How to Support Your Dog After Fireworks Night: Gentle Ways to Reduce Cortisol and Stress
Fireworks night can be a challenging time for our dogs. The loud, unpredictable sounds and bright flashes can be overwhelming, triggering stress and releasing cortisol – the body’s primary stress hormone. Unlike adrenaline, which fades relatively quickly, cortisol can linger in the body for days, keeping our dogs on high alert and more sensitive to stimuli. To help your dog fully recover, it’s essential to engage in activities that naturally lower cortisol, offering them both comfort and reassurance. Here are some gentle and effective ways to support your dog in the days after a fireworks event.
1. The Power of Sniffing: Nature’s Antidote to Stress
Dogs experience the world primarily through their sense of smell. Engaging in sniffing activities helps them focus on something calming and enjoyable, providing a natural “reset” for their minds and bodies. When a dog sniffs, it taps into a fundamental need, allowing them to feel secure and grounded. This can be as simple as a relaxed walk where you let them sniff at their own pace or even a special “sniffari” where you explore new environments with different smells.
How Sniffing Reduces Cortisol
Sniffing activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which encourages relaxation. By engaging this part of the nervous system, sniffing directly counteracts the effects of cortisol, helping to slow the heart rate and lower blood pressure. Regular sniffing sessions after fireworks can help bring your dog back into a calm, balanced state, soothing lingering stress and promoting recovery.
2. Incorporating Freework: Let Your Dog Lead
Freework is an unstructured activity that allows your dog to explore and engage with objects and surfaces in a way that feels natural to them. This might involve setting up a safe area with toys, soft mats, boxes, and other textures that encourage curiosity and confidence. In freework, there’s no pressure for your dog to perform; instead, they’re free to make their own choices, which is incredibly empowering and calming.
Why Freework Helps with Cortisol Reduction
During stressful times, such as fireworks, dogs can feel a loss of control, which heightens their anxiety. Freework restores that sense of control by giving them the freedom to make choices in a safe environment. This sense of autonomy reduces cortisol and encourages natural curiosity and engagement, supporting emotional and physical recovery. Freework also engages a dog’s mind without overloading them, making it ideal for post-fireworks stress relief.
3. The Importance of Reassurance: Be a Source of Comfort
Dogs rely on their guardians for stability, especially after unsettling experiences. Providing gentle reassurance shows them they’re safe, supported, and loved. This reassurance might include cuddling, calmly speaking to them, or simply being physically present. Some dogs respond well to a gentle touch, while others might find a comforting presence nearby more soothing.
Reassurance and Cortisol
A calming presence helps lower cortisol levels by activating oxytocin, the “bonding hormone” that promotes a feeling of security. When your dog feels safe and loved, oxytocin and endorphins work together to counteract the effects of cortisol. Just being there, offering gentle, calm affection can reassure your dog that the stressful event is over and that they’re now in a safe space.
4. Stick to a Gentle Routine: Provide a Predictable Environment
After fireworks, it’s beneficial to return to a familiar, gentle routine to further ease your dog’s stress. Predictable activities, like regular walks, consistent feeding times, and calm, quiet evenings, can offer stability and security. This allows your dog to relax and gradually re-engage in their normal day-to-day activities. If they are particularly noise sensitive, keeping them on a long line or opting to use a secure field for a short period may be a good option for you and your dog.
5. Offer Mental Enrichment Without Overstimulation
Simple, low-energy mental enrichment activities, like scatter-feeding, puzzle toys or busy boxes can also help reduce stress without adding too much excitement. These activities stimulate your dog’s brain in a low-pressure way, providing enjoyment and focus. Problem solving also helps to build confidence which may have been knocked.
6. Encouraging mindful, natural behaviours; Chewing
Chewing is a natural, soothing activity for dogs that plays an essential role in reducing cortisol levels and relieving stress. When a dog chews, it triggers a calming effect by engaging the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps counterbalance stress responses and lowers heart rate. Here’s why chewing can be especially effective in reducing cortisol;
Chewing is instinctive and satisfies a primal urge. When dogs engage in a behaviour that feels natural, it helps them relax and refocus, shifting their attention away from lingering stress. The repetitive, rhythmic action of chewing can serve as a “mindful” activity, keeping them in the moment and creating a sense of calm.
Endorphin Release: The act of chewing also releases endorphins, which are the body’s natural “feel-good” chemicals. Endorphins work in tandem with the parasympathetic nervous system to reduce anxiety, promote relaxation, and counteract the effects of cortisol. This endorphin boost leaves dogs feeling happier and more content.
Physical and Mental Release: Chewing allows dogs to channel any remaining nervous energy in a positive, productive way. After a stressful event, dogs may feel agitated or restless. Chewing gives them a healthy outlet for these feelings, helping to work off residual stress and reduce cortisol more quickly.
Comfort and Security: The act of chewing often provides a sense of security, especially if a dog has a favorite chew toy or bone. This feeling of comfort reinforces a safe environment and helps the dog decompress, which in turn aids in lowering cortisol levels.
Overall, chewing is an effective, natural way to help dogs unwind after a stressful experience. By allowing and encouraging safe chewing, you’re giving your dog a therapeutic outlet that supports both their physical and emotional recovery.
Final Thoughts
Fireworks night can leave lasting stress in your dog’s system, but with these simple, supportive activities, you can help ease their tension and lower lingering cortisol levels. By embracing sniffing walks, freework, gentle reassurance, a predictable routine, and access to safe, natural chews you’ll support your dog’s mental and emotional recovery, ensuring they feel safe, happy, and confident once more.