Gun Shy-Dog

[Gunner]

Good Evening All,

I own a 2 year old GSP who has become extremely gun-shy.
When he was less than a year old I took him out and he was perfectly fine around gunfire and honestly enjoyed the hunt. Then some yahoo went around the neighborhood tossing firecrackers at dogs and ever since then, fireworks, thunder, and the mere sight of a gun sends him into hiding. I am in the Willis area and am curious if somebody would be gracious enough to allow me to work with him on their property. I have contemplated the national forest but would prefer more controlled environment. If you happen to have experience training gun-shy dogs any and all tips would be greatly appreciated..

I'll gladly offer up my labor in exchange. I currently am a rig mechanic, can run a trapline. and served in the USMC Infantry so I can fill your sandbags for the next flood😁

[curtintex]

Gun shy dogs, especially at 2 years old are tough to fix, but I'll tell you a good place to START. Take your dog to Carter's Country on a Saturday. Sit in the truck and let him get comfortable with the distant gunfire. Then, leash him up and go for a walk around the parking lot. Talk to him and try to put him at ease as the guns go off in the distance. If they're shooting clays, walk him down there and let him see the guns come up and the report crack off. Pet him and comfort him. If he gets comfortable, congrats. If he keeps freaking out, take him home and get him one of those dog sweaters like froo-froo dogs wear, cause ole boy ain't hunting for ya. I wish you the best of luck.

[Hills of Texas]

I had Walker hound that I used to coon hunt with. She loved hunting but you better know where she was at cause she'd tree the coon, bay once and then haul buty to the truck. She hated gun fire and all we ever used were 22s.

[Playa]

I’ve had 2 dogs that were gun shy and was able to overcome both situations.

the 1st story is probably not applicable, but I’ll share anyway. I found about a 2 yr old GSP running loose in the Walmart parking lot in Brownfield TX. I was on a dove hunt and was having a particularly poor day of shooting, which was why I was WM to begin with, to get more shells. Dog had no collar and was skin and bones and was pretty obvious she’s been abused some, if my hand went above chest high she cowered. We head back to the dove field with new dog in tow, and the 1st shot she went and hid under the truck. 2nd shot she was headed to Lynn county. Against my better judgement I spent the next hour driving around looking for her and finally found her. I made several attempts to locate her owner, but figured she’d been dumped. Wondering what I was going to do with a gunshy bird dog, I figured out she loved to play fetch, and we played every day until i couldn’t throw the tennis ball another time. Full circle a year later I took her out to a dove field on 9/1 and had no idea what was going to happen and fully expecting to have to crate her and accept the fact that she was never going to hunt. To my surprise, the 1st shot I knocked a bird down in the stock pond. She took off, swam out brought my bird back to hand. From that point on she was eyes to the sky and we hunted many hunts and she picked up all sorts of duck, geese, quail and pheasants for me. Best darn dog I ever had. I think she just needed someone she could trust.

my current pup, a Drahthaar which I got in Feb was fine this spring. As a pup I’d bang bowls, slap pieces of wood, make all sorts of racket when I would feed her. She was unfazed. In April I took her out to get some pigeons and collard dove to do bird intro with. 1st set of shots she was in my truck and showed no signs of concern so I let her out and shot right over top of her. No problems. I checked that off my list of skills and experiences in preparation for breed tests and general hunting disposition. She was good to go.

well not so fast.. June rolled around and I was wanting to work on longer water retrieval and used a friend’s 22 cal dummy launcher. I underestimated how loud that thing was, it was freaking loud. 1st shot seemed not to bother her too much. She took off and made a good long retrieve. But she cowered away from me while I was reloading and getting the next one ready. By the 4th she was having nothing to do with it.

so back to the drawing board I went. Back to banging things at feeding time. Then I gabbed packs of the snap pops you toss on the ground and pop. I’d flick them in the opposite direction of her while she was eating or id have my son do it while I calmly patted her. Then we graduated to flicking them right at her when she was playing with our other dog or just running around the yard. After that we graduated to a cap gun. My girls would stand 5-7 yards away and i’dcalm her while they shot. Or I’d toss a dummy while the shot. By July 4th she was fine. I even went back to launching dummies with the 22 cal launcher. She’s evolved into being excited.


Sorry this was so long and wordy. your mileage may vary, I just tried to mix loud and/or gunfire like sounds in to her everyday life, focusing on times of pleasure like feeding and play

[Gunner]

I appreciate y'alls responses! Gives me a lot more hope because he always has been bird crazy and I'd hate to not let him live that out! Again, thank y'all very much!