# Gun Shy



## Braccarius (Sep 8, 2008)

Looking at your pictures she looks fairly young (I'm guessing circa 4 months). At that age most dogs natural reaction to anything they are unfamiliar with is to run or be scared. I've found that waiting a little bit (over 6-7 months) helps a lot when trying to acclimate them to gunfire. You can definitely get her used to shooting... but you should probably give her something else to focus on while the gunfire is occuring rather than having her sit there.


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## Claudia M (Aug 8, 2012)

Yes she was 12 weeks this past Thursday. She will actually be 3 months On Sept 7th. We had her at a distance. It seems like the longer the distance the better she was. The creek is about 65 yards from where the shooting took place. She seemed OK at that distance. The different caliber did not seem to make a difference. Maybe it does to our ears but certainly not to hers. When my daughter, Ella, was shooting the 22 Ruger (she is just learning) I was sitting with her at about 50 yards and jumping up and down. She sort of got tired of me acting so excited and screaming yay for Ella; she just laid down and sort of looked at me and her. She concentrated from the distance on my husband teaching my daughter how to load and shoot. When I tried to take her to the creek she did not seem like she wanted to move. Once past the shooting place she was fine. In the evening we took her there while no one was shooting (after we picked all the empty shells up). She was not scared of the place. As a matter of fact she went #1 right next to the targets. 
It has been 17 years since we had a puppy in the house so maybe I am just "jumping the gun" so to speak.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

I fire a cap gun from the back of the house while my dog is eating dinner. I fire one shot. Every few days I walk a few feet closer to the dog. I have someone observe the dog while I shoot the cap gun. If the dog flinches, I will lengthen the distance the next time. If the dog stops eating and runs to investigate the sound, I know that I have no problem. I do this until I can see that the dog is not bothered by the gun.

In the field during training I will then have someone fire a gun from maybe 50 yds. away and throw a bumper for a retrieve so that the association is made.

I must tell you that I am the only one in my training group who goes to these lengths to condition the dog. I feel it is insurance, a way to help prevent a problem.


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## Claudia M (Aug 8, 2012)

gdgli said:


> I fire a cap gun from the back of the house while my dog is eating dinner. I fire one shot. Every few days I walk a few feet closer to the dog. I have someone observe the dog while I shoot the cap gun. If the dog flinches, I will lengthen the distance the next time. If the dog stops eating and runs to investigate the sound, I know that I have no problem. I do this until I can see that the dog is not bothered by the gun.
> 
> In the field during training I will then have someone fire a gun from maybe 50 yds. away and throw a bumper for a retrieve so that the association is made.
> 
> I must tell you that I am the only one in my training group who goes to these lengths to condition the dog. I feel it is insurance, a way to help prevent a problem.


Excellent point, we have been looking all over the house for our cap gun and can't find it. It has been a long time since we last used it. I have been banging pots in the house, making loud noises around her and it did not seem to bother her. I played gun fire tunes on the computer and that also did not seem to bother her. We live in the city limits and we cannot fire a gun even though we live at the end of town. I will have to check legislation in my area and see if allowed. Unfortunately our neighborhood while nice has been "inundated" with (to say it nicely) people who are very pro gun control. 

I sure hope it is simply a combination of age and new place. This was her first time at the cabin, her first long car trip (not to mention the serpentine up and down the mountain). We gave her a full day to acclimate to the new place. 

My husband went dove hunting today and brought back a bird for Rose. It was cute to watch her check it out, jumping all around it. She did not fetch it. After a couple minutes of introducing her to the word bird, we put it away in a bag and in the freezer. We encouraged her to find the bird and she just kept on smelling the floor for it.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

I live within NYC limits. I actually have used the cap gun in the house. I have also popped a paper bag to get the sound. I believe that it's not just about loud sounds and that the dog discriminates. I have seen dogs that are not gunshy absolutely cringe when there is a thunderstorm.I don't care to use pots and pans, I think the cap gun does a better job.


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## Jige (Mar 17, 2011)

Do you have a shooting range close by? If you do you should find out when there are people there( mine only have people there on certain days) then you can take your pup and start out far away. Once she is fine with that distance you can move closer it will take some time but as long as you are calm and act as to nothing is wrong she will too. Remeber whatever you are feeling goes down that leash to your dog.


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## Claudia M (Aug 8, 2012)

Thank you! We had scattered thunderstorms while at the cabin this weekend. I took her for a walk in the morning after the shooting and while on the trail the storm started - I was so worried of her reaction - especially since I was in the woods. She stopped, locked up and then she kept on walking. 

