I've heard it's good to slowly get a puppy used to sound of gun... I have 3M old Brittany... Ran across a guy at Cabelas, that swears by using fire crackers, like Black Cats occassionally for this, vs. a pistol.... any thoughts on? I was thinking of buying some 38 special blanks to try, but don't think you can shoot those in a normal pistol, and have some fireworks laying around, which would be cheaper route to go...

22 starter pistol with blanks of course. Firing will draw attention if your near people and using a real gun will really add attention. Also the gun needs to go off at a precise moment. Waiting around for fire crackers to go off is an accident waiting to happen

If you want a fool proof method to get pup used to the gun in a safe manner respond and I will post it. 4 months will be a better time to do this

Listen to Blanked...lot easier to get them fired up about gunfire than overcoming gun shyness.

I can vouch for this statement

You the man.

I tried everything with my current dog and he is flat out gun shy. I have had many dogs with no problem, but this dog has never liked gunshots. I have had him since he was a puppy. I have taken him at least 100 time dove hunting, and he still hate the sound of a gun. I still take him everywhere with me, but he just sits by the truck and chases rabbits while I hunt. I would get rid of him but my wife turned him into an inside dog and the kids love him.

At what age, level of training, and what method was used to introduce this pup to gunfire? Sorry about your dog but a lot may be learned from the back story.

I got him at six weeks and started working with his retrieving at two months. No problem. He obeys all my commands. He will still retrieve anything for me as long as there is not a gun shot. He is now two years old. While he ate when he was young I would always do hammering work or slap the table by him while he ate. He never jumped or flinched when I did this. I though he would be fine. Nope. I started firing a 22 by him while he ate, he did not like it. I tried till he was around a year old. To the day I can still make loud noises next to him and he has no problem. If I shoot any gun, he hides under the truck. Like I said, he still goes with me everywhere because he is my buddy, but he hates guns.

You never start off with gunfire beside the dog. It has to be started at a distance.
I would look into a training program, that has intro to gunfire included.

And would play fetch with them also

What purpose does shooting while he's eating accomplish?
He needs to associate it with fun and birds (retrieving).

Like I said in my original post, I have had many bird dogs with no problems. I trained them all the same way. When I started the gun fire, I started roughly 20 yards from him. When I realized he did not like it, I went inside and got a frozen dove to play fetch with. I started throwing it without shooting and he would bring it back every time. Then I would toss it with a 22 going off, he wanted nothing to do with it. I was very surprised by his actions. If I throw the dove and hit a hammer on metal, no problem. It is crazy.

When he his eating, this is something he enjoys doing. If he can associate eating with gunfire, the dog will be good to go. This is how I have trained all my dogs first, then I went to the field. However, none of the dogs acted like this one.

I feel like I should jump back in here since I instigated this. I knew the answer before I asked. I would like to thank dizzy17 for posting his story because it proves a point.

Gun shy dogs are not born, they are created. Most of the time by dumb mistakes or bad luck. The old method of rocking a shot off over the food bowl doesn't always work and is a huge gamble as is shooting over a dog to early, taking a pup to the gun range, taking a dog hunting prior to formal training, or shooting around a dog to "see" if they are gun shy to name a few. I would rank fireworks right on up there in the how to ruin a good dog category.

The only way to ensure that your dog is not going to be scared of gunfire is to train first, shoot second. I don't fire primers closer than 50 yards until the dog is through FF, steady, and marking well. As you can imagine this puts the dog at a much older age, further in training, and in love with retrieving before the gun is pointed over their head.

Don't ruin a good dog by getting too excited too early.

P.S. And dizzy, I agree with Kindall that your dog is probably salvagable with a formal training program.

Say hello to "Max". He climbs up in the deer blind with me and gets excited to see whats on the ground after the 45-70 cannon goes off.
He got his exposure to gunfire during my whitewing hunting forays.
Never showed any anxiety around firearms..it's in the genes..

I am definitely interested.

[quote=DH 1]Say hello to "Max". He climbs up in the deer blind with me and gets excited to see whats on the ground after the 45-70 cannon goes off.
He got his exposure to gunfire during my whitewing hunting forays.
Never showed any anxiety around firearms..it's in the genes..quote]

That's why I insist on picking a puppy by firing a 30-06 over the whelping box. I then like to throw them into ice cold water to see if they can swim. If I'm unsure I put the e collar on them to make sure they can take pressure....

It ain't in the genes.

First, you need to se how the pup acts to gunfire at a distance. Most show no reaction. If your pup does show a reaction they you need to procedure with caution as suggested on here.

Absolutely brilliant

I know that we have discussed this on this forum before. Gun shyness is not a normal genetic passing that a dog gets from their parents. It is manmade 99% of the time. I still feel that a pup should not be shot around until the breaking part is into its' 2nd to 3rd week. You should always start by letting a pup chase a bird and get some distance and then fire a 22 blank at the ground 180 degrees away. Watch for the pups reaction. If it is negative, cease immediatly.

+1.....anyone who follows the DH1 method is just begging for a gunshy animal.

I would have concerns about my dog suffering some hearing loss from the DH 1 method. A 45/70 fired off in a box without hearing protection is going to do some damage.

When I used to raise a litter of pups I would step out my back door headed for the kennels and fire a blank pistol with a primer in it. Then I would bang the feed pans and start feeding. Bang the tin roof over the kennels and then while they were fighting over the food and chowing down step off aways and fire more blanks. Never had a gun shy dog. When I was training them I would let them chase a pigeon with cropped wings and fire the blank pistol. After a while when I would step out side and fire that blank pistol they would be bouncing off the kennel fences thinking it was either hunting time or feeding time. Just the way I did it.

Before you display your ignorance, you just might do a little study...you are on the internet..right??
Do a little research on gunshyness and you just might find that sound intolerance can be inherited as in GENETIC.

So your advice to the OP is to take his young dog to a dove field and start slinging lead or get into an enclosed area and shoot a large bore rifle over the dogs head and if the dog acts unfavorably he should get a new dog because the one he has is genetically defective?

What were you saying about ignorance??