wj939 Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 Right guys, having a little trouble with my cocker, she came to us part trained about a month or so ago and is about 18months old. She is extremly nervy around the gun, we shot over her once and it became evident she was very nervous of the sight of the gun, not the sound. Having spoken to her previous owner, who i trust, she had been trained with a starting pistol with no problems. I have also noticed she had previously been scared of the stick if it was in my hands, slowly but surely this has been reduced through walking her regularly over the last couple of weeks carrying the stick, leaving it on her bed etc. Having checker her out with a pistol, at 30 yards or so she does not cower away or show signs of worry when fired (which makes me think its not the noise of the bang), put a gun in my hands and she immediately goes shy, refuses to deliver to hand and looks for the motor or her cage. i.e somewhere safe. I have been laying a gun next to her food, which she will only take with the gun laying down, pick it up and shes out of there. Any other ideas how I can break this cycle of fear? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosd Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 (edited) I'm not an expert gun dog trainer but I've had dogs. I would associate the stick with something she likes. Maybe a favourite treat, something fun to focus her mind away from the stick. Lots of love, encouragement and praise. If she associates it with something bad from the past, it will take a little while before she trusts it again. Edited March 7, 2014 by Cosd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kent Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 Hmm, someone isn't telling you something I suspect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wj939 Posted March 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 Hmm, someone isn't telling you something I suspect. Possibly Kent, however shes from a well respected trainer and I would be inclined to trust him but you never know. Assuming she hasn't been beaten, what can I try? Having seen she is quite fine with the pistol going off, and since she has slowly accepted the stick my plan was to take her out with the stick with me and have a helper fire the pistol at distance. I could then decrease the distance, and then start again with the gun and helper at distance? My thought is that with the shot I put over her with the gun (error in judgement) I have allowed her to associate a long object in my hand startling her. Slowly trying to associate the gun being around with her food but she will not even take the food unless the gun is laid flat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayDT10 Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 You could try laying the gun on the grass and play with your dog over the top of It with plenty of fuss and even treats. Is there any chance that the dog may of been hit with a stick in its training. If so you will just have to try and win the dogs confidence back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Kelly Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 If you've only had her a month I'd say just take it easy for a while. Some dogs take a long time to settle into a new environment, I know mine did. Take it easy and as she gets to know and trust you you can introduce the gun and she'll get used to it and come to enjoy it as she associates the gun with the fun days out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kent Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 Its a hard one to answer without seeing. It could be quite a few things, personally I should start with a very honest and open chat with the vendor. Could be its been gone down on too hard for going near a gun, could be it has had a scare from the noise, seen the power of the gun (it kills stuff powerful voodoo) and then put two and two together and made half a dozen. Can I just say I personally darn near ruined my lab. Fully acclimatised to the gun (indeed over keen as he liked to catch the ejected shells from the auto if you didn't watch him) but in his very earliest session on the marsh I cracked off a 3 1/2" super mag over his head while he was sleeping using a ported choke, yeah a dumb move! The solution was to stop immediately. Took him out on evening flight that eve waited for an easy duck (this time with std flush choke and a milder shell) wacked it and let him run in to the fall (job sorted). Problem was it then sprang back to life and gave him a great chase (took me a lot of work to steady him up again! ) Some dogs are just funny with strange looking/ smelling objects it might just be fear of the unknown, I admit to being a pessimist regards the description "part trained" and I trust no one who uses the description, hopefully my fear is groundless Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old farrier Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 Hi Sorry you got this problem Just a idea and there are more experienced than me to give ideas Get a freind to use a dummy launcher hand one to start with of the type you can fit onto a stock Start at distance from her and gauge her response if all goes well and she likes it attach the stock and she may assosiate with it better you can get a attachment for launchers that fire tennis balls that help if she's not keen on dummies and they take the crack out of the blank Like I say just a idea to think about Hope it works out for your dog All te best Of Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wj939 Posted March 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 Thanks guys, I think you could be right about taking it easy, my only concern with that was that it would just mean I have the same problem further down the line, I am going to go back to the vendor for some training myself so I should be able to push him on it a little more to see if there is a back story. Apart from that I have been very pleased with part trained. I expected it to be sit stay retrieve but have been very impressed in all. OF, Thats not a bad shout actually, will let you now how it goes. Thanks for the advice guys, keep it coming Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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