Rescue Dogs Hiding in Cupboard From Fireworks Breaks Hearts: 'Poor Babies'

A video of a pair of rescue dogs hiding near a cupboard during a New Year's Eve fireworks celebration has gone viral on TikTok, receiving 1.2 million views.

The clip shared from the TikTok account @ourlifewithpaws showed one dog sitting inside the open cupboard, while the other was seen sat against the cupboard door.

A message overlaid on the video read: "Fireworks is all fun and games until you've got reactive dogs." A caption shared with the post added: "Next year we're going to a cabin in the woods."

An October 2015 study published in the Applied Animal Behaviour Science journal found that, on average, around 23 percent of dogs were reported to be afraid of noises, and "the fear in situations with fireworks had the highest frequency."

The same study cited research from 2000, which found that 68.3 percent of dogs from a rescue shelter "showed undesirable behavior within the first month" and 53.4 percent reported fearfulness as "the major problem behavior."

The October 2015 study added: "Behavioral responses of dogs with noise sensitivity can be extreme in nature and it may represent a serious welfare issue for the dog."

What to Do if Your Dog Is Scared of Fireworks

In an article for VCA, one of North America's largest animal hospital chains operating over 1,000 establishments, veterinarians Debra Horwitz and Gary Landsberg said the best way to treat fireworks' phobias in dogs is to train them using behavior modification techniques.

The veterinarians said: "Practice training your dog to settle and focus on command, using rewards such as favorite treats and toys."

Try to associate this training with one of the dog's favorite areas in the house (and one where the fireworks' noise will be less obvious) and use some training cues each time you do the training, "so that the command, location and cues help to immediately calm the dog," Horwitz and Landsberg added.

The veterinarians also said: "Close all the windows and doors so the sound is muffled as much as possible. Try taking your pet to a room or area of the house where the stimuli will be at their mildest and the dog can be most easily distracted."

Horwitz and Landsberg advise against trying to pet or reassure the dog when it appears to be scared and displays fearful behavior because the dog "may regard this as a reward for the behavior he is engaging in at that time. By rewarding the behavior, it may become increasingly intense with each future exposure."

See the VCA website for more information.

Several users on TikTok were sympathetic towards the rescue dogs and their owner in the latest viral post.

TikToker @favjana07 wrote: "That's the pain that only dog owners know," while veru agreed, posting: "All animal owners know this pain!"

User @sophlovetwd wrote: "awe poor babies," and patriciaklnkhmr commented: "oooo this is sooooo sad..poor sweethearts!."

Newsweek has contacted the original poster @ourlifewithpaws for comment and the video has not been independently verified.

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.