17 month old Labrador retriver
 

Hi All

Ive only just joined the forum and not sure im posting in the right place. I don't know if theres a new members introduction forum or if I just cant find it. Im looking for advice with a Labrador I just bought he is supposedly part trained and im worried hes gunshy ive had him a month now and have just been trying to get to know him and bond with him. When I picked him up I was told he had been picking up behind the guns twice at the end of last season the owner showed me the dog retrieving dummies and doing some whistle work and he seemed ok I didn't pay a lot of money for the dog the guy said he was selling up as he had split with his wife recently he seemed genuine and I took him at his word now I cant get him on the phone. Last week I tried the dog with a with a starting pistol at a distance and he didn't like it at all and seemed very nervous he was also scared if I held a stick in the air but I've got him over this now by letting him roll around on the floor with me with the walking stick on the floor and an unloaded shotgun he's now happy to see the shotgun and the stick. I booked a training session with a guy I know last night he fired the starting pistol out of the way at a good distance and the dog bolted back to the truck and I thought that was it but we kept the lesson going slowly with his well trained bitch there also, my dog seemed to take confidence from her and by the end of the lesson we could fire within 20 yards of my boy and he was retrieving to hand but still a little unsure of the shot. The strange thing is if the starting pistol is fired whilst the dog is on the lead and off the training field he is not bothered by it neither do loud noises bother him he just seems to fear training and gunshot when there put together I don't know if he has had a beating in the field. I've got another training session booked in three weeks as the guy works at sea he's not a professional trainer he's just trained a lot of gun dogs but hasn't had a lot of experience with gun shyness trouble is im in the uk and gunshy dogs are usually given up on from the start and end up resigned to a life left in a kennel or constantly sold or given away I really don't wanna give up on him he is still only young and im hoping hes not ruined forever. I' sorry for the really long first post but any advice or information would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards
Dave

Do not just take a dog out and shoot around it, it scares them because they do not understand what the noise is about. You have to get the dog interested in birds, let him get a nose full of scent and be intense on it before the blank gun goes off a good distance away and move closes as the dog continues to ignore the noise. Before you ruin the dog, get a good book or video on training dogs and how to introduce them to the gun. Since you have no idea about the dogs ability or past training, you need to start out as though the dog had no training at all.

Thanks for the reply Oldtimr. Do you think im going to fast with him, I'll be honest I've only ever worked with terriers and nothing seems to bother them they just know what to do but I want this dog for wildfowling (I think you call it waterfowling over there) he's my first retriever so I definitely don't want to ruin him he is very keen on scent and hunting the ground maybe I should focus on that for a while.

Dave

I know that is not the way to introduce a dog to the gun, I am not an expert trainer, but I have trained 3 labs a setter and on my second setter pup now and I bought a training video and read books to help me, there is a book called Waterdog by a guy named Wolters that a lot of people use as a guide. If you don't think you can do it alone you can always hire a trainer for a few sessions to get you started. A dog started wrong will be hard to bring back into line and a dog started wrong on the gun can be ruined. We all had to have our first traning session, slow and easy is the way to go and if you have doubts ask someone who knows, and you will get lots of suggestions on the internet, many of them wrong.

First time I shot over my pup ....took her out and planted hen phesants, when she flushed them I just fired my shotgun away from her just up in the air, she stopped stood and and looked at me, I called her, she came and I praised her for it. After several more times of doing this, before she would flush anymore birds, she would turn quick and look at me to say, "Are you going to shoot?" and I would, never aiming at the bird.

I'm not a dog trainer by no means, but this is what works for me.

I have had beagles for years. I introduce them to gunfire by taking them dove hunting as pups. They just run around I shoot and never a gun shy dog.

Mackie, you were lucky, I would not advise anyone to do that.

Hi folks
I had him out again this afternoon no gunshots. I was really pleased with him hes marking well at a distance, retrieving to hand and finding blind retrieves I didn't do too much just half an hour and had fun with him, I'm just gonna take it nice and slowly if he doesn't get out this season that's fine I'm hoping we'll get a lot of years together.

Dave

Short sessions are the way to go. Always stop on a high note, not after a mistake and praise the hell out of him when you are done.

Well ....it's just one way of training and she wasn't the only dog, had four others and all were broke the same way. When I fire the shotgun, the dog is not close to me and the muzzle blast is pointed away and up in the air. Every dog is different ....but none of mine ever ran to the house. Just some imput of what works for me.