Gun shy

blackcat

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#1
How do hunters and stuff train their dogs not to be gun shy. I have a 8 month old dobie who's scared of airguns and stuff. My pitbull is really tolerant of guns because I used to shoot airguns around the house all the time. Unfortunatly I can't do that anymore because my neibors started complaining. I really want my dobie to be tolerant of loud noises and guns and stuff because I just got a new black powder pistol but if I want to shoot it I have to go about 2-3 miles down the road. I would like to have my dobie tag along but I really don't want to scare the crap out of her and have her run away and not come back. How can I approach this. Do I tie her up and start shooting then go and give her treats. Should I just start her off with the airguns first? Thanks for any advice.
 

bubbatd

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#2
My Golden Retriever club has sessions with retrieving and the young pups seem to learn by watching . Funny story : When my Dad's Irish setter died , I did a lot of research for a companion dog and hunter and came up with our first Golden . The first time my Dad took him duck hunting , he fired his gun and Point disappeared ! Dad found he had jumped into the car and was shivering on the back seat . So from there on I had my companion dog !
 

blackcat

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#3
I took her for a walk just now with just my airgun and a lot of treats. She didn't do too bad. I'd shoot then call her over and give her a treat. Did I do okay? Cool story by the way sounds like all my dogs except my pitbull when I shoot my pellet gun out the front window. They all run to the backyard and hang out untill the goast is clear. But of course I don't shoot like I did when my pitbull was a puppy.
 

JennSLK

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#4
Both mine are used to guns. We started at a distance and slowly go closer depending on thier reactions.
 

DanL

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#5
Your dogs general temperament will have a lot to do with it, but it's something that should be trained from a young age. Clattering pots and pans, other loud noises will condition them to ignore gun shots. Gunnar has never cared at all about loud noises. He'd never heard a gunshot before until we started protection training, and he didn't react negatively at all. He'll even sleep on the floor of my weight room while bars filled with hundreds of pounds are crashing all around him. Our late Midnite was terrified of loud noises. Thunderstorms and July 4th were horrible for her until she went mostly deaf.
 

Sch3Dana

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#6
I like to start with kids' cap guns bc the pop is so small. It's better if someone in the distance fires the gun while you handle your dog. Feed after every pop and make sure that they are not loud enough/close enough to scare the dog. Then you gradually get closer until you can fire the toy gun while you feed. Then start over with something louder. You can do the same sort of training with a toy, if the dog is toy driven, but you'll end up with a dog that is pretty reactive to the gun noise, but in a drivey, excited way. I prefer the food, bc my dog needs to be able to stay in a down through the gunfire. But, the pairing the toy with the gun usually results in a faster improvement.
 

mrandrei

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#7
Wow, I didn't know that dogs can be trained to be used to guns. My poodle hides under the bed whenever she hears thunder or explosions. LOL.
 

lizzybeth727

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#8
It's just as easy to teach a dog not to be afraid of thunder, just get one of those thunderstorm relaxation CDs and follow the same advice.
 

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