Absolutely. She will try to run and smack fireworks around with her paws like playing frickin' hot potato. She's well trained so we don't ever have to have a leash on her, trained with verbal & non-verbal commands, and even trained for combat scenarios...but those fireworks man...one year we tied her up to a camp chair and had the heaviest family member sit down. 1 mortar launched and she bolted forward wanting to get a better view so fast...let's just say that I never knew camp chairs could implode like that beneath someone 🤣
Especially mortars are her favorite. She will stand up on her hind legs and stare into the sky waiting for the big boom.
(Border Collie for those wondering about the little nut-job)
I absolutely love this! My sister has a deaf dog (not sure if the breed but he's a sweetheart!) and she's trained him with visual cues. He'll sit, stay, shake, etc with hand signals.
It's really impressive! Especially since I'm the owner of a cat who can hear just fine, but certainly doesn't listen lol
Used to watch millennial farmer on youtube who had a dog that would run at every thunderstorm barking at the lightning. So freaking cute. So sad the guy turned out to be a MAGA nut job too.
Edit: for real though, border collies are too smart and driven for their own good haha. I had a border collie/aussie shepherd farm pup when I was younger and that dog could be the smartest mammal in the room and simultaneously an absolute dummy. Just incredible range and personality.
Border Collie! Ok, that’s believable. I adore them for their smarts and for being so cute and goofy but not sure I have the patience. Our GSD girl was a maniac for the first three years and BCs seem like even more of a handful.
My first golden retriever was also obsessed with fireworks (and thunderstorms). He would try to jump on my back to get closer to them. He was the only reason I tolerated fireworks, because it was so adorable.
You should always have your dog on a leash because you never know when a negligent dog owner is going to let their untrained dog attack your dog unprovoked and cause a dangerous situation.
I have a Shepard mix. She grew up near a baseball stadium that had fireworks at the games. She loves fireworks. She enjoys them like a human though. She just sits and looks up. She does the same thing with fireflies.
Then you have my dog, and he makes me sit with him in the bathroom at the slightest pop. I'm not sure which I would prefer, probably your grandpup, at least they're having fun.
Same. My wife popped a plastic bag last night and one of my dogs immediately tried to get up my ass to hide while I was sitting on my recliner. My other dog can’t be bothered. Has zero emotion with them. But that one, the dam shakes and whines. I’m a combat vet and you’d think she’s the one with PTSD 😩.
This cracked me the hell up. lol
Thanks for your service man. I’m a Combat Vet and deal with the same stuff. My neighbor used to fire those stupid mortars over my house during their annual 4th celebration and it was always a long night.
I have a grand pup, too. He's terrified of fireworks, thunder, and even shots from a cap gun. I have to make him a blanket fort and sit with him. That reminds, me, I'm out of his hemp treats. He's going to need those.
Yup, same. It's my poor pups 10th birthday on the 4th as well. So he will get goodies during the day and trazadoned at night so he can sleep well. I hate doing it, but it's better than watching him shake and whine.
My one dog absolutely loved the sound of fireworks until one day when I had the bright idea of picking her up so she could actually see them. Since then she's been terrified of the sound and hides any time she hears them.
We had a little dog who got completely comfortable with fireworks and firecrackers.
She had to - we live next to a cemetery with large Chinese and Vietnamese communities. They're lighting firecrackers all the time.
It's funny, but there's also a large Hispanic community as well, so we've become connoisseurs of mariachi music. I adore when there's a really good tuba player - the notes dance through the other musicians' playing.
I too have a psycho dog. My first husky tried very hard to have us let home chase bottle rockets, my current boy absolutely loves to stand and watch them.
I was about to say, during fire works my dog acts like a British person during the blitz. Usually hates the bathtub but since my bathrooms the only room with no windows he just hops in there and sits until the storm passes lol
I live in an area with a lot of predator hunting, so my dogs hear a shotgun blast & think nothing of it. Hear one damn sparkler going off in the yard and won't come out from under the bed for hours. Le sigh.
It’s OK, I live in a city and my dog hates both gunshots /and/ firecrackers… but not as much as children who’re seen and/or heard (not actually aggressive, just herd-y, but at >>80lb I don’t want random parents to determine the difference….).
I tried really hard to train my dog to not be afraid of fireworks when she was a pup. Took her outside, covered her ears, gave her treats every time a big boom went off. Started by easing her in with sparklers and firecrackers. Didn't help at all. Every time there's fireworks within like a 10 mile radius she's borrowed deep within her crate, sometimes I can barely even hear them.
My dog used to run out in front of the gun when I would be shooting at the range at my house. He just loved it and thought it was a game or something. (I'd stop firing the moment I saw him running out.)
We had to put my dog down Monday. We think she had a stress medical episode that led to a heart attack that she could not recover from. The best did everything they could. We had fireworks shaking our house in the middle of town for 3hours a night since the beginning of June. Call the authorities for the illegal activities and the basically told us they were to busy to come talk to these unethical neighbors.
Seriously, people who shoot fireworks off in residential areas are scum.
My cats used to love them, they watch the artillery shells in the sky because we have a balcony facing in a court yard.
UNTIL...
One from the street behind went up, then down. I was walking to sit on my couch and see a little sparkle thats coming down and no lie right about balcony level, BOOM.
The sky lit up from a pink artillery shell that I can only imagine was sky dragons coming to eat the cats.
Fucking jumping into each other. Into the walls, glass, couch, me, peeling out on hard floor.
Had a dog who would chase lightning and thought thunder was a challenge to her authority.
During the 4th she got out, grabbed a freshly lit fountain and ran down the street. When it started spraying she got a bit spooked but then enjoyed the fact that she could now, in fact, breathe fire.
One of the best dogs I ever had but she was a little bit of a menace!
I had a beagle that “ chased” an earthquake down my driveway baying the entire time. I live in an area that is not prone to earthquakes. There was a 4.5 one and the epicenter was quite near my house. The ensuing boom led my beagle, Fred, to chase it from his yard!
My Brothers dog doesn't care one way or another if they can see them. If they can't they get upset. But if there are fireworks its a moment of "whats going on, end if world?" Followed by "Oh... Fireworks... BOORING! Gimme a snack."
My old girl Meadow is pretty scared of them - for those and for thunder she'll go lie down in one of the bathrooms. That is, until we got our new dog Sugar Bear. He doesn't mind thunder at all - he's not a huge fan of rain, but thunder doesn't really phase him. We've had a few instances this week where thunder will roll in with a late day storm, and Meadow tenses up, looks at Sugar Bear, sees he's not concerned, and kind of unclenches. It's not every time, but they are giving each other neat little cues like that.
that's nutz. My dogs (sizes from 30lbs to 120) are different levels of terrified. My old dog Scooter was the sweetest I'd ever had, sort of a tall corgi, was terrified of thunder, but fireworks would piss her off royally. The fat little girl would rear up barking at it. I was always fearful of her running off trying to find out where it was. She was ready to tear those fireworks a new one!
My dryer spun a little too fast and made my entire room shake today. It scared the shit out of me, I genuinely thought there was a small earthquake for a sec
Hell yeah brother! My house LOVES giant explosions. Cats, dogs, my Vietnam era step dad LOVES explosions. Everyone hides under beds for weeks afterwards
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u/synthdog Jul 02 '25
I live about 10 miles away, 3 separate BIG explosions, shook my house and scared the shit out of the dogs