Gun shy

[ekidd39773]

Month till duck season dogs ready but gun shy HELP!!!!! Any ideas beside getn rid of her which my kids love her to much todo that

[simplepeddler]

man........figure out if you can be a 2 dog house hold............
Still, you will not have a dog for this season.......

I've heard of dogs coming out of it.......but I've not seen it myself

[ekidd39773]

What I fig I've got a deposit on an American water spaniel so I guess I'll be stuck another year with out a dog

[littlesmacko89]

I've been told to feed them when u get ready to shoot.....for instance get about 100-200 yards away and shot like a22 away from the dog....then work ur way closer over time....once u get that go up to ur shotgun and do it again but should be able to go little faster with it. Them once the dog is comfortable with that do it with ur training stuff and hope for the best.....good luck man...there are some great guys on here and that is who I heard it from so if ural disagree please correct me

[music_man]

Do you have a retriever trainer (dummy launcher) by chance? Best tool I've seen/used for gun shy retrievers.

[ekidd39773]

Thanks for the help guys gonna try them out

[kb7722]

Start with baby steps. Get them use to seeing the gun. Get it out and carry it around while you are feeding them. Have your gun out when you are throwing bumpers. Retriever love bumpers; so they will start to associate seeing the gun with its time to retrieve bumpers.

Now its time to start introducing gun fire. Start with a .22. You are going to need a second person for this. Have the other person take the gun 100 yards or more away from you and the dog. You throw the bumpers and have the other guy fire a shoot. Its probably best to not throw in the direction of the shooter at first. Repeat this until the dog is very comfortable with it. Then you will start to slowly work the gun closer to the dog. The key is SLOW. This may take a couple days or a couple weeks. Its better to go to slow than to end up rushing and the dog having a negative experience. Once the dog is use to the .22, use the same process with a shotgun. You should be able to progress pretty fast with the shotgun, but starting at a distance is just a precaution. Each dog is going to be different. You will have to judge how the dog is responding and progress accordingly. But again its better to go slower and not have a negative experience. Negative experiences will just set you back.

Hope this helps. Now every time I get a gun out, my dog gets really excited thinking she is going to get to retrieve something.

[rsm688]

Start with a .22lr or a blank gun or something very small, have a friend go off 200 yards and you be with your dog playing with it doing whatever it enjoys the most (like retrieving or playing with a dead bird) have your friend slowly move closer and continue firing while you keep the dog having a blast until he is right near you. If the dog gets nervous/shy then have them stay at that distance and continue to do it until the dog quits paying attention then slowly start moving closer again. You can also use food or treats, pretty much just trick your dog into paying no attention to the gun shot.

Then go to something like a 9mm/45 and repeat the process

Then get your shotgun and repeat the process


Slow and steady wins the race, rushing a dog into gun shots is the easiest way to make them gun shy and a gun shy hunting dog is worthless.