gunshy bird dogs

Tombstone, please.... do not take your dog to the gun club and expose it to constant gunfire.

Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad...... idea.

Proper introduction or exposure to gun fire should center around birds. Ultimately, the dog hears a shot and then looks for the bird. You must understand that dogs learn by association and repetition, any negative association with gunfire will be a major setback.
 
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A young dog left out in a kennel or on a chain in a violent thunderstorm has wrecked as many or more dogs then poor introduction to gun fire. Never leave a dog out in violent or any thunderstorm as a young dog.
 
Proper gun exposure is easy but should be done several time.

Get the dog activily chasing a bird, and fire the gun at a distance. I start by using a blank gun held behind my back, then to the side. The keep moving to shotguns, fired away from the dogs direction. And So on.

If the dog reacts to the gunshot, you need to wait a while before shooting again.

I have used pigeons and they work well.
 
Many of the top hunting trials people out here take their dogs to the range, I was told that you want a dog to ignore all shots till you send them, even your shot, if only to mark the bird. You sure don't want a dog to run a every shot. The play at the range help settle the dog and learns the shots only mean fun and praise. Onpoint has a good point about thunderstorms , I know a dog that was very traumatized by one and wouldn't hunt after, and he was a great dog.
 
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Tombstone17 said:
Many of the top hunting trials people out here take their dogs to the range, I was told that you want a dog to ignore all shots till you send them, even your shot, if only to mark the bird. You sure don't want a dog to run a every shot. Onpoint has a good point about thunderstorms , I know a dog that was very traumatized by one and wouldn't hunt after, and he was a great dog.
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Well, I have only had pointing dogs, and associating gunshots to birds is normal and desired.

It would have to be a pretty stupid dog to not associate the gunshot to dead birds ;)

How ever you do it, Keep an eye on you pup and don't make a big deal out of the gunshots, you ignore it too.

But the gun range sounds like a more risky way to go about it. I would never do it that way.
 
birdshooter said:
Tombstone, please.... do not take your dog to the gun club and expose it to constant gunfire.

Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad...... idea.

Proper introduction or exposure to gun fire should center around birds. Ultimately, the dog hears a shot and then looks for the bird. You must understand that dogs learn by association and repetition, any negative association with gunfire will be a major setback.
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Yep. Bird-shooter you nailed it. Gunfire has to be associated with birds....

Steve
 
I just got my Email back from two of our local GCH handlers , they both agree with what I said and do it on a regular basis to have the dogs ignore all shots and only go on command. They start with the basic at feeding type thing until they have a steady dog, and then go to the shotgun range in the parking at first then work closer with play and working them. One of the guys told me even Cesar Milian works dogs who are gunshy in at a local skeet range with play and treats. I don't know why your are so against doing that way. I may have only had my first Lab for four years, but she work great up till she died from pancreatitis , dogs only have one kidney. I had help from these guys as I rescuced her from the pound, at about a year old little training and we became a pretty good team. Even the Field Trials guys where surprised..
 
I'm a little confused here. Are we talking about gun introduction or steadiness training?

If you are just trying to steady up the dog, I personally would not do it at a gun club, but that's just me. At the very least you would want to keep a good distance between the dog and the guns.

Caesar Milan is not a gun dog trainer. :rolleyes:
 
you might go back in the archive of posts. We have been through this over and over. If you are trying to introduce gun fire to the dog. You need to do that gradually, in my opinion with birds involved. Because it is easier. Lots of people fire a gun at feeding with 22 up, others go to the gun range. As OnPoint says' lightning is a disaster, I have had many dogs who are steady and ignore gun fire, but are frantic in a rain storm. If you need to retrain, I have said many times, you need to use a professional, specializing in this, who uses a chain gang approach. I have never see it fail. But you need finished dogs, be able to shoot, with birds, repetively for days.
 
oldandnew is correct, you can't start a dog at a range, work there will help. If you don't like it don't do it, but I was doing what I was told and it worked great for steadiness, it was my first dog and asked a lot of questions from people I met . And yes I am not an expert by any stretch, But I try to learn from people I see as the top. C725 Yes Caesar is not a "gun dog trainer" but he works with all kinds of dogs that don't have any like of being around gunfire. Two of my friends are K9 units and they take the dogs to the rife/pistol range all the time, yes they don't hunt with them but they want the dog not to run at gunfire.... just my two cents sorry........
 
I think you misunderstood me as I was talking about a gun introduction not steadiness work. I certainly would not recommend the gun club of all places to introduce A dog to gunfire. YOu weren't clear on your earlier post whether this was the dogs first exposure or not. A Gun Club would not be my First choice for places to train, but that's me.
 
Sorry about that

birdshooter said:
I think you misunderstood me as I was talking about a gun introduction not steadiness work. I certainly would not recommend the gun club of all places to introduce A dog to gunfire. YOu weren't clear on your earlier post whether this was the dogs first exposure or not. A Gun Club would not be my First choice for places to train, but that's me.
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Yes, I did misunderstand you. I STARTED with hand claps and then airsoft and then a starter pistol, and worked up to going to the range. This all happened in a couple of months as the dog was already a year old. I was trying to keep her excited about being out and the environment of guns. I wouldn't recommend doing what I did with a puppy. I looked up the episode that Milian work with a gun shy dog, it was a couple year old Yellow lab, he had it swimming in a pool at a range, go figure!:cheers:
 
I get the picture, the "gunshy" monicker fooled me. If you want the dog to be steady, a shooting range is fine, or use another dog and alternate retrieve, may be walk away from one, and come back, stop on command. Nice thing about retrievers there are lots of off season games to play which makes the dog a better hunter.
 
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