Fireworks season causes widespread suffering for dogs with noise phobia. Both individual management and community-level advocacy can reduce this annual welfare burden.
Fireworks-related noise phobia causes significant welfare harm that affects millions of dogs annually and is largely preventable at the community level. Individual management through desensitisation and medication reduces suffering for affected dogs. But community-level action — restricting fireworks to licensed displays, limiting personal use fireworks, requiring minimum distances from residential areas — reduces the total welfare burden more effectively than individual management alone. Both levels of action are warranted: owners should manage their individual dogs effectively, and communities should advocate for policies reducing the duration and intensity of fireworks exposure.