Some dogs really freak out about loud noises. Unfortunately, too often, new dog owners learn this on a day when scary sounds abound: July 4th. Annie talks to fellow trainer, Cheryl Gfrerer of Giffy Dog in St. Paul, MN, about her personal experiences dealing with a sound-sensitive rescue dog, and together they discuss protocols and practical approaches to helping dogs who are triggered by fireworks and the like.  Find Cheryl Gfrerer online at giffydog.com and on Instagram @giffydog 

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Mentioned in this episode:  

DAP (Dog Appeasing Pheremone) products by Adaptil https://storeforthedogs.com/collections/dog-appeasing-pheromone 

Thundershirt https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0029PY7SK?tag=thedogs00-20 

Decoding Your Dog https://www.amazon.com/dp/0544334604?tag=thedogs00-20 

Through A Dog's Ear (on Spotify) 

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1MsgeM3kAiAt5NTnasaIh1 

Storm Defender Cape https://www.stormdefender.com/ 

Karolina Westlund blog post on fireworks and thunder phobias https://illis.se/en/eliminating-firework-and-thunder-phobia-in-dogs/ 

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Partial Transcript: Annie: Hello humans. In advance of the 4th of July, which is coming our way next week, I wanted to do an episode on preparing dogs to deal with fireworks and other auditory related stressors. And I was about to record an episode with all the protocol that I would suggest for preparing a dog for the 4th of July. And then I thought, I don't think I've worked specifically with dogs who have fireworks phobias and I've never had a dog like that, since I've been a trainer at least. And so I thought, it would be nice to talk to a trainer who has dealt with this issue in a more firsthand way. And because I'm also always happy to not have a podcast that's only my own voice, I decided to invite my colleague, Cheryl Gfrerer, who is a fellow Karen Pryor Academy graduate on to talk about how she has been working both with her own firework phobic dog, and helping rescue dog owners with their dogs who have similar phobias where she is based in St. Paul, Minnesota. So what you are going to hear is my conversation on this subject with her. Full Transcript at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcast

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