I've owned that doesn't like a bath,
he just tolerates it when he's ordered to...
pick up a gun/any gun & he's ready
they need to be conditioned for that stuff
'some trainers' will think it's rewarding bad behavior
(by the trainer)
to coddle them when nervous, they will always expect it then
come to you when scared, you'll protect them coddle them
not necessarily by me,
that's called negative conditioning
Like all mine;
when he was a wee lil' dude, I'll usually let them see it & smell it
some I'll hold them too
he was conditioned for gunshots...
A good bird-dog can't be shy of gunshots, or loud noises...
I'll do some banging pots or on the sides of garbage cans etc.
get them used to, when they are young, seeing you do it & hearing it,
various noises...
They associate it with you that way, know it's OK...
Most mine, I start out before hunting, seeing what they can tolerate 1st
with a .22 shorts or with a .410 and graduate to the
20 ga. then the 12 ga. or pistol & rifle...
My sister's Belgian Malinois Koni
(
he flunked/washed out of 2 years of military training, locked in a damn pen/cage
all the damn time 16+ hrs a day, is why she has him, he's a rescue, like her 3rd one)
he gets all stressed out by loud stuff, shakes like crazy...
I think they beat him, for it, & I think his trainer was a woman too...
He likes men way better & other than my sister,
he's extremely cautious of women...
She tried one of the 'thunder-shirts' compression therapy,
she said;
"it didn't work, he's used to having a vest on too",
She's a decent dog trainer, she knows dogs pretty well...
The weird thing is, when we go shooting
he's fine,
he's just a big lap dog, that looks mean, just scared of lightning & thunder
or sudden loud noises...
Don't your pups sing-a-along?
