my dog is a little gun shy and takes his eye off the bird so it is like a blind retrieve every time. how do i fix this?

Leave your gun home and have your friend shoot from a little distance. That is not right over the dog. You hold the dog and make sure he is watching the bird go down. then release him to make the retrieve. If you hold him by the skin just below the ears you should be able to direct him to look at the bird. Pay attention to the dog and don't worry about you shooting till he is corrected.

Have you tried firing a gun just before you feed him?

a lot of hard work. let someone shoot while you praise and hold the dog.get a blank pistol and fire around the dog as he eats and when you call him from a distance.work with him regular and give him treats as you work.

Are you sure that the dog is gunshy? or is the shot merely taking your dog's attention off of the mark? What behaviors (other than taking it's eye off the bird) does your dog exhibit?

Just because a dog "takes his eye off the bird" (without other signs of gunshyness) that isn't a problem if you do what I describe below. If your dog is truly gunshy (a man made problem), then you need to go to www.coonriverkennels.com and there is a link on that site for preventing/correcting gunshyness.

Train with a friend (Bird Boy). Have the BB out, say at 50 yards (or what ever distance your dog will retrieve at). Have the BB holler "HEY ! HEY!" to get the dog's attention. The BB then throws the bird (or bumper) - when the bird is at the top of the arc, the BB shoots a low level blank (there are lots of different "loudness levels" of .22 blanks available).

start with a small .410 or 28 gauge shotgun from a distance and slowly come closer

while you target practice have the dog sitting next to you. you should start with a .22 because they're not very loud