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The first rockets have gone up, the big nights are close, and you have read that playing firework sounds to your dog can help. So should you start tonight? Probably not. With fireworks only days away, Sounds Scary, the sound programme Dogs Trust gives away free, says to get your dog through them first and start the training once they are over1.
You have plenty of company. In a 2025 poll reported by the RSPCA, almost two thirds of dog owners said fireworks had negatively affected their dog2. The fear is not fixed, though. In an international online survey of 1,225 dogs, fearful dogs whose owners had tried training had typically improved a little in recent years, while the rest had typically stayed the same3. Here is a plan for both: the big nights now, and the quiet weeks after.
First, check the calendar
Sound training moves in tiny steps, and tiny steps take time: several months, PDSA says4. Rushing is a risk in itself: even a puppy, at the age when new things frighten least, could develop a fear if introduced to firework noises too quickly4.
| Time before fireworks | What to focus on |
|---|---|
| A few days | Getting through the nights. Start sound training once they are over1 |
| A couple of weeks | Getting ready comes first. Training can start but will not finish in time1 |
| Several months | The full sound training plan below, at your dog's pace4 |
| Whenever fear shows | Talking to your vet as soon as possible5 |
Set up a den now
Whatever the date, start with a den. Choose somewhere your dog already hides, ideally a room with small windows or in the middle of the house, where outside noise is quietest, and pile in bedding and old clothes to burrow into1. In the run-up, take your dog there with a chew two or three times a day, so it already means good things1.
Leave the den open at all times, even when you are out2. Never shut your dog in or pull them out, keep water close by, and do not worry if they hide somewhere else4.
What to do on the night
Plan the day around nightfall. Walk while it is still light and get home well before dark4, feeding a little earlier so there is time to eat and go to the toilet first6. Close the curtains and turn the lights on to hide the flashes, put on music or the TV to soften the bangs, and check that doors, windows and fences are secure and your dog's microchip details are up to date5.
Then stay with your dog, and let them choose how to cope. If they want to hide, let them. If they come to you for reassurance, calmly comfort them: Dogs Trust says research shows that ignoring them won't help5. A frightened dog may be more irritable than usual, so keep an eye on them around other pets4.
If your dog will still eat, put the bangs to work: follow each one with a treat or a few seconds of play. A 2023 review of the evidence recommends it, and in the same international survey, feeding and playing during fireworks was the only one of four management approaches that went with fears improving7.
It will not reward the fear. Fear is an emotion, not a learned trick, and rewards do not make an emotion more negative. A dog who refuses even favourite food is very stressed, though, and that is worth raising with your vet7.
On the night
Do
The sound training plan
For the long game, the RSPCA recommends Sounds Scary2. Developed by veterinary behaviour experts Jon Bowen and Sarah Heath, it is free through Dogs Trust, with four tracks of firework sounds and a guide1. It rests on two ideas: play the sounds too quietly to frighten your dog and raise them slowly, so they learn the noise is harmless, then make the sounds predict food or play7.
Set up while someone takes your dog for a walk, because testing the sounds may frighten them. Put the speakers far apart, either side of a window or outside door, so the noise seems to come from outdoors, and mark the volume setting so you can find it again. Work in a room where your dog relaxes, with the door open so they can leave, starting with the sounds they fear least1.
The Sounds Scary stages
- Find the starting volumeFrom silence, turn it up until your dog's ears twitch and they settle again. A lifted head means too loud1
- Little and oftenFive to ten minutes, three or four times a day, when your dog is calm but not asleep1
- Turn it up a notchOnly once there is no reaction at all, and only as far as the next ear twitch1
- Pair the sounds with dinnerBack at the starting volume, press play and put the bowl down or start a game; stop the sounds when it ends. Once your dog looks forward to the sounds, raise the volume in the same small steps1
- Add single bangsBack to the starting volume for one-off sounds out of the blue, each greeted by a cheerful you and a treat or a quick game. Turn it up only while your dog stays happy1
- Change roomsRepeat the pairing in two other places, so the lesson holds anywhere1
- Keep it goingGreet every real bang the same cheerful way, and replay the tracks now and then, especially before the next season1, 7
Go slowly. The first stage alone takes several weeks of daily sessions1, and your dog may find a sound too loud before you can even hear it1. PDSA's version is stricter than the guide's: it treats even an ear twitch as a reaction, along with looking at the speaker, licking lips, yawning repeatedly, barking or running away, and says to stop and try again the next day at a lower volume4. If in doubt, stay quieter.
Parts of the guide have aged. Its text is dated 2015, and it says more than once not to soothe or reassure a frightened dog1, whereas Dogs Trust and PDSA now advise calmly comforting a dog that comes to you5, 4. Use the guide for the training steps, and the advice above for the nights themselves.
What the evidence says about sound training
The international survey also asked owners what had helped, and the technique rated most successful needed no recordings at all: a treat or a game whenever a real bang happened3, 7.
What owners said helped
That is why the plan ends with real bangs. Recordings cannot reproduce the full sound of a firework or its flashes, and some dogs that fear real fireworks do not react to recordings at all7. Teaching your dog to settle on cue is worth adding too, as owners rated it almost as highly7.
Sticking with recordings is the hard part. In a 2007 study, 54 owners were given one of two self-help firework-sound CD programmes to use for eight weeks, alongside a dog-appeasing pheromone product. Those who answered the follow-up calls reported their dogs coping significantly better with the November and January fireworks that followed, but only 38 of the 54 finished the eight weeks, fewer still took both calls, and videos of the dogs hearing a new recording showed no change8.
Training before any fear shows looks especially effective. In the international survey, owners of dogs trained against firework fear as puppies typically strongly disagreed that fireworks badly affected their dog's welfare, owners of dogs trained as adults, before any fear showed, tended to disagree, and owners of dogs given no such training tended to agree3. The gap between the puppies and the adults was not statistically significant, and it was a survey of owners' reports3, so it shows a strong link, not proof.
When to call your vet or a behaviourist
The Sounds Scary guide asks three questions. Does your dog show intense fear even at distant or quiet fireworks? Do they take several hours to recover, perhaps not being right until the next day? Do they react fearfully to a wide range of noises? Three yeses suggest a severe problem that needs more specialist help, so talk to your vet, as you should if your dog is frightened even at the lowest volume, once you have tried one speaker off, the bass down or a cushion over the speaker1.
Fear that appears suddenly, especially in an older dog, deserves a check-up, because pain or illness can be part of it7, 4. Medication can help some dogs, but the right one takes time to find and many must be given before the fireworks start, so ask early4, 5. Never give your dog a medicine your vet has not prescribed4. Your vet can also refer you to a clinical animal behaviourist for a plan tailored to your dog2, 5, and Dogs Trust's behaviour team gives free advice by phone5.
However this season goes, the quiet weeks after it are your best chance. A few short sessions a day at a whisper of a volume, and next year's first rocket may find your dog looking at you for a treat instead of a hiding place.
Sources and further reading8 sources
The small numbers in the article link to the source behind each fact. Sources open on their own websites.
- Sounds Scary: therapy for your dog's fear of fireworks
- Keeping dogs, cats and other small pets safe during fireworks
- Not a one-way road—Severity, progression and prevention of firework fears in dogs
- Dogs and Fireworks
- Supporting your dog during fireworks
- Fireworks are coming, prepare ahead
- Therapy and Prevention of Noise Fears in Dogs—A Review of the Current Evidence for Practitioners
- A prospective study of two self-help CD based desensitization and counter-conditioning programmes with the use of Dog Appeasing Pheromone…