How is the best way to introduce your pup to gunfire? i have read a couple different ways but i would like to see what you guys have in mind and what works for you. thanks. Jake
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"I have a special bond with every animal.....for about 3 seconds right before i pull the release."
Start with a blank gun. While your pup is eating, go into another room far off (or even outside), & pop a blank off. This is well done with a partner. When the blank goes off, pretend as if nothing has happened. Gradually (over the course of several days/weeks)work your way closer to pup. Eventually you will want to brimg this into the field. Every time you fire the blank gun, pretend as if nothing has happened. If youdon't make a big deal about it, neither will the pup.
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All I have done was take my dogs out on birds practicing and getting them all excited about it. I would get a few birds for them to practice their pointing skills with and a couple of dead birds to throw out for them to find as well as retrieve. Then when the time came for the real hunting I introduce them to the real thing while they were all excited. They became very quick learners that a gun shot equals a bird down. The only problem after that was when ever they heard another gun shot they wanted to head towards it..I also took them to a bird farm before the real hunt to make sure all was going alright.. Good luck to you..
I introduce the dog to lots of birds way before I ever introduce the shot. Once the dog is excited about birds and the pup has flushed a bird I have a partner shoot a blank round out of a starter pistol 50 to 100 yds away. I watch the reaction in the dog. Usually is not porblem at all and each bird flushed I can move forward and eventually shoot a few for the dog.
That is how I do it.
I justcringe whenI see guys who bring a pup to a trap or skeet range - or think banging pots and pans over their head while eating or making any other loud noises is twhe way to go. You are wasting your time as I have helped break far too many Gun sensitive/ Gun shydogs because of that method.
The shot means birds - pure and simple.
For flushers we fly pigeons at some distance away and then may shoot a few as the dog progresses.
For retrievers - we may start with bumpers and then progress to birds.....
Watch the reaction in the dog. If the dog's ears droop and the tail is tucked be careful. If the dog comes back to you stop right there and seek professional help as with any dog tht runs back to the truck!
The age to start thisis when the pup can hunt the field. Certainly not at 6 to 12 weeks of age. Four to six months is more like it.
JW
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My wife purchased a CD based on the advice of some of her friends who are breeders of hunting dogs which has music playing, with gunshots of gradually loudness interspaced in it. You play a particular track for some amount of time, and then you switch to next one. Eventually the dog gets used to gunshots at random times.
We dont currently have a puppy to try it on, butapparently it works quite well.
my trainer suggested tapping pans lightly when he eats and when he plays with his toys. gradually get louder day by day. this way you dont have to go outside when he a pup if its too cold.
then when u can go outside start with .22's from a longer distance, then working your way up to a 12g. gradually.
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In was concerned that my Springer may be gun-shy when he was much younger. He would literally run to the other end of the house if I banged the table. He hated loud noises. A very good friend was my mentor. He said my dog, like most dogs and most people are startled by a sudden loud noise and not to be concerned. He said the biggest thing (as previously mentioned here) was to get the dog excited in what he was doing.
I got a few pheasant wings and set them out for him to find. Up to this point he never, ever smelled any birds before. While he was doing his Springer thing, I got back a good distance and slowly tapped a couple 2X4's and made a soft noise. He was aware of that sound but was more interested in finding those wings. Over the course of the next few weeks, I repeated the process while making the sound louder. He got to the point where any loud noise was merely a distraction while he was quartering left and right trying to pick up the scent of the wings. When he did find one, I made it a big deal and praised him for doing a good job. I then began to use a 12 ga and was well over a few 100 yds away. Again, he realized that sound was nearby but his main focus was on birds.
He is now, after 5 yrs, a wonderful bird dog who lives to be in the field. He is absolutely relentless because he knows exactly what he's doing. The sound of a shotgun now means a bird should be down. When I fire, he looks the bird down and waits for my command to fetch. If I miss (which I do more than I will admit), he looks up at me like I had two heads. Once he reterieves the bird, I always make him feel special and get him excited. As soon as he realizes he has done good hunting for me, he's ready to go again.
I apologize for this long-winded reply but I thought it necessary to explain what was done. Again, the key and most imnportant thing is not to rush him into accepting the loud sound of gunfire and making certain that he is thorougly focused and excited in working with birds. Even today, my Springer will not flinch when I fire a 12 ga over him yet he stills runs out of sight if I bang the table.
Good Luck to you!
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ok well heres another question. how would i go about introducing my lab to ducks and geese?
Next time you baga goose and duck, take thewings from them and put them in ziplock bags-bags for specific ducks, bag for geese. Each has it's own scent so make the training scents exactly as they will be when the dog encounters them in the field. My buddy's lab has a great nose for upland game but he wouldn't retrieve a downed bird.I cut the wing off a pheasant and teased him with it and got him excited then threw it and my buddy gave the fetch command as he does with the dogs toys during play time. The dog ran over grabbed the wing and brought it right back to him. He has retrieved every upland bird since. The geese are another story, He came across his first goose and didn't know what to do with it because of it's size. We have started working with him using 4 goose wings tied together around a sand filled canvas dummy. The wings give off the scent and feel of the birds feathers while the sand adds weight to the dummy. This has worked well and he now retrieves all types ofbirds. Make your training sessionswith him short about 15 mins and train often if possible 3 or more times a day. As a pup his attention span will be very short so 15 mins is on the long side. And always try to end the session on a positive- if he fails to grasp what it is you are teaching go back to something he already knows and does well, have him do it, praise him and give it a rest for awhile.
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I spent nearly every day of my life hunting... the rest have been wasted
Gun Fire
I also took them to a bird farm before the real hunt to make sure all was going alright.. Good luck to you..
