Not long now until Bonfire night – great fun for everyone except the owners of noise phobic dogs. The trouble is that fireworks are not contained to just one night – in fact I spoke to an owner yesterday who had already heard some fireworks going off – and it is only half way through October!

If you have a noise phobic dog then do speak to your vet sooner rather than later; there are a variety of treatments out there - from medicines to dietary supplements and thunder vests and you need to try and work out which one is best for your pet.

In terms of practical things that you can do at home – keep your pet indoors when fireworks are going off, try and have the radio or television on as a distraction. Be comforting to your pet but try not to over fuss them – there is a risk that you can feed into their anxiety by over petting them. Try to carry on as if nothing is happening but minimise exposure to the noises outside.

Undoubtedly prevention is better than cure and in the long-term think about desensitising your dog to the sounds that frighten them. You can get noise phobia CDs (some with fireworks, some with gunshots) and playing these initially very quietly and then at increasing volume over long periods of time can desensitise your pet to these fears. If you happen to have a puppy at this time of year then let them hear noises and maintain normal positive behaviour around them – this way they will get used to loud noises in a non-threatening environment and not be plagued by phobias in later life.