determined

have a friend with a 1 1/2 y/o vizla that is gunshy.he sent him to a trainer,trainer sent him back,although this trainers credentials were somwhat suspect as it turned out.dog will hunt until someone lets off a round and his hunt is over.has anybody had any success dealing with gun shy dogs and with what tactics.i understand it can be very difficult to correct.thanx.

gselkhunter

The object is to get the dogs focus on the bird not the shot to start with. Put the dog in birds and I mean a lot. Every so often shoot a cap pistol, say 1 in 10 or so. If the dog freaks you have to act like nothing happened. You have to convince the dog it is OK buy doing nothing. Some dogs can handle big ga guns off the bat, I always start with a cap pistol and build from there. Also around the house bang pots and pans around the dog, again nothing is wrong. This may take a while but stay with it.
Gselkhunter

Shotgun Mike

Get someone to stand about 50-75yds away and fire a cap gun while you paly with the dog. Get closer to wothin about 10yds and then keep repeating the exercise while moving up calibres.

Hogan

The problem can be corrected, but it will probably take a long time to get him past the gun. I agree that getting the dog on alot of birds first will help. The dog has to make an association between the birds and gunfire. I would start with just getting him excited on birds or a training dummy if birds are not an option. Gradually start to introduce a cap gun or training pistol from a distance. Patience is very important, since this will take weeks to maybe a month or more depending on how often you can work with the dog. The dog will let you know if he is getting acustom to the gunfire by staying excited on the birds or a game of retrieving a dummy. If the excitement stays with the dog, then you can more the gunfire closer to the dog and more often. Try using a 410 or 20 gauge shotgun first if you get him past the training pistol.