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get young dog used to gun noise


ShootingEgg
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I've always initially introduced them to noise whilst they are feeding. For example dropping empty metal feed bowl. Start off a fair distance away and slowly get closer over the space of several weeks. But as Fenboy says you've got several months to worry about that.

Edited by Suffolkngood
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Walk him round the fields where there are gas guns not to close to start with and over the course of a few weeks get a bit closer pay no attention to the bangs and play ball or what ever keeps his attention on you and not the noise eventually you will be right on top of the gas gun and he will pay no attention to it all. The best bull dog

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There is a membrane in the inner ear that is easily damaged at ayoung age So be careful.

 

Start with a clap at feeding time then work up to a silenced air gun over time. e etc. Slowly slowly catchy monkey. Rush it now and you'll potentially cause a problem

Edited by wj939
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I started mine on the noisy feeding at about 4 months. She was then left in the outside pen at the house wile I was out shooting in the fields so heard the shots from a long distance.

The big step was bringing her gradually close to a clay shoot.

Then I moved onto to shotgun cartridges with the powder and shot removed at distance by a friend, gradually decreasing the distance and increasing the noise whilst doing a couple of retrieves after the shot.

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Think I started when mine was around 1 , when out walking / training Id get her attention point my stick shooting style and say bang getting louder to a shout as time went on,only when she had got used to that it was out in the car and sit up the road from local clay ground so she could get used to that.

Outlander

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When you and the dog are ready, get hold of a bag of cheap party poppers. If you take out the streamers they are just the right level of noise to start with outside.

 

If you are in control of the noise you can make sure it has a positive association such as a retrieve. You ideally need two people to start with. Get your friend to walk 40 yards away with the party popper and on your signal he can set it off and you can throw a retrieve. At that range it's hardly audible, especially on a windy day. Don't throw the retrieve in the direction of the bang at this early stage.

 

Provided you don't get any negative reaction, you can VERY slowly shorten the distance. Each time making sure the bang is associated with something positive. Once you are happy you can eventually move onto the blank firing pistol but don't forget to start a long long way away as they are a lot louder.

 

This routine gets the dogs used to looking for the mark on hearing the bang. Very useful later on.

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My lab is 22 months old and I started him off when he was 15 months old with a starter pistol. When he went to retrieve the dummy I fire d the pistol and did this maybe 8 times and he never bothered with the noise I then took him out the next day with the shotgun and fire do it off when he was approx 100 m away , I did this a couple of times and this also never bothered him , he's now use to the gun I've just got get him use to next doors cats now :)

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I took my dog to a clay ground over the course of a couple of months . Fist time we sat in the car in the car park and listened . Next time we got out and had a quick walk around the opposite fields. So 5he gun report was there but very much in the distance . Then each onwards we moved a little bit closer untill we got to the point we could stand 5 meters behind the guns . Like said DO NOT RUSH IT !

 

Little and often .

 

Atb

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  • 3 weeks later...

My springer pup is now 14 weeks old and I have done the food bowl trick also I am very lucky to have a clay shooting ground about 500 yards from my house so he is used to the sound of gun fire in his own enviroment. I read somewhere that their hearing can be damaged up to 18 months because it can take that long for their hearing to develop fully. I can*t do anything about the clay shooting but I will keep him away from my guns till he is older :good::yes:

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Tympanic membrane is what can be damaged by premature exposure to very loud noise, it will be fine after six months old. I wouldn't worry about introduction to shot as your pup doesn't sound like he's diving for cover at the slightest noise, there will be other training challenges as he develops that will concern you more!

Edited by WGD
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