Fireworks, Thunder and things that go Bang!
It's that time of year again. July 4th is days away and summer storms are kicking in, here in the NE US. I have an 18 year old cat who is terrified of both. I find myself with a young dog who is showing some signs of noise worry, so knowing this is not one of those things that just passes-we are working on it. In the past I have had an older dog start to show storm/fireworks worry and found a few things that helped. There is a thought that there is a genetic predisposition to sound sensitivity, yet this pup has parents, siblings, 1/2 siblings, etc who show no such worry. Hers was likely a traumatic event, at a key developmental period and while hitting another age of maturing, is at an insecure time right now in general. We can't be with them all the time, even if we wish we could. I am sure it does follow genetics in some cases, but then have also seen sound worry dogs produce pups with no such worry...so that is interesting too! Some dogs as they get older will start to