Introuducing gun fire

[gottafish]

Lots of you guy as well as myself have or are getting new pups. I read this over at CRK buy owner Mark and its close to what Ive used in the past. He just writes better than me so here you go. Cheers Rich

Introduction to gunfire
First want to say that my method is different then other methods. I don't believe in making loud noises around pups when they are young, or during feeding time. I cringe when people take there dawgs to the trap shooting range, or tie dogs up and just start shooting. Gun shyness is man made, some dogs are more timid then others, and my method is designed to fit each individual dog. I have used this method to cure gun shy dogs. I want dogs to understand gun fire and to love it.
What do we want our dogs to love? Thats birds. I get my dogs to LOVE birds. I first start by properly introducing dogs to birds. I start with a live pigeon and clip one wings flight feathers. This way the bird can still fly but only for a short distance. I will take the pup and get them excited about the bird, I will allow the pup to chase as the bird is in my hand, and I will let the bird go. The pup should chase the bird until it hits the ground. I will let the dog catch the bird, I will take the bird before it gets beat up to bad. I will end the session as the pup wants more. I will repeat sessions until I am confident that the dog loves birds. I will then take a freshly killed pigeon and have the dog start retrieving that, I then will go to a frozen pigeon, and then to a fresh killed duck, to a frozen duck. After I have the dog retrieving frozen ducks in training, and loving it its time for intro to gun fire.
You will need two people to help you, one person will shoot the gun, and the other is a bird boy. Now its important that you have been using bird boys in training long before you start introducing gun fire. The only new thing I want the dog to experience is gun fire. I always start with 22 pistol with blanks. I will have the dog at heal, I will have the bird boy in front of me about 30 to 40 yards, and the gun man behind about 40 to 50 yards. I will signal for the bird boy to throw the bird, I will send the dog for the retrieve, and as the dog is running I will signal for the gun man to shoot. Its important for the gun to fire before the dog reaches the bird. Its the dog handler to watch his dog. If the dog shows no sign of being bothered by the gun fire, I will signal for the gun man to move closer, If the dog seems nervous I will move the gun man farther back. When the dog comes back with the bird give tons of praise. If the dog is not bothered I will have the gun man move up 15 yards, and do it again. I will slowly have the gun man move closer until he is standing right behind us. If the dog does not seemed bothered I will have the bird boy shoot the gun and throw the bird. This would conclude this session. I will come back the next day with 22 live rounds, and do the same thing. I will come back the third day with 4-10 shotgun, fourth day with a 20 gauge, and then a 12 gauge. I will train for a couple of days having the bird boy shooting a shot gun and then throwing the bird. After I am confident that the dog loves the shot from the shot gun because he knows he is going to get a bird. I have the gun man come with a second shotgun and do the same thing again. The bird boy will shoot a shotgun and as the dog is running for the mark the gunman will shoot a second shotgun. I will keep working on this until the gun man is shooting right behind the dog. I do this because I have gotten dogs in that the owners swear that in training the dog was just fine with the shot gun in training, but the first day in the duck boat or blind 4 guys got up to shoot and the dog is hiding. Dogs need also to understand multiple gun fire. I know my method is alot of work, but I have never had a gun shy dog using this method. I have cured gun shy dogs with this method. Good luck everyone!!!!!!!!!!
I am not saying that you have to follow a specific time line, I used the 1st 2nd third day as a example. Each dog is different and some go faster through the program and some slower. If you have a gun shy dog I will take months to complete the program. Good luck.

[barnyard121]

I have 3 bird dogs GSPs, i have been working under patty mcnary for 2 years we play cds of shooting when there young but my oldest dog goes everwhere with me and just getting them out is good.


Good post Tony

[gottafish]

Originally Posted by barnyard121

I have 3 bird dogs GSPs, i have been working under patty mcnary for 2 years we play cds of shooting when there young but my oldest dog goes everwhere with me and just getting them out is good.


Good post Tony

Patty Huh. She's out near heppner aint she. I almost got a pup from her called Ozzy last month. Nice dogs. Just a bit to rich for this old boy.

[Hunt'nFish]

I agree, condition them when young and all works out fine.
I do a lot of reading and would just slam my books shut when I laid them down.
My lab pup eventually just tuned it out, then I took him to the OWF let him aclimate to gunfire on the range and when it came to hunting he did just fine.
Hunt'nFish

[toas243]

Hey thanks I needed this

[billc_sbio]

Well...while certainly NOT a Pro Dog Trainer myself, I've trained up about 7 dogs now, 4 Labs, 1 GSP, 1 Brit and 1 Eng. Setter (and helped with several others) and none of them have been gunshy from the get go.

There are all kinds of ways you can introduce dogs to gunfire.

And I would tell you that there's absolutetly NOTHING WRONG with introducing your pups to "mild" report gunfire very early on in their young lives!

In fact what could be better? It's close, it's easy and convenient and it uses some of the best Positive Reinforcement (at that point in their lives)-Food!

When they're about 9-10 weeks old and into their feeding routine, simply take a Cap Gun or a pistol with some .22RF blanks (I have inserts I made that use .38 Spl Cases that accept 209 Shotshell Primers that are my "blanks"-Cheap! ) While they're eating and from a DISTANCE (or in another room) I'll fire off my pistol 3-4 times after they've started eating and DURING the time they're still feeding.

I do this for ~1 week. Then I move closer and closer over the next week or so. When close I'll always fire the pistol off using my body as a noise shield between myself and the pup/s. Usually I'm about 10' away and that's as close as I get. Usually, after the first few times of hearing the Blank Pistol the pups seldom even look up from their feeding.

Then, for the next couple of weeks, I'll fire off the Pistol BEFORE I get their food. I always make a big deal out of letting them see me getting it.

Firing off the pistol almost gets them drooling as they have learned to associate that gunfire with "it's feeding time"!

From this point on, taking them out to the local Trap & Skeet Club and letting them watch the clay birds fly and hearing the shooting, from a distance. Or being out in the field when there's some shooting going on is the next logical progression.

So, do it however you like, but getting it out of the way, from at home, early in their lives has always been really easy and painless for me.

[BW]

I normally train with a club. We just bring the pups out to the field and leave them in thier boxes by the cars while shoting over the older dogs. Then we work with the young ones for a while.

I know of no dogs from our club that have had any problems with guns.

[twolabs]

That's the way I would introduce them as well, Except i'll throw retrieving dummies frisbees then fire blanks never went wrong yet.