seb Posted December 15, 2008 Report Share Posted December 15, 2008 I re-homed a young springer a while back from a couple of gamekeepers who said they didn't have the time to finish training her and wanted her to go to a good home. Anyway she is good on the whistle hunts out front, turns retrieves etc. But.... Just the sight of a gun or stick and she is really scared and runs away or cowers in the corner, I thought I would just giver her time to settle in but she is still the same now. I can only think she associates guns / sticks with punishment, maybe being hit, other people that have seen her react tend to agree. What do you guys think? Will she get over this with training? I haven't wanted to push her. When I have had my guns out I have been giving her little treats to get her associating them with something nice instead. Maybe I should do this every day? I know some dogs can never get over being gun scared. It is the sight of them that scares her, I tried a starting pistol when she was playing and it didn't bother her at all. Living in the kennels where she was before she must of got used to the sound of guns. She is a great dog besides this little problem and we would never get rid of her but if we could get her to overcome her fear it would be nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new to the flock Posted December 15, 2008 Report Share Posted December 15, 2008 Seb, There is a post in the dog section dealing with this problem where we walked someone else through it. I will look around and see if I can find it but suggest you look aswell. If we can not find it I will re write something for you. NTTF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seb Posted December 15, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2008 Thanks I will see if I can find it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seb Posted December 15, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2008 (edited) Thanks for that Just read through it and will give it a try gradually and see how it goes, she loves retrieving so thats a good start. I just don't know what caused the problem in the first place as I didn't have her then. What do most people who don't own their own field do when it comes to firing training blanks? Obviously you cant do it down the park and I would think the neighbours would get annoyed after a few. Do you just use your permissions for dog training? Thanks Edited December 15, 2008 by seb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magman Posted December 15, 2008 Report Share Posted December 15, 2008 Do you just use your permissions for dog training? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatcatsplat Posted December 15, 2008 Report Share Posted December 15, 2008 Dunno if it will work for you, but one of the fellas on my shoot had a dog go gun shy so he went to the toy shop and bought kids guns, looking somewhat real, but much smaller (and less threatening). He'd sit of an evening and do normal things, but with a toy gun around and gradually got the dog to realise there was no threat - Moved on from toy guns to airguns and then back onto shotties - Dogs a good 'un again now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seb Posted December 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 I will give it a try, thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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