is there any hope for a gun shy dog

[darren m]

jacks been fine with gun fire so far , until today that is .

whilst i've been at work , my little darling daughter as been chasing him around the garden with a pop gun most of the day .

she greeted me with daddy , daddy , jack does,nt like this and there he was cowering in the corner.

to say i am pi$$ed off is an understatement , so i took him out with the blank firer, just to see what the damage was and fired a couple of shots and , you guessed it he ran off and cowered .

ruined in one afternoon!!!!

can i turn this around .

thanks for any advice

Darren .

[Guest Mr Pieman]

Darren,

I would suggest you PM 'New to the Flock'. He's our doggy expert and if the pup can be saved I'm sure he'll have a way.

 

PP

[potshot]

There are two 'types' of gun shyness. True gun shyness has no cure and the other is more aptly called gun nervous which is curable.

 

For you now it's all about conditioning - you said the dog was OK before and the conditioning it has just suffered has done all the damage. So you have to make sure every time he hears a shot he has a good experience by praise, patting and even using *** bits if you need to. It will take a while to regain his confidence.

 

Also remember that a starting pistol has a very sharp crack compared to say a shotgun so use it initially muffled, for instance in a game bag. Also you will need someone else to help you so that the gun is never fired close to the dog until it becomes more confident.

 

Good luck

[new to the flock]

Darren:

 

Keep him away from the gun for the next few days and I will get something up for you. I will post a program that I use, and if that doesn't work we will get you a set of audio tapes that are played for the dog and seem to work wonders. Give me a couple of days....NTTF

 

P.S. Trix says ship him over for the next 2 months and we'll pick him up.

[darren m]

Thanks mate -- you are true gent , look forward to reading it .

Darren .

 

i'll stick him in the post ( wonder what the postage is to canada)

[Guest Mr Pieman]

Send him by plane - just not 'club' class LMAO

 

PP

[eugene molloy]

No worries.

 

If he was OK before "the treatment" he will be OK afterwrds with a bit of TLC. Probably the offspring just tired him out and he associates the noise with being knackered and ******** about!

 

Don't push him, just continue the training as per normal BUT keep little madam away under all circumstances. Don't fire a gun just to see if he's OK; you know he's not, so avoid the problem.

 

Ensure he looks on loud noises as a fun thing..dinging his grub bowl, bashing the pen prior to "walkies", slamming doors.

 

Depending on what you want him to do on hearing a shot (sit, mark) lead him to it gently using hand claps, a stamped foot, or whatever.

 

Just a gentle admonishion....children should never have access to firearms even of the blank type; they too need training in proper procedures. Are you entirely happy your daughter could take your dog out and point a pistol at him?

 

Kindest Regards

 

Eug

[darren m]

EUG -- it was a toy plastic pop gun , not my blank firer.

[new to the flock]

Darren

 

Sorry this is taking so long but it has been nuts here this past week. Just need a little bit of info from you: Does Jack go nuts over birds? Have you ever shot birds over him? and Do you have someone that will assist you?

 

Thanks mate

[darren m]

NTTF -- no , i,ve never shot birds over jack,

as far as goes nuts , well he,s very interested in birds !!! ( not 100% sure)

and yes mate i can get an assistent to help me , if she'll just leave her bloody ponies alone for a while.

Dan -- i have sent you a PM.( hope that helps)

all the best

Darren .

[new to the flock]

Okay, part of the reason that I've left this so long is that I didn't want you jumping into this right away, and I wanted Jack away from the gun for a couple of weeks. That and I've been busier than a two pecker Billy goat at breeding season... .

 

First off for the next couple of weeks lets forget about gun shots and other load noises completely. After we build Jacks bird desire and drive up we will carefully reintroduce the gun. Do not rush, this is a long process, and the more you try to rush or short cut the worse you will make the dog. You dont ruin dogs by going to slowly, It takes as long as it takes.Allow Jack to accept the retraining at his own rate.

 

Building Jacks desire for birds is a cridical part of retraining. With the exception of the chickens, let jack have fun around wild and planted birds. This means he is allowed to run and chase anything that is flushed. Birds are going to be our distraction when we reintroduce the gun. You want Jack to be so excited about birds that he won't even notice the sound of the gun.

