beau43

Ive got a 2 year old choclate lab. Hes a great dog I obedience wise and retriving wise. Steady and consistint retriving frozen and the donken decoy duck back real reliable.But the dog seems to be really scared of gun fire. Ive tried the gradual u starting small and going big even that small seems to jolt him a lil. Any suggestions?

tailcrackin

What I do, and have done is to get some pigeons, or quail, you can take a pigeon, and close to the body pull alot of the feathers out of the wing, so it has hard time flying. quail, the same but not as many feathers. Take and dizzy bird let the dog work into it, bump the bird and catch it. Don't do a thing, what you are working on is to make the dog excited about the bird. When he catches, don't be in hurry to get it let the dog " show it off" You'll do this 3 or 4 times, watch the dog actions, if he is getting jacked up about it, when you make the decision, that its excited, when you set up the dog again, as soon as the dog goes to grab the bird shoot. What is happening is teh dog is to ex. bout the bird, doesn't have time to worry bout the gun, cause birds there right now. Make sense. Start slow, shorten your distance on the gun fire, you should be able to overlay the bumpers into the program. Get it good on the gun with bird first. Patience, it will work itself out,association this way hasnever failed. This has worked on all my pups, and gunshy dogs!! Any ques. feel free to ask, just pay attention to the response of the dog. And keep me posted, Jonesy

beau43

Thank for the info. Ive tried that but only i tried it with ducks that couldnt fly. Some people told me that the ducks are to big to start out with and i needed to use pigeons.What do u think?

tailcrackin

I would be careful with ducks, if dog is not aggresive with game , a duck could woop his butt, little bit, seen problems occur, not saying will, but could. Pigeons are cheap and usually easy to get access to, lot of old bridges will have underneath, go at night and shine em with a flash light. Take you a dip net try and be easy, you don't want to get them flying, you'll limit the catch. If you are getting some problems with the dog, you want a bird that is cheap and smaller, and that will get the dog excited. Does this make sense to you? You want the dog to be excited, andto over look the sound of the gun.At the start timing is what is needed. you'll see. I have worked out alot of these same problems, before. Seems like alot of people want to take their dogs to dove shoots, for gun intro some accept, most don't. Jonesy

beau43

Like i said i used the ducks. I guess now it was a mistake but ne ways. When i used them. He would chase them run them down and stop them buy always growl and never pick them up. Now when they were dead he had no problem picking them up. Then i would throw them up and have some one shoot let it hit the water and he would go get it bring it back then start looking for his dog house lol . You know being scared of the gun . I guess ill try the piegons tomorrow . Ill let ya know how it turns out

Doc E

Go to www.coonriverkennels.com Look over on the left side of the page, and click where it says "Mark's Tips and Tricks" . There is a nice article about intro to gunfire and gunshyness.

You say "he retrieves real well" --- but he wont pick up a live bird. That is not 'retrieving real well'. Apparrently you haven't Force Fetched your dog - right? What training program (books/tapes)have you been following?


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tailcrackin

See his reaction on pigeons, before the gun fire is exposed , so we'll say first 3 or 4 birds, take and pull good number of feathers out of wing, lets leave bird in hand, hold up to his face and get him excited. Try to get him jumping and wanting that bird. When its getting excited, throw the bird, we don't want the bird to fly well at all more like flutter. as soon as he gets it in mouth you need to act like he just done the most outstanding thing in the world. Don't be scared to hoot and holler some, let him paradewith it, petand love before getting bird. If you feel he is beyond this, have a buddy go out 40-50 yds, get dogs attention,take the bird and shoot it in the air, mowed grass i wuold like better that way it will help on marking the bird and if its flopping can help the excitement. See what the response is on this, if you don't feel he's ready don't do.A bird can get dog forgetting lots of things, it might take good number, but your final project will be nice. Patience!! Keep me posted. Jonesy

beau43

Yeah hes not ff and iam not going to do that. I know call me stupid but its my dog and he will not b ff. Thanks for all the info jonesy . Ill let ya know what happens today

tailcrackin

Trying to work him through this, this style, could very well help. Big thing is once he gets bird biggest thing he can do, let him parade it, you should start seeing difference, in a week or so. I would not do this everyday. Dogs are like people they get bored. If you do have to do everyday, change areas, do some free time in between. Make sense, if you don't understand or have questions, don't be afraid to ask, here to help. Patience is a virtue!! Jonesy

WAYNE1

.....What is your objection to FF, Don't believe I'd ever want to hunt behind a good dog that has'nt been...!!