Halloween is
an exciting occasion for all and has become a bigger and bolder event in Ireland
in recent years. The days of fearing ‘All Hallows Eve’ when the ghosts of the
past came out to play are dead and buried. But for a small majority of
Ireland’s population the upcoming festivity is not a time to celebrate but rather
shut their door to the suddenly loud, raucous world and to crave for peace and
quiet. These are the pet owners, the people who, year after year, watch a
beloved member of their family tear around the house in terror, cry out in
fright and become inconsolable, even to those they are most loyal. For many,
Halloween is indeed a nightmarish occasion but for all the wrong reasons.
Several
homeowners will nod their heads in agreement to the fact that as soon as the
first ‘banger’ goes up into the sky, normally up to two weeks before 31st
October, the family dog will begin to bark, may start to run around the house
and in more tragic cases, escape from the back garden and go missing at the
most dangerous time of year for pets. A cat will tend to climb the nearest tree
and can remain safely in the branches until it feels secure to come down but a
dog can run around in a mindless frenzy for hours, and could hurt itself or
worse, others in its fright.
Mark
Coulter, MVD, resident vet of Hillcrest Veterinary Surgery in Clonsilla says “I
have pet owners who come to me asking for remedies to help their pet deal with
Halloween but most often they come in the day before Halloween and that’s just too late for any kind of solution. Pet
owners should be coming in at the start of the month, and then I can administer
effective treatments that will be taken into effect by Halloween.”
Mark tends
to steer clear of the use of sedatives for pets, in particular dogs, in
contrast to several years ago when sedatives were most often used, “It tends to
aggravate the problem as the pet is still able to hear the noise of the
fireworks going off but is unable to get away from that noise.” It is only in
severe cases that a sedative will still be used.
Ciaran
Cochrane, a dog owner, knows very well how sedatives can work to calm a
frenzied dog at Halloween. “Ben went
wild as soon as Halloween came around. He was not himself and the sedatives the
vet gave us stopped working after two years and the problem became
progressively worse.”
Ben, the dog
in question, was bought as a family pet and was much loved. But from the time
he was a puppy, Halloween sparked something inside of him that appeared
incurable.
“He would
begin to pant and would never sit still,” says Ciaran. “As he got older he
started to destroy the garden as soon as bangers began to go off, he would bite
the fence and end up hurting himself. He would run off and come back several
hours later with blood and cuts all over his face. When we brought him inside
he would begin to chew and scrape at the doors and chairs. It was as if he were
trying to dig himself away from the sounds. It was horrible.’
Ciaran never
resorted to any of the behavioural approaches vets now use to tackle the
problem of pet behaviour around the time of Halloween. Natural extracts are
used several weeks prior to Halloween, ‘Calm Aid’, being one in particular that
Mark Coulter uses.
A new hit
with pet owners battling behavioural problems arising in homes, is the ‘DAP’ or
the Dog appeasing pheromone which can be used for cats, dogs or any large
household pet .Plugged into a wall, safely and easily, pheromones are sent out
and around the household that reach the dog or pet in question, relaxing them
in a natural, normal way.
Though Ben
is now passed away and there is no new dog or pet in Ciarans home, he welcomes
the new knowledge of these behavioural tools in particular the ‘Scary Sounds
CD’ which is a CD played over a couple of months in a home, playing loud noises
that would be scary for a pet to hear and allows them to understand the noises
are in fact, not scary at all. Mark assures me that it has been a success in
research carried out across England where he previously worked and he hopes it
will become more popular in Ireland over the coming years.
Dogs Trust,
a well known homeless dog shelter, in England and Ireland has a number of
useful tips on their website when it comes to looking after your animals this
Halloween.
“Provide a
quiet and cosy familiar place in the house for your pet to retreat to so he is
less likely to be exposed to children in costume. Provide him with chew toys,
his favourite blanket or a comfort item.”
“Think twice
about taking your pet on a trick or treat outing, as the extra excitement
around the event or added attention from strangers he may not recognise may
make cause distress. Also other dogs may
not be too welcoming of another dog on their territory.”
Mark adds to
these tips with one he considers most important, “if you are near a road, make
sure your pet, dogs in particular, do not have access to it. One of the most
common occurrences every year is frightened dogs escaping, running out onto
roads and getting hit by a car.”
So as the
fireworks light up the sky and ‘Fido’ begins to whimper remember that at the
end of the day, a dog or cat does not understand the noise means no danger. In
today’s world there are many alternative and behavioural solutions to these
problems rather than strong sedatives and in using these methods, your dog may
benefit in other behavioural scenarios as well. Vets are always around to help
with an issue and look towards the tips they give you to give ‘Spike’ a care
free October as any pet deserves
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