 

Start by chaining Jack up on a 6 foot drop chain. Have a supply of pigeons available. With Jack on the chain, use a pigeon on a 4 foot tether cord, (light line that goes to both of the pigeons legs), to get him excited. let this bird fly around him, while he lundges and tries to catch. Basically get him as excited as you can. When he gets good and excited let the pigeon fly off a ways,( it wont go far with the tether on ), and pet him up. Continue with this exercise for around two weeks, be sure that part of the time you release an untethered pigeon in front of him that will fly away out of sight. When he watches the bird till it disappears you will know that he is getting kean to catch a bird .

 

Now you are going to need a helper. Let your mate handle the gun and you handle the dog. Be sure to discuss the training plan completely, so you both will know what you are expected to do. Start with your .22 cal blank pistol at a distance of 75 to 100 yards. It is better to start farther away than closer.

 

Your initial goal is to have the dog associate the sound of the gun with birds flying, now this only works if the dog already likes birds, so be sure to spend lots of time on phase one. You are still working on the drop chain at this point and time. Get Jack good and excited, just as you are releasing the bird to fly away have your helper fire A shot. Timming is cridical, the shot must come just after the bird is released. Your helper must be in position to see everything that is happening.

Repeat this for 2 to 3 days at the same distance. Once this has been done for the 2 to 3 days successfully, you can move onto working Jack on a check cord and work planted birds in the field. Remember to keep your gunner out at a distance of 50 to 75 yards during this phase of training. As the bird flushes in front of Jack and he is focused on it, have your gunner fire A shot.

 

When this is working well, go back to having Jack on the chain and repeat everything above, having your helper fire a small guage shotgun, ( .410, 28g, 16g,20g), with low brass to keep the noise down. You are going to follow the same routine as you did with the .22 cal, going from the chain to working birds, always with the single shot timed to the birds flush.

 

If Jack shows fear at any time during this, go back to working on the chain, and continue to build his enthusiasim up on birds, remember to move your gunner back further . Do not pet him if he shows fear as this will only reenforce the fear as a good thing . Instead stand confidently beside him, and show no reaction, eventually he will come around and follow you. As the gun is fired just stand calmly and quietly beside him. If he is on lead, do not jerk or pull the lead. Hold it steady and quietly restrict his movement. The gun should be fired at a distance of 75 yards minimum to start, only moving closer, as Jack shows noacknloledgement of the sound at all. It is better to start further away and move closer os the dog accepts, or ignors the sound.

 

As the process progesses to not be tempted to test Jack to see if he is over his fear. This can ruin everything that you have accomplished. Watch him to see when he is comfortable with the noise of the gun or better yet ignors it completely, then bring your gun in 25 yards. If this bothers him move the gun back out till he is comfortable again the move in only ten yards. TAKE YOUR TIME.

 

Once Jack is ignoring the sound of the gun at 10 yards you can start to shoot birds for him. When hunting wild or planted birds, pay close attention to where is is in relation to the gun, so you do not shoot directly over his head the last thing that you want to do now is muzzle blast him.

 

 

This program was originally developed by Rick Smith, and I have used it successfully to retrain two gunshy dogs. One of these dogs would dig through a hard wood floor at the sight of a gun. Just remember to go slow and to keep it FUN.

[darren m]

Thanks NTTF , i shall get right on it .

Darren .

ps . whats the idea behind audio tapes , you where talking about .

[taptap]

Don't rush your dog, keep him/her away from the bangs, and get him/her out regularly on scent of any type, let the dog enjoy itself. It will take time, it happened to my dog (14 month old), spooked whilst up in Scotland shooting, no apparent reason, ran off and hid, could have been the strange surroundings?

I stopped shooting over her, but took her beating, no problems, picking up no problems, she was not concerned if the gun shots were more than 50-60mtrs away. After a season away from shooting over her, I went out let her hunt up a pheasant dropped it in front of her and have never looked back, the excitement of the chase, nulifies the bang.

Best advise is patience, dont rush it.