“Remember, Remember, The 5th November…” Actually, I’d prefer not to! Bonfire Night can sadly cause a lot of stress and anxiety to our furry friends, but I have good news; there are many ways you can help alleviate some of the stresses of fireworks.

We were contacted by the people behind Hive; a British Gas Innovation, who kindly sent us a wonderful hamper filled with items to combat firework stress this Bonfire Night and help us create our own ‘Pet Zen Den!’ Guess what? It’s not too late to create yours too!! So if you’re sat with a stressed-out dog, here are a few tips to help…

TIP NO. ONE – LIGHTING & SOUND

The best part of creating a den is creating coziness! How can you feel stressed when you’re all snuggled up inside?! So first of all, draw the curtains in the room where you’re going to create your Pet Zen Den to help keep those flashing fireworks away from your dogs eyes. You obviously don’t want to sit in complete darkness though, but keep your lights low.

We’re going to try the Hive Active Light via the Hive Hub which enables you to dim lights AND change the colour of the light to help create a calming ambience directly from your phone (you don’t need to move from your spot and potentially risk unsettling your dog). If your dog is like mine, he or she may be glued to your lap, so being able to control the lighting with my phone sounds really appealing! Have some calming music on or turn up the TV to help drown out the sound of those pesky ‘boom boom’ fireworks too!

TIP NO. TWO – KEEP WARM

I don’t know about you, but I always feel happier and calmer if I’m warm and the same applies for our animals. So pop the heating on and make sure your dog has access to lots of blankets so they can burrow away and feel snug and cosy. Our Hive hamper contained a lovely blanket from Pet London. It is so snuggly!! Bear in mind, if your dog is stressed, they may be inclined to pant and become warm, so be sure to keep an eye on the temperature in the room as you may need to change it throughout the night. There’s even Hive Active Heating where again, you can control the heat in your home with your phone. We haven’t tried this one ourselves, but it sounds great!

Luxury blanket from Pet London

TIP NO. THREE – REFRESHMENTS

If your dog is stressed, he or she may not feel like eating. Try feeding early or if that’s not possible, keep some yummy treats with you in your Pet Zen Den. Giving them a treat every now and then during the fireworks may hopefully help them build a positive association with fireworks. We were sent some Mungo & Maud Love Heart Fruit Smoothie treats in our Hive hamper. Ted and Millie tried them earlier and loved them…they’re definitely welcome in the Pet Zen Den tonight, that’s for sure! Also, ensure your dog has access to water.

Love Heart Fruit Smoothies from Mungo & Maud

TIP NO. FOUR – DISTRACTION

Keeping your pooch distracted can be a great way of combating firework stress. Does your dog have a favourite toy? Make sure you have a few to hand in your Pet Zen Den. Your dog will love the extra attention and if they’re busy playing, hopefully they won’t even notice the fireworks! We were sent a gorgeous Mungo & Maud ‘Pull My Leg’ toy in our Hive hamper. It has removable arms and legs; it’s the perfect toy for sharing, so ideal for Ted & Millie!

‘Pull my leg’ toy from Mungo & Maud

TIP NO. FIVE – TOUCH

If your dog enjoys affection like Ted and Millie, keeping them close-by and giving them extra cuddles and fuss will definitely help in your Pet Zen Den. Touch is a powerful tool to soothe stress for both humans and animals. If your dog enjoys a gentle grooming session like Ted, this can be a really lovely way of helping combat stress too. Ted loves his Mungo & Maud Bristle Dog Brush from our Hive hamper and we’ll be putting it to good use tonight (although he does also think it’s a toy!)

Bristle Dog Brush from Mungo & Maud

GOOD LUCK

Finally, good luck! Make sure you keep calm because as we all know, dogs can pick up on our stress too. Hopefully by creating your own version of our Pet Zen Den, you and your dog can overcome Bonfire Night stress together (and maybe even have some fun too!) A big THANK YOU to Hive for sending us such a wonderful hamper; it really will help keep Ted and Millie calm.