How to prevent Halloween and Bonfire Night dog anxiety

Although Halloween and Bonfire Night are festive times for us humans, these noisy nights and fireworks can be really stressful for your pets and trigger dog anxiety. If your dog (or cat) tends to get easily nervous, we're sharing our top tips to reduce pet anxiety around this time of the year.

5 tips for Halloween and Bonfire Night dog anxiety

Walk your dog early

If you can we recommend walking your dog before 5pm. This way, you'll be home when it gets dark, streets get crowded and fireworks start.  

Protect them from the outside noise

Keeping the TV or radio on will help your dog stay calm as they'll hear some familiar noises on that will partially cover what's coming from outside.
Another simple yet efficient tip is to close the windows. You can also create some sort of den in which they can hide if they feel stressed out.

Try special treats

Pooch & Mutt have created Calm & Relax mini dog treats to help your pooch keep calm during stressful situations. These bone-shaped treats contain natural ingredients, are low-calorie and hand-baked. The secrets? Relaxing Chamomile and L-tryptophan which helps produce serotonin, the "feel good" neurotransmitter.

Plan some play time

Make sure to stay around your pooch, get their favourite toy and play with them. You can also treat them to a brand new dog toy so that they'll focus their attention on the new addition to their dog collection.

Have these in your cupboard

Scullap&Valerian Tablets from Dorwest are well-known for their ability to relax dogs (and cats) and calm noise fears associated with fireworks. This herbal medicine is natural and treats dog anxiety without causing any sedation.
The brand has also developed a liquid solution, the Valerian Compound. Its concentrated herbal extract will calm your frightened pet within 30 minutes. Just drop it into their mouth, on their food or even on their bedding.
Both products can be used together for maximum efficiency on extremely stressed pets.