OK, here's the history of my dog and I. I got him from the Humane Society late last summer at about 4 months of age. When I played with him there, her was very submissive -- rolled over on his back. He still does this when reprimanded too harshly or when he doesn't want to do something. Introduced gunfire via blanks during mealtimes -- he always was timid with this. Did hunt him last year. He found a number of birds on a number of occasions. However, when I shot, he would not retrieve and would follow me for a time before hunting again. Continued to try to condition him with blanks throughout the summer with little success. Took him with me hunting again hoping he would want the birds worse than his fear of the shots as he gets very birdy on small birds in the feilds around my house. Made a bad choice here -- I admit it. Too many hunters and birds opening day. So, I took him last Saturday and he had equated the gunshot with the birds to the point that when he saw a hen flush, he acted like he did to gunfire. On Sunday, he was at least interested and playful with the feathers on a fishing pole. Also, I moved my gunshots back to about 40 yards from 20. He reacted much better to this. So, I looked at the information from Coon River Kennels listed above and am ordering a half dozen pigions to use to see if I can get him straight and ready to hunt. I'm thinking that I'll probably just train and bench him from hunting for the rest of the year unless he shows fast growth. I will only hunt him then if I am going out alone or with 1 or 2 others.