gunshy bird dogs

Gove County Britts

Gove County Britts

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I am hopping that someone here can help me I have a 2 year old viszla who isn't completely gunshy but close how would i go about helping her over this problem . we didn't hunt her last year becouse the neighbors dog got in the pen and made her a mommy please help
 
She is a little old for my method but you can give it a try. Take the dog for field runs as often as possible. I run mine daily. While on the run carry a .22 or.32 blank pistol. When the dog is out in front a little ways shot the gun behind your back. Don't let the dog see the gun. When it comes back to you for protection. This is the important part. DO NOTHING. Just keep walking like nothing happened. A short while later do it again. Do the same things NOTHING. Don't even talk to it. Do this no more than 3 times a run. When the dog stops coming back to you for protection and keeps on running. You will know it has learned it will not get hurt by the bang. IT should not be gunshy in the field. I normally do this as a pup, so they grow up use to the bangs in the field.---Bob
 
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thanks bob, she is the result of my partners lack of time and we are hoping we can break her. she isn't real bad but she does run back to us and circle as if she is looking for protection . we will start your method tomarrow and i will keep you posted on how it turns out.
 
Thank you, I would appreciate that. And good Luck I hope it works for you.---Bob
 
bobeyerite said:
She is a little old for my method but you can give it a try. Take the dog for field runs as often as possible. I run mine daily. While on the run carry a .22 or.32 blank pistol. When the dog is out in front a little ways shot the gun behind your back. Don't let the dog see the gun. When it comes back to you for protection. This is the important part. DO NOTHING. Just keep walking like nothing happened. A short while later do it again. Do the same things NOTHING. Don't even talk to it. Do this no more than 3 times a run. When the dog stops coming back to you for protection and keeps on running. You will know it has learned it will not get hurt by the bang. IT should not be gunshy in the field. I normally do this as a pup, so they grow up use to the bangs in the field.---Bob
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I totally agree with Bob,
I had a 1yr Female Chessie that was gun shy, we did what Bob describe with the blank gun and went a little further I made noises around the house like bang your hand on a counter or drop a pan or a metal food dish once in awhile and like Bob said don't do anything. it took about a month of this training and she turned out to be a great all around hunting dog. so go
 
Gove, you said the dog is not completely gun shy but close. Explain?

How did you originally introduce the dog to the gun?

I am in belief that gun introduction should be done using birds, pup is in full pursuit of bird and a shot is fired at a distance. Undoing some mistakes made during initial gun introduction can be done, but can be a little dicey and depending on how bad, may be best fixed by a professsional.
 
Birdshooter , I agree with introducing them to gunfire with birds , but my partner did not at the time and know is remembering why I am the dog trainer in our partnership she is his dog and he babbied her for the first year and now i am left to fix her. I have been working with her as bob has suggested and it seems to be working some and off course i always make alot of noise. but i think what is really helping me is the fact that when I am working her I use an older dog for her to observe and she seems to do fine
thank you everyone for your input into this situation
 
birdshooter said:
Gove, you said the dog is not completely gun shy but close. Explain?

How did you originally introduce the dog to the gun?

I am in belief that gun introduction should be done using birds, pup is in full pursuit of bird and a shot is fired at a distance. Undoing some mistakes made during initial gun introduction can be done, but can be a little dicey and depending on how bad, may be best fixed by a professsional.
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Same plan here. Easier to show you then try to explain if you are in the area we could help.
 
birdshooter said:
Gove, you said the dog is not completely gun shy but close. Explain?

How did you originally introduce the dog to the gun?

I am in belief that gun introduction should be done using birds, pup is in full pursuit of bird and a shot is fired at a distance. Undoing some mistakes made during initial gun introduction can be done, but can be a little dicey and depending on how bad, may be best fixed by a professsional.
Click to expand...

I agree re using birds or shooting at a time where the dog will associate it as a positive rather than a negative.
As soon as pups start eating mush, I start banging some metal pans together while they are eating. As soon as they are outsde I start with the blank pistol at a reasonable distance, gradually getting closer. At 7-8 weeks they can take a 12 ga at 20 feet.
________
Star craft replays
 
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I'm with you Uncle Buck. I don't bang the pans. But the rest I do and I use a 20 gauge for that is all I'm allowed to shoot.---Bob
 
success at the kennel

well boys i did what bob described and even though it is a work in progress it is working and working well. the dog is finally coming around and starting to do well thanks for all the information
 
GCB, I am happy it is working and hoping it finishes well. Thank you for the update....Bob
 
gun shy fix

I totally agree with bob. Here is another tip that I did with my britt. I keep a toy cap gun in my house and when he least expects it "pow". I did this just walking by her while laying around, eatting or just playing "pow". I dont let her see the cap gun and I never acknowledged yhe noise just keep doing whatever it was you were doing. I think this really helped him get used to the "pow". Good luck.
 
I used a Co2 bb gun to break my dogs...just fire empty air as the dog plays! and fire multiple shots! Alot of people gun break their dogs to get use to a single gun shot, i've seen dogs that were suppose to be gun broken become gun shy when multiple gun shots are fired.
 
As far as shy dogs go, I had a nice little female English Setter given to me because she was "too timid". Well, when I went to get her I understood why she was so timid. This old guy was about 6 feet 2 and was an old submarine officer. He was about as gruff and mean as one could be with the dogs.

The price was right so I took her home. She got out one day and my Dad put her in a pen with 3 or 4 beagle pups. It was working and I hadn't had time to build a new pen yet so I left her there for quite some time. She came out of being shy and timid with all those Beagle pups running around yapping and barking.

It was a fluke she ended up there but it worked wonderfully !
 
I did the pops over the food bowl and taking the dog to the skeet and trap range to play and get use to many guns going off. One time the club aloud me to have Shayna tied to me to shoot a round..
 
Tombstone17 said:
I did the pops over the food bowl and taking the dog to the skeet and trap range to play and get use to many guns going off. One time the club aloud me to have Shayna tied to me to shoot a round..
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Ty

Shooting with a dog tied to you is a recipe for disaster! Please take this advice. All dogs may break no matter how steady.
 
Gatzby, You are probably right about tying the dog to me, but by this time she was very steady and wouldn't leave my side. The tying is not good advice.
 
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