Fireworks on Sonos

If you can find one or more audio files with the sounds you require, you could use SoCo-CLI [1] to play them at random intervals of your choice.

The SoCo-CLI command to play a local file once is (e.g.): sonos <speaker_name> play_file fireworks.mp3

You’d just need to wrap this in a shell script (or other program) that loops some number of times, with a random interval between invocations of play_file.

[1] https://github.com/avantrec/soco-cli 

I would think this has a similar chance of actually working as shooting your children to get them used to being shot.

Well, the tech. will work, but as to the achieving the objective … perhaps not!

Oh, yes, I agree. Not issue with your tech, certainly, although I’ve not tried it.

I’m just not convinced you can train away a reaction like that, and it may harm the animal more than help. But then again, I’m not an animal behaviorist, so it may be worth seeking professional advice, rather than listening to some random person on the internet. 

Yes it will work.  For those of us with dogs, what happens when someone rings the doorbell?  We all get up and go to the front door.  The dog of course will join us.  He/she knows when that sound goes off something is going on at the front door.  <BUT> what would happen when an untrained dog, when the doorbell rings everyone goes to the back door?  The dog hears the sound and will go to the back door.  Now if just randomly there is a BOOM and no one does anything the dog will eventually know that that sound is normal and nothing to get excited about.  How do you think cowboys trained their horses not to buck when they shot their gun from the saddle?  Thanks for the helpful input.

Maybe this will work. We were not able to comfort our dog during thunderstorms. The dog never observed us attempting to hide under furniture -- it was a German Shepard. The dog was usually aware of an approaching storm before we noticed. Behavior became worse as the dog aged. I don’t remember any panic when the dog was young. In fairness to the dog, our house was struck by lightning. I was not home at the time and could not observe the dog’s reaction and I don’t recall if the panic behavior began after the strike.

‘Bang’ from an audio system is not quite the same as nearby fireworks. There will be airborne pressure waves and probably ground conducted energy that an audio system cannot create. However, I have seen discussions suggesting the use of audio recordings to help desensitize dogs fear.

I agree. I have lived with four dogs over the last thirty years in India when the annual Diwali festival is a one week torture test for dogs, babies and most adults. There is no knowing at what time of 20 hours in day a loud bang will occur and in the evenings it is like an artillery barrage. Dogs respond in different ways, but the ones that don’t like this, never get used to it and suffer every year. What we have done with some success for the dogs that were in distress is administering a mild sedative, and keeping the windows of one inner room sealed shut - a room with a bed in it that that dog can go and hide under. And of course, we would never leave the dog at home alone in that week.

In comparison, what I have seen of July 4th in two different cities in the US was well regulated and benign - and even where it may not be so, it is just a question of 12 hours?

Depends on where you are. There are non sanctioned fireworks shot off by local residents, whether or not it is legal in an area. Which vary from ‘We don’t want our citizens to blow off their fingers’ to ‘we’d prefer not to have a fire in this drought’ local regulations. But a seemingly large portion of ‘Muricans’ seem to think it’s their god given right to shoot off their own fireworks, so it occurs not only on July 4, but several nights before and after. Unfortunately, many of these folks mix alcohol, fireworks, and firearms all at the same time. I recall in the seventies and eighties, living in Arizona, there were always cases of burns and shooting victims around the holiday, and the same in rural areas of Texas last year, even with the pandemic in full swing. 

If a particular county/region has a ban, it’s a good bet that no more than a thirty minute drive can get you to a location where they’re ‘legal’ to purchase, an importing them is sport. 

I gave up on ‘personal’ fireworks in the late sixties, just after moving back to the US, when a neighbor was shooting off bottle rockets in the middle of the street, the bottle tipped over, and the rocket hit my mother in the chest, fortunately not exploding in her face. Since then, I’ve attended the official shows, and enjoyed them immensely. 

Ahh ok...my experience is limited to Pennsylvania and Illinois. But it is good to see that the fireworks lunacy reigns in other parts of the world too   And I then see the OP point, but I am still not sure the solution is good. 

And the award for “Random Use Case for a Sonos System” goes too…. 

In my urban neighborhood there is currently a fireworks competition that has been intensifying over the last several weeks. We have nightly, competing shows. It suggests misbehaving teens or individuals who are reliving their misbehaving teen years.

I will not mess with fireworks because they are too loud, they are fire hazards, and the quality control for retail fireworks is dreadful. I don’t think that it is safe to be around fireworks.

And, perhaps I became spoiled as an adult while I was living a couple blocks from the river and with every major holiday there were large scale fireworks launched from a river barge. I could walk the couple blocks, avoid the traffic jams, and have a horizon to horizon view from a safe distance.

This is in connection with the coming July 4th that is still far away?! If so, that many days of this nonsense sounds like India.. ...The other bad thing about fireworks, even those that don’t make a noise is the amount of smoke they put out that then hangs about in the air, that troubles anyone with any respiratory issues.

Perhaps, but this activity started with the lifting of some Covid-19 restrictions a few weeks ago. Initially there were a couple ‘celebrations’, then it seemed to evolve into a competition. I’m sure that this competition will intensify on the 4th.

Lol. The only thing worse is shooting AK47s into the air...but we digress:-).

Or simply ban fireworks, perhaps?