I agree..........I made a mistake and took my dog along on a dove hunt to condition him to gunshots. Bad mistake. He shut down on me and had an accidental bowel movement in just a matter of seconds. I quickly got him out of there. Since then I have been taking him to the gun range, starting from the parking lot and loving on him and giving him treats. This is the only time I have used the treats in training by the way. After only two trips to the range with gradual introduction each time we are now training directly behind the line. I will throw a bumper and make him steady, wait for a shot, and give him the command to retrieve. Worked great for me, hope it works for you.

Just remembered! I did download some gunshot sounds and some duck call sounds and burned a cd. I played the cd softly to very loud while I feed every evening. I think this might have been the thing that really made it easy. Then at the range I taught my dog to associate the gunshot with a fun retrieve and sometimes a treat.

Good luck and happy hunting