Fireworks season coming up - should fireworks be banned or better regulated to protect pets?

[dicko]

We live in a very mixed community and we have a lot of fireworks at their religious festivals about six or seven each year they never run too late in the evening though because of small children. We have a few fireworks on November 5th but the main fireworks time is midnight New Years Eave.
We don’t have youths letting off fireworks like we used to do.

 

[Drago]

I don't have a problem with fireworks per se, but why do they have to sound like a mortar going off?

 

[Psamathe]

I don't believe one of my dogs over the last 45 years has been bothered by fireworks. I'm kinda guessing (maybe mistakenly) that our reaction to them...ie no reaction at all, feeds into our dogs. They see we're not bothered....
I do close windows and doors of course but that's generally it...

Should they be banned ? No.

Mine were very bothered by fireworks (the noise) yet they didn't get it from me (I'm not bothered) nor anybody else.

Maybe I was lucky in that the village where I lived had one massive display week after the main display weekends - small village where one resident was a professional and we got the left overs and failed to light all for free. Thus one scheduled set period of a few hours. I found in the case of my dogs TV on loud, get tennis ball out and game and being Border Collies a tennis ball takes 110% of their attention so fireworks not a problem for duration of the game (ie duration of the display).

But I can see negatives to fireworks and can't myself see any positives beyond a distraction from life. Given the cost of living crisis I'm surprised people are still buying them.

Ian

 

[Alex321]

It's so long since I last noticed any fireworks on sale I wondered if they already had been restricted.

They are only on sale in supermarkets for a few weeks before 5th November.

 

[classic33]

I don't have a problem with fireworks per se, but why do they have to sound like a mortar going off?

Because that's what they are. Rockets are old hat nowadays. Most have a line on the side showing the depth to which they need to be buried.

 

[classic33]

They are only on sale in supermarkets for a few weeks before 5th November.

There's shops that sell them all year round.

 

[slowmotion]

Fireworks are one of the few things that are enjoyed by people who have not paid for them. They should be encouraged. I'm sure you could get hold of noise-cancelling headphones for your mutt or moggie if they bother the poor dears.

 

[Drago]

My Bruce is from gun dog stock, doesn't bad an eyelid.

Mini D autistic and becomes upset and frightened by fireworks. Rather than buy her noise cancelling headphones I'd rather deal with then problem at source, because I can guarantee they won't like it up 'em.

 

[Time Waster]

My dog was ever bothered by them when we lived in a town with a lot going off. About a year after moving into a small, rural Village there were less fireworks going off but she started to get a little bothered by them. Now it is like that from shotguns too which never bothered her. No idea why she went from not bothered to bothered. It is not that bad but with fireworks it is a pointless need to use them. It is often a few minutes of whizzbangs per household but there are amny households doing it at different times. Seriously are they worth the couple of minutes of lights and noise in a private firework display

PS My current village used to put on a really big display off the end of the pier, put on by professionals. People came from far and wide to see it as it was pretty much better than local towns and even the nearesst city's display. We actually went to see it with our dog before we moved there and the dog was not bothered at all. Quite an impressive display. But then they stopped it on account of not getting enough money to pay for it from local business, councils or charity fundraising. So they stopped doing it. Now the locals put their own mini displays on throughtout the night from different directions.

Yeah! I got a dog hater response. If you get to ban yapping dogs I get to ban noisy cyclists who shout conversations at each other all weekend long as they go through the village (a popular cycling destination for cyclists of all kinds but especially clubs and loud lycra louts). BTW my dog is a border terrier and it doesn't bark when out and about. It will do a short bark to tell us when someone is out front or a longer spell of barking for the postman. Delivery drivers only get the one bark. So out and about our dog would not be covered by the dog hater's ban.

 

[gbb]

It us true that they type and popularity of specific fireworks, the multiple launch boxes has grown a lot. Lots and lots of noise and light in a few seconds (30 seconds perhaps) I wouldn't like to spend the kind of money they must cost.
As an aside, best firework display I ever saw...or are every likely to, was in a flight back from Cyprus on Bonfire night. Not a thing over Europe, as soon as we passed into England, you could see a vast expanse of fireworks from above...all the way until we landed at Gatwick. It was quite a sight.

 

[Tail End Charlie]

Similarly, I once (in the 80's) had to drive the length of the country to London on bonfire night. The sight of so many bonfires and displays was magnificent, looked like chain of warning signals. I thought The Armada had been sighted!

 

[presta]

Fireworks are one of the few things that are enjoyed by people who have not paid for them.

I think fireworks may be one of the few things that are enjoyed only by those who haven't paid for them.

 

[Punkawallah]

I think fireworks may be one of the few things that are enjoyed only by those who haven't paid for them.

You’ve never had a ‘girlfriend’’, then?

 

[Alex321]

I think fireworks may be one of the few things that are enjoyed only by those who haven't paid for them.

I don't think that is true at all. I've always enjoyed the ones I have paid for though it is a few years now since we did.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Bonfires are ok because they are not loud. I wouldn't even object to one big firework. But when they're going off for a week from 5 - whenever, it's a bit much for built up areas