# Gun Shy



## SidVicious (Aug 19, 2014)

I have a 10 month old lab that is a retrieving machine. She is obsessed with it. She has been around guns quite a bit while training over the summer, and was fine with it. I took her out this last week, and had quite a bit of shooting. She didn't run or anything, but was definitely scared of it. She got excited to get the birds, and picked up every one of them, but did not really care for the shooting. Should I start at he beginnig again and try to ease her back into the shooting? I would hate to not be able to use a dog that has so much drive to hunt and retrieve. Any suggestions would be very helpful.


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## avidhntr3 (Sep 26, 2007)

I would absolutely take a step back and try to find where your pup is comfortable. Shooting skeet is a possible solution. You could have someone shooting skeet some distance away from you and the pup while you work on some other drills. Slowly work your way closer to the gunfire. Watch her at every step making sure she is okay. If she handles all of that fine, a great drill that teaches steadiness as well is to shoot skeet right next to her. As she is calm, throw a bumper out, fire your gun, and send her out. Do one retrieve for every 20+ shots to truly build a steady dog. It also could be the multiple gunshots heard at once she is struggling with. Find some friends to do some shooting with you and see how she handles it, again starting further away and working your way closer. The closer you can get to what she'll experience in the field, the better. Try to work as many variables as you can to determine exactly what it is she's having a problem with, and then address that issue one small step at a time.

I'm by no means an expert, but it's the one thing I've learned in my study.


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## Mr Muleskinner (Feb 14, 2012)

Jason Wilde once told me "give them a reason to be scared". 

Meaning: go hunting and shoot all of the birds that you can. Soon enough they will associate the report of a shotgun with the birds.


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## Gumbo (Sep 22, 2007)

Start shooting near them with no reward after the shot and you might exacerbate the problem. So first, make sure they're crazy for birds. Second, help make the association that when they hear a shot, they get the retrieve.

Once they associate the blast with a retrieve, they'll go nuts whenever they hear a shot.


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## SidVicious (Aug 19, 2014)

Thank you very much for the advice, guys! I'll get her back out and do some drills before I get her out unting again.


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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

It's been my experience that you have a defective dog and there is no hope whatsoever for it. Let's meet up and I'll remove that problem from your hands and you can go get a new pup and start over again.


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## SidVicious (Aug 19, 2014)

I guess that's my only option at this point haha


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## goonsquad (Sep 15, 2010)

a bumper launcher will help with the association of gun fire a retrieve. They use a .22 blank and are loud enough to get it to click with the dog.


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## Ali-MAc (Jul 12, 2013)

Head for a skeet range (Lee Kay, wasatch wing n clay or similar) and start off a long way from the guns where the noise is non threatening, have a large pouch of treats (hot dog pieces). Every time a gun goes off give a treat, move forward slowly a few feet after every few shots. do normal training things as you go, sits, lie downs etc. don't get close to the guns on the first visit, work up slowly. just keep with the rhythm bang-treat, bang-treat.


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## goonsquad (Sep 15, 2010)

Nice thing with training at Lee Kay is the ponds. Take him out there, use a bumper launcher or just let him run around getting scents, and then squeeze off a shot now and then. 
I would be against giving him treats each time a shot goes off only because I wouldn't want him to become confused with his job of retreiving. Which is why I would use the bumper launcher, once he begins to retrieve the bumper after the shot, I'd reward him.


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## chukarflusher (Jan 20, 2014)

Take him hunting a lot and don't fill the blind with gun shots one guy shooting and the dog will associate it with birds and fun


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## TEX-O-BOB (Sep 12, 2007)

BIRDSBIRDSBIRDSBIRDSBIRDSBIRDSBIRDSBIRDSBIRDSBIRDS

Repeat.

She's young. Give her time and LOTS of birds with gunfire ONLY when birds are part of the deal. Only an idiot would go to a skeet range to cure a dog of being gun shy.


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## drakebob01 (Jun 25, 2008)

Having just dealt with this,"luckily my lab is cured" shoot me a pm. I was ready to give up on my dog, but alot of time and effort it can be cured. She now is giddy when she sees a gun or hears a gunshot!


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## SidVicious (Aug 19, 2014)

Thank you for the help, everyone! It is very much appreciated


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## Damiani (May 23, 2013)

Pigeons. Get the hound crazy over pigeons. Start slow with a release overhead & then on a checkcord with a tethered pigeon walking out front. Do this repetitively until the hound is going absolutely nutz over a pigeon. Then dizzy the pigeon and plant, have the hound find and have someone from a distance of say a hundred yds discharge a twenty two cartridge when the bird is kicked up. Do this slow and increase the distance of said shooter with the judgement of how the hound react's to the shot. Again, take it slow and don't be afraid to regress if your hound is showing any negative response to the shot. If all is well, then progress to the shotgun at the same intervals with pigeons being released overhead with someone firing at a hundred yds, so on and so forth as with the twenty two method. The theory is the hound is so focused on the bird that the shot doesn't bother and in turn with repetition associates the shot with the bird. 

Good Luck!


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## COWAN (Oct 7, 2012)

Wow! What ever you do DO NOT TAKE YOUR DOG TO A SKEET, TRAP OR ANY KIND OF GUN RANGE! That is the worst action to take. TEX said it best, BIRDS. If you can't use live birds, then use scent on some type of canvas bumpers or other retrieving bumpers. My personal favorite is the Dokken Deadfowl Trainer. 

Now go out and run retrieving drills. When sufficient, introduce the gun. I like to start off by using empty shotshells with only a new primer in them in my. 410 bore shotgun (basically a blank). Toss the bumper- fire the gun and work the retrieve. Stick with it and make it fun for the dog. When they get it right, give the dog a treat or some kind of reward. Your dog will catch on. Patience is key.

Now I start using regular .410 loads. running the same drills, (Yep it gets a little spendy with a .410) but I like the sound of a .410 for training far better than the roar of 12 or 20 gauge. Keep drilling your dog, remember..... patience. By now your dog should be excited when they hear your gun go off. If at all possible integrate live birds into your drills, even if you have to go to a bird farm, live birds truly are best.

These drills have worked very well for me in the past. I have only had to work with one dog that was truely gun shy, and it took a lot of work but the dog eventually pulled out of it.


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