Dog is suddenly scared of gun shots

[yorketransport]

I was out with my 2.5 y/o WPG this morning and she had an unusual reaction to a shot. The dog typically hangs between 20-40 yards in front of me while we're hunting. She will look over her shoulder to make sure I'm still there if she gets more than about 50 yards out. She flushed up 3 grouse about 20 yards away me. 2 birds went straight ahead and one cut to the right. I shot at one of the birds that went straight ahead when it was about 25 yards in front of me and easily 20 ft above the dog. At the shot my dog came running back to me, tail tucked like she had just been scolded. At that point the dog was done for the day. She didn't want anything to do with the bird and she wouldn't go more than 15 feet from me the rest of the walk back.

I've shot birds over her before and never had this reaction. When I retrieved the bird with the dog right at my feet I tried giving the dog lots of praise and get her excited like I normally do when we get a bird but she just looked like she was in trouble. It was the same 20ga that I always use with the same ammo so I don't imagine that the noise was any different. I'm 100% certain that she wasn't injured which is what my wife thought happened. (she actually accused me of shooting the dog!) I'm just at a loss.

Andrew

[mburrows]

I had the same thing happen with my old lab that passed away a few months ago. I bought her in high school and she was well bred, pick of the liter and had a junior hunter title when i got her. Literally all of the sudden she hated guns, wanted nothing to do with hunting if guns were involved. We were never able to fix the issue.

It was really disappointing to say the least and she was a good dog but  even loud noises around the house really bugged her out, it was a problem that got progressively worse. Id suggest getting with a trainer asap to try and fix the problem.

Good luck and hopefully it was just a bad day for your pup.

[ribka]

Just make certain it was gun shot. Maybe something else sound smell something sharp scared your dog.

I had a dog that hunted fine for 3 years and took him out with 5 friends and they all shot at once he freaked out and he ran back to the truck. Took about one year of training to get back to normal, 2 years to hunt with multiple hunters  and he eventually became very excited whenever I grabbed a gun.

I gave him a month break and started from basics again starting with working on prey drive then introduced a pellet gun at shot at  a distance involving actvities he enjoyed with food reward and praise and worked up to a to a 22 with shorts after a few months etc. Dont rush training and keep training periods short. I know they have tapes with mucis and gun shot you can buy to help with gun shy dogs. Never tried them.


I guess check with a trainer I kn ow RJ in Moses lake is good with this

[Skillet]

Any chance the wad smacked her?

[huntingfool7]

Any chance the wad smacked her?

My first thought also.

[KFhunter]

+1 on making sure it was the gun and not a cougar hiding in the bushes.   I had that happen but was't hunting at the time and wasn't armed (never happen again), the cougar stalked my dog for almost 1/2 mile I had to keep her leashed and walked her out.  It sucked.



I think out of caution I'd go back and redo introduction to gun training and start from there.

[salish]

That's an interesting story about the cougar, pretty unnerving. Since the reaction was so immediate I'm thinking it must have been the wad or a flyer, or something to do with the shot. I don't know what else it could have. Is there any chance he could have been hit by a snake that you couldnt see?

I'll second the vote for assistance from RJ Marquart on this if it is a case of being gunshy. I had a setter who was gunshy and RJ was a huge help. The dog ended up being one of the best hunters I've ever hunted over. Good luck.

Cliff

[yorketransport]

Any chance the wad smacked her?

I didn't even think of that! She would have been in the perfect spot to get hit by the wad.

I think that I'll go back to square one with her and start over with gun training. She's always been a very timid dog so it took more than a year of working with her to get her comfortable around the gun shots. Back to the 22 pistol with blanks I guess.

Thanks for the help so far!

Andrew

[AspenBud]

Have you shot at birds in the woods with her before? The noise of a shotgun in the woods is different than in open spaces, it doesn't dissipate the same.

Start over with her and take it slow as others have suggested.

[lamrith]

I have to commend all of you on this.  Both OP for trying and rest of you for help and ideas.

I have had 1st hand experience with people NOT willing to put any effort forth.  My 1st labrador (I was 11or 12) was a dog just like this.  Beautiful pure bred Black lab with the big block head (english heritage?) we got from the pound.  Dog was ripped, great manners, fully trained, he was ready to go.  He had been abandoned at a local kids soccer league day at the highschool.  He spent 2 months in pound before we got him, always wondered why nobody had claimed such a beautiful dog.  We found out 6 month later when a thunderstorm rolled thru, poor dog completely fell apart, any loud bang and he was a mess.  Shaking, drooling, complete basket case, it became obvious that he was gunshy and the previous owner dumped him.

Good news is he was a great dog and we eventually relaxed him to loud noises and I have owned black labs ever since.

BEST OF LUCK YORKETRANSPORT!

[twobrittanys]

Hello,  I had a great Brittany some years back that had the same type of issue.  I took her out of the field and did some research and found a product I believe it was made by masters command a cure for gun shy dogs or noise sensitive dogs.  It takes a little while.  It is basically music that slowly introduces the pop of a shotgun at really low levels,    and as you progress it gets louder and music lower at the end just shotgun fire.  I had heard there was no real cure for it.  There is.  She was a great dog before she became sensitive to loud noises and after this easy at home process she was awesome again out in the field and went on to get her hunt test title. And compete in fun trials.  Actually won one.  And she absolutely loved to hunt.  There is hope.  Good luck.   And i will try and look today to make sure of the title of it.  I believe it was either masters command or masters voice.  It was some years ago.  But i can stand behind it.  Never had the issue with any of my other dogs to use it with.  A neighbor kid let off a bottle rocket that went off close to her head that caused my issue with her.  But never was a issue again.  Best of luck. And happy hunting

[JBar]

May have been hit by a flyer pellet. Sometimes those things just don't go straight. Take it slow!