Keeping your pets comfy during New Year’s

 NEW Year’s fireworks can be exciting and fun, but they can also be a cause for anxiety and stress to pet friends and family. 

Senior animal attendant at Bendigo Animal Relief Centre, Ben Radford, said there are a few ways to prepare beforehand to help pets get through the experience more comfortably. 

“I suppose the first step is socialising or exposing animals to that sort of noise and things like that when they’re young and hoping that that will desensitise them to it a little bit,” he said. 

“But that’s very hard to do with how sporadic and time-sensitive these things occur. 

“It’s very important that if you’re leaving your animal home alone on nights that fireworks are going to go off, making sure that animal’s secure and comfortable, that it’s got a nice, safe hiding spot where it can get away. 

“A covered crate or a comfy bed or even a box or something like that that they feel safe in.  

“Background noise is important, so leaving the radio on in order to create some of that barrier to sound can also help as well.” 

At night if dogs are scared they can act erratically and try to do things like jumping over fences to run away Mr Radford said. 

“Ensuring your fences are well maintained, extra padlocks on the gates and things like that certainly helps,” he said. 

Mr Radford also said he wanted to dispel what he said is a long-held belief by many people about caring for pets in potentially stressful situations. 

“I think the myth still exists that reassuring your animal and making it feel safe will sort of instil the behaviour, but I’ve read lots of studies that say that’s not correct,” he said. 

“Just like we do for our human children, making sure we’re there for them, comforting them, and making them feel safe and secure. 

“Letting them know that everything’s okay and they’re safe and the noise isn’t coming to get them.” 

There will be public fireworks displays at the Poppet Head Lookout on New Year’s Eve at 9.15pm and again at 12am on New Year’s Day.