Intro to gunfire/ gun shyness prevention.

[BIGINNER]

you situation might ne a little different than mine, but I introduced 4 pups to gunfire by bringing my older dog along,... they see his excited reaction to the shot, and follow along,

on a side note, I do everything as if i'm introducing both dogs to gunfire for the first time,... I just makes it a bit easer when they have an older dog to learn from.


this is MY experience though,.... your situation might be a little different

[andersonjk4]

Same thing with you, if she starts getting scared of a loud noise like thunder or fireworks just ignore her. Don't coddle her or say "its ok" because it is not OK.

This has always been my feelings too.... just wish my fiancé felt the same way too .  But its getting better and that is why she (the pup) is getting better and better with loud noises. 

Thanks for the input guys.

[wildweeds]

If your dog is already giving signs of being shy,here's some advice if you really want to end up with the dog being a gundog, Call R.J. Marquart at Quicksilver kennels in Moses Lake,hes the master of curing dogs that have been made gunshy by mans silly antics of shooting around food bowls,taking to gun club,not doing anything with other than taking the dog out opening day with 5 best buddies and blazing away over.If you were in my backyard I would be more than glad to help you or anyother member for that matter,acclimate the dog to the gun.If  your okay with a pet and you've got a noise sensitive dog at the onset,try it. RJ fixed a gunshy earlier this summer that Dan Hoke had for 3 months,the dog was more gunshy at the end of 3 months than before it started.2 months worth of training to repair the damage.RJ has a facebook page and is going to be posting a video series on "Fixing" a "Gunshy" dog,It will all be posted at one time and will include start to finish.

My buddy also has a shy/timid/gsp  that is being dropped off in Moses on Sunday for a months worth,if the dog isn't gunshy yet,a month is what it will take to get going down the right road.800 bucks now is better than 16-24 hundred later. 

I'm going to bring this topic back up. 

 I have a 7 month old female GSP who has been kind of a wuss.  She was the runt and has always been a little skiddish.  But she is getting bolder and bolder by the day and I am thinking it is time to start introducing gun fire.  She started out being very sensitive to loud noises (thunder, fireworks, loud bass, etc.), but she is getting over most of those things now.  This is why I have waited this long to introduce gun fire.  My other two pointers never showed any shyness to loud noises as pups and I just took them out and shot around them while they were playing and having fun and they never even flinched.  I feel like I need to be way more careful and deliberate with this pup.  I agree with the above comments about making gun fire associated with birds and plan on using birds to help with the introduction.  My question now is whether I should use my older dogs to help with this training?  The old dogs associate guns with birds already and get really excited when the shotgun even comes out and go crazy looking for downed birds when a shot is fired.  Do I use this to my advantage and let the pup see the other dogs getting excited over gun fire?  She already clings to them and does whatever they do.  Or do I leave the big dogs home and keep the focus on her?   I have been planning on using the big dogs to help, but I figured I would consult others who may have experience with this.