Gun fire conditioning alone

Plenty of good advice above. I generally start pups fairly young while they feed and move to birds soon afterward. The only thing I would add is that gun shyness is more often than not a sign of a mental defect in the dog. Genetics and proper breeding help or hinder training accordingly.
 
With labs, I make a lot of noise during feeding time, so they are excited about noise,
pans banging means food. Then I transition to a hand clap, then fire a toy gun
in the other room while pup is eating, gradually fire the toy gun closer and closer.
Soon pup associates toy gun with good stuff, then transition to toy gun excitement
in hallway retrieves. This process may take a month, I'm in no rush.
 
AKSkeeter said:
Soon pup associates toy gun with good stuff, then transition to toy gun excitement
in hallway retrieves.
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Its a gradual, increased noise process. I did a similar thing with my current dog. Eventually she got used to loud motorcycles and fireworks going off outside without it bothering her.

Firing a 12 gauge over a puppy's head could potentially create gunfire issues for life with a young dog that's being introduced. Start with a cap gun from distance, then a pistol, then a .410, etc. No dog is born being gun-shy. Its how they were introduced to it that creates it.
 
Good tips from AK above. Lots of stuff you can do in the house.

It's also good to change things up on a young dog. I've been known to put a chair on top of the kitchen table so they don't get freaked out by new or different stuff. If they seem skittish to something new or different I'll say something like "what's that?" Or "go get it" in an excited voice to get them to go over and check it out. So they use their curious brain to check stuff out instead of being scared by their curious brains.
 
All good advice above. Puppies should be conditioned (clapping hands, banging pot). Then latter a blank pistol while chasing a bird. The idea is that they associate the shot with something good. As someone else said, do not take them out and shoot to see how they react. I literally watched someone ruin a young shorthair 5 minute after I advised him not to shoot that 12 gauge near her. I would only add to please use a blanks. Live ammo even with a 22 is loud and dangerous. I'm pretty safety minded, But not above stupidity!! While out just running a pup and an older dog, the pup jumped a group of doves and gave chase. I figured it was a good opportunity. Drew held the 22 behind me and fired into the ground. Missed my old dog by inches.
 
A .22 is a good starter in my opinion if you don't have a blank gun or want to buy a blank gun. But started from distance so usually you need 2 people. You can even get subsonic rounds that have even less pop than a normal .22 shell.
 
AggieHB said:
Plenty of good advice above. I generally start pups fairly young while they feed and move to birds soon afterward. The only thing I would add is that gun shyness is more often than not a sign of a mental defect in the dog. Genetics and proper breeding help or hinder training accordingly.
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Gun shyness has nothing to do with a mental defect in dog. It has to do with a mental illness in the dogs owner. It is not something that is born it is something man made.
 
westksbowhunter said:
Gun shyness has nothing to do with a mental defect in dog. It has to do with a mental illness in the dogs owner. It is not something that is born it is something man made.
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I think your both correct. There's 2 kinds of Gun shyness. Natural and created. A naturally gun-shy dog will be scared of everything. Cars people, everything. There is no hope for it. I have only seen a naturally gun-shy bird dog once. I have seen it a few times in mutts. Also seen it manifest into aggression. Maybe called fear aggression??
 
birddude said:
I think your both correct. There's 2 kinds of Gun shyness. Natural and created. A naturally gun-shy dog will be scared of everything. Cars people, everything. There is no hope for it. I have only seen a naturally gun-shy bird dog once. I have seen it a few times in mutts. Also seen it manifest into aggression. Maybe called fear aggression??
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Sorry but wrong again. A dog that is scared of everything including cars and people was caused by man as well. If a dog is scared of everything then it was not socialized correctly as a puppy. So now you have 2 man made problems. Dogs are not born scared of people and scared of guns. Here is a quote from an article:
Why do dogs become fear aggressive?
The root of most aggressive behavior is fear. Combine fear with a situation where a dog has not been raised and trained humanely and the result is often a disastrous cocktail of fear aggression. This is frequently made even worse by owners and trainers who employ punishment-based techniques on the fear aggressive dog. Another common root cause of fear aggression is a lack of appropriate socialization during the dog's development. If a dog has not received adequate socialization, she will find it hard to cope with new things she encounters in her environment such as other dogs, animals or people.
 
Technically I will agree that all mental issues in dogs are caused by humans. I agree with most all of the advice here. My point is that improper breeding (such as line breeding too many times) causes problems with mental and physical health In the dogs. Hip, eye, kidney and mental problems are mostly caused by uneducated breeders or breeders that place money above the dogs. This is true for breeds from English Bull Dogs to Labs to Pointers and especially some of the toy breeds. The more popular the breed the more prevalent the problems.
 
A lot of good ideas which may or may not work with every dog. The main thing to do is to get the dog interested in smelling and chasing birds, any bird, and totally involved with having fun, then introduce the gun. I start with a 22 long rifle round fired from a rifle , Working on up to a 22 revolver, 410 shotgun , then if the dog is showing no negative reactions a 20 ga shotgun fired from 50 yards away. Some frozen quail saved from a hunt for the dog to retrieve and mouth will also increase his interest. Has always worked for me. Maine thing is do not get in a hurry. Some take longer than others .
 
AggieHB said:
Technically I will agree that all mental issues in dogs are caused by humans. I agree with most all of the advice here. My point is that improper breeding (such as line breeding too many times) causes problems with mental and physical health In the dogs. Hip, eye, kidney and mental problems are mostly caused by uneducated breeders or breeders that place money above the dogs. This is true for breeds from English Bull Dogs to Labs to Pointers and especially some of the toy breeds. The more popular the breed the more prevalent the problems.
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Aggie, That last sentence speaks volumes.
 
Original post is over eight months old and Op has never checked back in or even commented.
I don’t get why guys ask for help and never update it even say thank you.
 
Winchester30 said:
Original post is over eight months old and Op has never checked back in or even commented.
I don’t get why guys ask for help and never update it even say thank you.
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To be honest, after the first few posts, there didn’t seem to be much reason to weigh back in. A lot of great information, and thanks to all for sharing. I ended up getting some 20 gauge primed hulls to start with while working on birds, working my way up to full loads. Seems to have ended up just fine.

Thanks again to all.
 
I just got through with the Perfection Kennels "Gun Acclimation" video on my 9 month old GWP. It went really well I think. We did about 4 sessions on the blank .22 and about 3-4 sessions with a 20 gauge. Then I did 2 sessions throwing quail in the air and shooting them. I actually used a 12 ga for this. He did well on all except he did not track the birds on the last session worth a flip. I would highly recommend Perfections dvd.
 
With labs, stand alone marks where I can stand and shoot a cap gun 100 yards away from the dog.
Then gradually transition to a bumper launcher and gradually decrease the distance.
Here is an example of beginning stand alone mark with puppy:
 
My method is expensive but it works.
5 years before you pick up the dog, impregnate your wife.
2 years later, repeat.
When you pick up the puppy you will now have a 4 year old and 2 year old child who will, yell, scream bang things, cry, break all kinds of stuff and create so much chaos that the dog will never even notice Gun fire.
 
dag said:
My method is expensive but it works.
5 years before you pick up the dog, impregnate your wife.
2 years later, repeat.
When you pick up the puppy you will now have a 4 year old and 2 year old child who will, yell, scream bang things, cry, break all kinds of stuff and create so much chaos that the dog will never even notice Gun fire.
Click to expand...
Proven method, without a doubt!
 
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