On the 31st of December there is very little you can do. Everything that works is done months in advance. That is why this article appears in September rather than in December.
It will not be outgrown
Fear of loud noises is not naughtiness or poor training. It is a nervous-system response, and without help it usually deepens year by year: the dog learns not only the bang, but everything that comes before it — dusk, the window, you getting ready.
It is also a safety issue. The New Year period is the peak season for lost dogs: a frightened animal pulls free and runs without looking.
What to do in advance
**Sound desensitisation.** Find a recording of fireworks, play it so quietly the dog barely notices, and while it plays do what the dog loves: feed, play, stroke. Every few days raise the volume one step. One rule: if the dog tenses, stares or leaves, you went too far — go back a step.
This takes weeks and months, not an evening. But it works.
**A refuge.** Set up the place where your dog is calmest — usually a bathroom, hallway or a closed corner without windows. Put its bed there, cover it, feed there a few times, so that by December the spot is already "theirs".
**Clothing or a muzzle**, if you plan to use them, should be introduced now — not on a night when the dog is already frightened.
**Talk to your vet.** For severe fear — trembling, drooling, attempts to escape — there are medications that genuinely help. A vet prescribes them: the choice and dose depend on the dog, and human sedatives must never be given to animals. Have that conversation in November, not at nine in the evening on the 31st.
In December
Check the ID tag and microchip, and make sure the registry data is current. An old phone number on a tag is useless.
A week before the holiday, start walking earlier: fireworks in courtyards begin long before midnight.
Close windows and vents. A panicking dog jumps where it never would otherwise.
On the night
Walk the dog long and before dark — a tired dog copes better.
At home: curtains closed, lights on, television or music playing. Steady background sound softens the bangs.
Do not take the dog out to watch, and do not let it into the yard. Keep the lead on even in a fenced garden: a terrified dog clears fences it has never attempted.
**If your dog comes and presses against you, stroke it and talk to it.** The old advice that comforting "reinforces the fear" is wrong: fear is an emotion, not a behaviour, and comfort cannot reinforce it. Pushing a frightened dog away removes its only anchor.
Do not scold for a puddle, a chewed door or scattered belongings. That is panic, not disobedience.
What not to do
Shutting the dog in a crate it is not used to — it will injure itself against the bars.
Taking it out "to show there is nothing to fear". That confirms the fear rather than curing it.
Giving human sedatives or alcohol. It sounds absurd, but people do it — and end up at the clinic with poisoning.
If nothing helps
Then the case is beyond home measures. A vet and a behaviour specialist working together are what help here. Dogs with severe noise phobia are managed successfully for years — it is a job of work, not a verdict.
In Mr. Petman you can set a reminder for November: check the chip, talk to the vet, start the sound work. Everything else is forgotten by December.