Yesterday, I purchased my first 10 birds to start my Gordon on
from H&H in Bandera..$5.50 ea..Needless to say it was an exp.
as I haven't worked a really young dog in awhile..but he is birdy and pointed the cage numerous times..Think I'll work him
on some without shooting today...I also noticed my liver colored GSP is more Gunshy than ever..but not birdshy, so I'll
try and find him a home rather than destroy him..

I did a free svc call on one of the local dog breeders who markets about 100 pupies a yr. and expressed my concern at the
amount of gunshy dogs from outstanding breeding..He told me
he never shoots around his dogs or over them ever...I told him
if I purchased one and it was shy, I'd want my money back and more..DD

dogs are not born gun shy, they are made gun shy by poor introduction.

I agree.

I made my young dogs eat 2-3 times a day at the gun range. Never bothered them and still don't.

You got lucky...

Yes intro do gunshot by bombarding them right off the bat.

All of my pups have been introduced to gun fire prior to me picking them up.

Well for starters I would leave them in the truck with the windows up and let them eat.... Then maybe the next week crack the windows and repeat. Then following that about a week later roll the windows completely down and open the doors. Then finally get em out the truck and let them eat on the ground at the range. Also if I had to feed them at home I'd do it in the laundry room with everything going and I'd bang some pots and pans together. They got used to it real quick and it has never been a problem. Got the idea from a friend and it worked.

It also helps when you stay 3 minutes from the gun range.

Some are born with the tendency to be gun shy. I would never breed that was gun shy.

I always started mine out with just a pistol in field training. Any shyness was pretty quickly eliminated over several sessions.

+1000000000000000000000000

I'll differ with you on the not born gun shy..My GSP, 5 littermates...3 uncles and 2 Aunts all are shy and they directly
descinded from a Bench Show dog that Doc outcrossed into the line. I'll grant you that one can make a dog gun shy by not exposing him to noise, or too too much noise, or by shooting him
ect..and I've seen all of that..but we used to raise over 200 Eng. pointer puppies a year..and we culled the litters severly
back then..now most folks try to raise as many dogs as they can
irregardless of standards, or how the dogs look or act..they just
want the bucks..Most have never culled a dog in their lives..DD

So you take 2 pups, 6 months old raised in the same house or kennel, and tie them out for an hour a day for 2 weeks. Then you walk out and shoot. Let's say one is shy and one is not. What made one shy? No, a better question is what made one not pay any attention to the gunshot?

Well, I'd hate to be the one who sold a gunshy pup. We start our litters' introductions when they are days old and the simulated gunfire increases the entire time they are here. Part of the 'exit interview' is a 7 week old pup getting excited when a large packing bubble is popped over top of him, then running to the whistle call immediately after. If a pup can't do that, it doesn't leave here as a 'gun dog prospect.' When the JSA pups leave here at 3-4 months old, we're firing 12 gauges over them.

if u dont want the gsp ill take it and make it my bird dog

It doesnt matter why one is shy and one isnt, they should be treated differently as they are different dogs. One pup may be very hard/bold one may be soft/timid so you should introduce the gun in a different manner according to how you read the dog and how they respond the the gun. Like other people have already said, dogs are not born gun shy they are made that way by people, thats pretty much a fact. As far as staking them out and shooting maybe thats why the one is shy! Sounds like a terrible way to introduce a pup to gunfire. Just my two cents.

I agree, just because they were raised in the same house doesn't mean they are the same dog, all dogs are different & have to be trained & exposed to things at their own pace / level, there is no "cookie cutter training method".

I've seen good results from staking the gunshy dog on a chain with several other dogs in a line. Work the other dogs in front of the lined dogs. Pistol,gun shots, whistle. The gunshy dog watches the other dogs and gets used to the noise. Doesn't work all the time, but works alot. I always try to be loud with the puppies when they were very little. Not so much with a gun---but when I would go to the kennel, i would be very loud--like rattling the feed pan, dropping it, etc. Good luck.

So, you think Delmar Smith who has trained hundreds of dogs is wrong, when he says that the best way to introduce a pup to gunfire is on a chain gang?

My current pup is a Gordon that was bred and raised by Ron Cross
of Bannfshire Kennels in Moscow Ia. He also trains and shows
dogs for outside owners on a limited basis and is a very knowlegeable hunter/trainer. He exposes his pups to gunfire as
he raises them..my pup is totally oblivious to noise and gunfire.
I carry him to the gun club on Wed Nite Skeet League ect..We also
have used this many times on dogs we were raising to condition them...I can't say what always works, but I do think that most times if it's in the breeding, and background, you'll have a problem that is not reversable, and that the animal will be a marginal asset even if he gets by with noise because it will alway affect them and their performance..Doc's dogs are all exposed to other, gunfire, hunting, noise..most of the pups from
the Bench Show GSP all ended up shy..but he apparently bred some
anyway...Don

Regarding Puppies, I agree w/Ironspikes comment..start them as
pups...I have always used my old ss 22 Win w/long bbl and CB Caps
and then shorts..and shot around them as I played with them..But
we also had very agressive parents and I'd cull very shy pups even they weren't gunshy because many won't work and don't like
people or other animals, ect..My buddy in Bandera showed me about
a dozen yr. old pups, and 4 littler of about 10 ea. liver Labs that all have champion blood lines English type..and he sells pets mostly..but I hunt my dogs and then they are pets..If I wanted just a pet, I'd adopt one from the pound..Don

It's difficult to understand how a pup can be born thunder shy, but not gun shy. I wonder if the thundershirt would help gunshy pups.

http://www.thundershirt.com/

This is very close to how we intro pups at about 6-8 weeks. I crate them, put them on the trailer behind the ATV and cart them down to the training fields. I run other dogs (usually the parents) thru drills. First 1-3 days is .22 cal starter pistol @ 10-15 yards away. If pups do well, I move closer right then. If I can fire it from right next to them on day 1, I will. If ANYONE flinches or looks confused, I hold off. Once I can fire the .22 right over them for several rounds, the next trip down is a 20 gauge @ 10-15 yards & start the process again. By the time they're ready for the 12 gauge, they've been running their own drills under the .22 or 20 gauge, I just switch to the 12. By then (usually 4 months old), they are so into the retrieving, they hardly notice the change in the gun.

The pup in the video belongs to aps (he's in our JSA program and was born on December 21, 2011.) The pup is 3 months old in this video - he already knows the gunfire means LOOK FOR THE MARK OUT OVER THE WATER.

I always love watching puppies learning. We had my daughters catahoula out playing with the bird dogs. She retrieves and loves water but wasn't sure how to pick up a quail. After a few tries on land with her running to it but only licking it. We threw it in the pond. She made two deep water retrieves then we moved back to land. She had it down pat. My daughter said " Mom she's not a bird dog."

You nailed it, Kindall. The water makes it a no-brainer for the pup trying to figure out how to grab it. That's why the videos say learning the proper hold is an easy fix. All I need to know is that the pup 1) wants to grab/retrieve it and 2) does NOT want to destroy it. I let the ponds do the work for me from there!