I am planning to go to this years neighborhood picnic and talk to the neighbors about it as well. We normally do not go since it is an association neighborhood picnic and we are not part of it. They keep on inviting us every year but never went since they ran some good neighbors away with their ridiculous rules. Luckily we built the house prior to the stupid association thingy (no fences, no storage sheds, no detached garage, can't paint your house, trim, shutters... without approval and all that BS). We bought the land next to us so noone from the association will build on our side of the street. Amazingly they always comment on how nice our yard is (which has a fence and couple storage buildings on it and a large dog kennel for when we mow or work in the yard and flower beds). 
I guess I have to introduce the neighbors first to the cap gun sound before I can introduce Rose to it. :crossfing


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## Claudia M (Aug 8, 2012)

With hunting season approaching the outdoor shooting ranges are quite busy this time a year. Certainly worth to try! 
I am thinking about taking her this coming Saturday in the field while my husband and his two sons are dove hunting. I will stay further out and with my car so I can leave if necessary. Would she be too young for that?


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## Golden Gibby (Jan 8, 2011)

For what its worth I started with a cap gun in a different area of the house and then called my pup and gave him a treat. He soon associated the cap gun with good things and came running on his own. Then I started using the cap gun like a dinner bell before feeding. I never fired the cap gun near the pup it was always in another room so hopefully I wouldn't scare him. This worked well for me, Gibby knows gunfire
means good things (birds). If she is apprehensive about gun fire I would probably wait a couple of weeks before I tried again and then go slowly.


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## Claudia M (Aug 8, 2012)

The capgun is ordered. I believe my husband buried our cap gun with Troopie. We did not make it to the dove hunting this weekend because it started raining. At least my husband got enough time (15 min of hunting) to get a dove. She was very excited to "retrieve" that dove. Reason why I used quotation marks is because she would bring it back but pass us with the bird. REALLY need to work on the leave it command!
Am I asking too much of a 3 months old pup?


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## Swampcollie (Sep 6, 2007)

Claudia M said:


> Am I asking too much of a 3 months old pup?


Well, to put it bluntly *YES!*


Not going to sugar coat it here, You're really setting the pup up for failure. Slow down a bit. Training a dog for field work isn't hard, but you have to follow a training sequence that helps the pup succeed. 

Before you ever shoot near a young dog, it must be a little retrieving maniac. Part of completing a retrieve is returning to you, which is part of basic obedience (i.e. recall). 

*Please* go to the Field section and ask your question. You'll find a lot of experienced folks to help you succeed without stepping into pitfalls.


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## Claudia M (Aug 8, 2012)

Swampcollie said:


> Well, to put it bluntly *YES!*
> 
> Before you ever shoot near a young dog, it must be a little retrieving maniac. Part of completing a retrieve is returning to you, which is part of basic obedience (i.e. recall).


my hubby did not shoot the bird near the dog - as I stated we did not go. By the time I was going to take her there to stay with Rose at a distance- just to be more accustomed to the shooting sounds it started raining. 

Before dinner, we went outside with a dead bird and threw it for her to go fetch it. About two hours later we went back outside and she was searching for the bird. She found a couple feathers and was very proud of herself.

The Bill Hillmann video showed a live bird but I cannot do it - I think it is a bit cruel for the bird.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

You do have a puppy. Slowing down is not a bad idea. Your dog does seem birdy. Also, what did your husband have to say about the retrieve? I am curious as he does have field experience.


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## Claudia M (Aug 8, 2012)

he is happy with how birdy she is. He said that the actual retrieve is not that important at this point. She has good memory knows exactly where the bird fell on the ground and were she brought it back. Since Saturday she goes back to those spots. It is cute for me to see her hear a bird then I say bird and she sort of expects it to fall down. 
He is working with her in teaching her to find the bird on the ground, off the ground and in bushes. We kept the wings only from the poor dove. I ordered other type of wings at cabela's (believe he said she needs to be introduced to different type of birds, scents and feathers). Meanwhile we are repeating and repeating and REPEATING commands.


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## Claudia M (Aug 8, 2012)

Today we had the third session of dove retrieving in the back yard. A fresh one shot today. She brought it back 3 times. I could not have been happier. As much as I wanted to do it again I had to stop. She was excited and I decided to leave it on a positive note while we were ALL hungry for more retrieves, especially Rose.


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## Claudia M (Aug 8, 2012)

Back at the hunting cabin over the weekend. She did so good with the gun shots. She did not flinch one bit!!!!


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