waterfowl hunting/ gun shy??
 

OK guys I just bought a yellow lab pup and I'm gonna train him for hunting waterfowl, this will be my first attempt at it so any hints or good things to try would be great, My original question is when do you introduce a gun and what do i do to find out if my pup is gun shy?

I'd start with a training system. Read it first then apply it. For retrievers, I hear alot of good recommendations for Evan Graham's Smartworks. Someone who is more familiar on retriever trainning should pop in and help.

I have always had good success with making loud noises when I feed my pups. They associate the loud crack of 2 pans and later cap gun and then a blank gun to being a sign something good is going to happen. Do not rush into this. Your approach should be how do I condition my dog to loud noises instead of approaching it as let's see if he's gun shy. By putting a dog into any hunting scenario he isn't prepared for will often set you back in training and make it harder to correct something you didn't do right in the beginning

If you want a top notch "meat dog", go with Evan Graham's (Smartwork). Evan has a DVD out specifically for the Hunting Dog (as opposed to the competetive dog). It's called "Gundog Essentials - Basic gundog".

Click Here and scroll down until you find it : http://www.rushcreekpress.com/allproducts.html



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4evrhtn, has great ways and safe way to do it. If you dont want to risk getting your dog gun shy then thats a great way. On the other hand what we did with our pup was different. we had a shooter with a shotgun and started the dog 150 yards away and after every shot we brought her in 10 yards closer. It worked well, it didn't bother her at all.

i started toby with a 22 cal.i would hide a pheasant wing in yard in brush.my brother would stay away from us and when toby found bird wing, bob would shoot.
after that i used 12 ga at about 3 months old on a LIVE pheasant.

toby was 6 months old when stupid sproul forgot he was laying in breezyway in dark. i threw a whole pack of fircrackers and toby GRABBED THE PACK AND left them explode in his mouth.

he grabbed the lit firecrackers and retrieved them to me while exploding in his mouth.

that IS A TRUE STORY:eek2:

That explains alot of why he does some of the stuff he does, they say gunpowder makes a dog Crazy:eek:

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