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Author Topic: gun shy  (Read 4225 times)

Offline nontypical176

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Re: gun shy
« Reply #15 on: October 29, 2010, 08:25:09 AM »
My dog was never gun shy until she was about 6.  I was working in Montana, had her with me and she would spend the day flushing birds while we worked on a drill rig.  One afternoon a fast moving thunder storm came up over the hill, and as we were trying to get the equipment shut down to wait out the storm a lightning strike landed nearby.  My dog and my coworkers came screaming back to the trucks and jumped in.  Pretty sure the dogs got a buzz from the lightning strike because ever since my dog hates any loud booms.  Shes 10 now and we went on a pheasant hunt with a buddy haven't had time the last few years, or maybe I was just avoiding it.  She still knows its hunting and loves it, but she is shaking and upset unless directly on or after a bird.  Breaks my heart to see the ol girl so scared, shes my best friend, and I think its pretty late in the game to get her right again.  She bad wants to be hunting, but maybe its time to give it up.  Any thoughts on a dog this old?

Offline Happy Gilmore

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Re: gun shy
« Reply #16 on: October 29, 2010, 10:18:24 AM »
same as the other replies. Test her in a very controlled environment and re-introduce her to gun like you would a puppy would be my first thought.
"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checked by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."
Theodore Roosevelt 1899

Offline upwind

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Re: gun shy
« Reply #17 on: November 17, 2010, 05:58:29 PM »
Well i bought a cap gun and started to use without the caps would get nervous but no problem now  i use with a cap and does not Evan jump .I shoot then throw his bumper.I also work the action on my shot gun around him to get him used to it .I dint think he will go this year hopefully he will be ready next year.

Offline Stilly bay

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Re: gun shy
« Reply #18 on: November 17, 2010, 06:21:04 PM »
heres my two cents. BE VERY CAREFUL WHOS ADVICE AND HERESAY YOU ABSORB ABOUT GUNSHYNESS FROM AN ONLINE FORUM AND FORGET ABOUT TAKING HIM HUNTING FOR NOW UNLESS YOU HAVE A LOT OF BIRDS AND GOOD PLAN

 happy gilmore had some great advice, as did others. but every dog is different and it would be wise to work with a pro on this one.  a lot of bird dog problems can be worked out with live birds.

if many live birds, and money for a trainer is out of the question... i suggest you start from the ground up on noise conditioning and take it very slow and carefully... but then again Im just some guy on the net throwing out his two cents.
"Love the dogs before loving the hunt; love the hunt for the dogs." - Ben O. Williams

“It is easy to forget that in the main we die only seven times more slowly than our dogs.”
― Jim Harrison

 


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