Fireworks and dogs: a prep plan to start weeks before New Year's Eve

If your dog spent last New Year's Eve shaking behind the sofa, you have company. Fear of fireworks is the most common noise fear in dogs. The steps that research links to real improvement take weeks of practice, not one evening, so the time to start is now.

This guide covers what the studies found, where calming music fits (and where it doesn't), and a seven-step checklist you can work through between now and the countdown.

How common is it?

In a study of 13,715 pet dogs in Finland, 32% were sensitive to noise, and fear of fireworks was the most common noise fear, at 26%.¹

In an online survey of 1,225 dog owners, 52% said their dog was at least partly affected by fireworks. Most of those dogs developed the fear in their first year. About three in four had recovered by the next morning. For 12% it took up to a week, and for a few dogs it took weeks or months.²

Fear doesn't always look like trembling. When researchers filmed pet dogs on New Year's Eve, the clearest signs were ears pulled back, moving around more and panting. Hiding and barking varied a lot from dog to dog, so a quiet dog isn't always a calm one.³

Why start in November?

The same survey found that firework fear can get better or worse from year to year. Two things stood out:

• Training that pairs the noise with good things. Owners rated counterconditioning (a treat or a game right after each bang) as the most successful training technique, at over 70%. Relaxation training, where a dog learns to settle on cue, came close at 69%.
• What owners did on the night. Of four ways owners handled the night itself, only feeding and playing with their dog during fireworks was linked to the fear improving over time.⁴

Both take practice before the night. The Merck Veterinary Manual makes the same point about a safe den. It works for predictable noise like public fireworks, but only if the dog has learned to love it long before, and goes there before the noise starts.

These are owner reports from a survey, not a controlled trial. They're still the best large dataset on firework fear we have, and they point the same way as veterinary guidance.

Where music fits, honestly

We make a music box, so here's the part other guides leave out.

In the same survey, the way owners set up the environment on the night was not linked to improvement over time. That included a hiding place, closed blinds and playing music. A separate study found only a moderate calming effect of classical music on pet dogs left alone, and the authors suggest sound has little value for dogs in short, acute stress.⁴⁵

So music won't fix a fear of fireworks. What it can do is make the room more familiar on a hard night. Shelter studies have linked classical music to dogs resting more and barking less, and Merck lists white noise among the ways to soften sound for a noise-phobic dog.⁶⁷

Use music the way you'd use closed curtains: part of a calm room, alongside the training that changes how your dog feels about the bangs.

The checklist: seven steps for New Year's Eve

1. Six weeks out: talk to your vet if last year was hard

If your dog panicked, tried to escape, or took more than a day to recover, book a vet appointment now, not on December 30. Owners in the survey rated prescription medication as helping in 69% of cases, but that's a conversation for your vet, and it needs time. If your dog's fear is severe, a vet or qualified behaviourist can also design the sound training in step 3 with you.⁴

2. Five weeks out: build the den

Pick the spot most protected from noise. Merck gives a finished basement or a sound-insulated crate as examples; an inside room with the curtains drawn works too. Add a covered crate or a bed tucked into a corner, a blanket that smells of home, and water. Then make it the best place in the house: feed meals there, hand out chews there, and leave the door open so your dog can come and go. Don't use it for time-outs.

3. Four weeks out: start sound practice at a whisper

Play a fireworks recording at a volume so low that your dog doesn't react. Pair it with something your dog loves, like dinner or a game. Raise the volume in small steps over days, and drop back if your dog stops eating, freezes or looks for the exit. Merck advises varying the volume from session to session, with a slow overall rise, rather than turning it up every time, and working with a trainer or vet to set the steps. Be realistic: for fireworks, which are also flashes, smells and vibration, sound practice alone seldom resolves the fear completely. It's one piece of the plan.

Use a phone or a speaker for the recordings, and keep the Music Box for calm music only. That way the collar only ever plays good things.⁸

4. Three weeks out: teach a settle on a mat

Put a mat in the den. Reward your dog for lying on it, then for staying relaxed there a little longer each day. Practise when the house is quiet first, then during the low-volume sound sessions. By New Year's Eve, "go to your mat" should be a request your dog knows well.⁴

5. The week of: check the escape routes

Around July 4, stray dogs arriving at US shelters peak, with July 5 the single busiest day in 2021–2023. Frightened dogs bolt, and New Year's Eve is no different. Check the fence and gates, make sure the ID tag has your current phone number, and confirm the microchip details with the registry.⁹

6. On the day: get ahead of dusk

• Walk your dog in daylight, on a lead, well before displays begin.
• Close windows, blinds and curtains. Put on some background sound.
• Charge the Music Box in the afternoon. A full charge takes about an hour and plays for almost a full day.
• Clip it on an hour before the first bangs and start the music. Settle your dog in the den before the noise starts.

7. When the bangs start, and the morning after

• After each loud bang, give a treat or start a short game. The bang predicts something good.
• Let your dog hide if they want to. Don't pull them out.
• Stay close and stay calm.
• The next day, note how long your dog took to recover. If it was more than a few hours, take that note to your vet before the next fireworks season.⁴

Want it on paper? Get the printable checklist by email.

Where the Barkwoo Music Box helps

Dogs rarely stay where you set them up. Some head for the bathtub, some wedge under the bed, some pace. A speaker in the living room stays in the living room.

The Barkwoo Music Box clips onto any standard collar and plays calming music from there, so the music goes wherever your dog goes. One button starts the preloaded playlist. It doesn't need a phone, WiFi or an app, so your phone stays free for everything else on a busy night. You can preview the music on our listening page and read what the research on calming music for dogs found, including its limits.

It's one part of the plan above, not a replacement for it.

References

1. Salonen, M., Sulkama, S., Mikkola, S., et al. (2020). Prevalence, comorbidity, and breed differences in canine anxiety in 13,700 Finnish pet dogs. Scientific Reports, 10, 2962. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-59837-z ↩︎
2. Riemer, S. (2019). Not a one-way road: severity, progression and prevention of firework fears in dogs. PLOS ONE, 14(9), e0218150. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0218150 ↩︎
3. Gähwiler, S., Bremhorst, A., Tóth, K. & Riemer, S. (2020). Fear expressions of dogs during New Year fireworks: a video analysis. Scientific Reports, 10, 16035. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-72841-7 ↩︎
4. Riemer, S. (2020). Effectiveness of treatments for firework fears in dogs. Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 37, 61–70. doi:10.1016/j.jveb.2020.04.005 ↩︎
5. Kinnaird, R.F. & Wells, D.L. (2022). The effect of auditory stimulation on pet dogs' reactions to owner separation. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 254, 105688. doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2022.105688 ↩︎
6. Wells, D.L., Graham, L. & Hepper, P.G. (2002). The influence of auditory stimulation on the behaviour of dogs housed in a rescue shelter. Animal Welfare, 11, 385–393. doi:10.1017/S0962728600025112 ↩︎
7. Lindig, A.M., McGreevy, P.D. & Crean, A.J. (2020). Musical dogs: a review of the influence of auditory enrichment on canine health and behavior. Animals, 10(1), 127. doi:10.3390/ani10010127 ↩︎
8. Borns-Weil, S. (2025). Behavior problems of dogs. Merck Veterinary Manual. merckvetmanual.com ↩︎
9. Shelter Animals Count (2025). Stray dog intakes spike after July 4th, new data from Shelter Animals Count confirms. shelteranimalscount.org ↩︎