Gun shy just after 10 days from last training

[TaterHead]

I have a 1 year old lab he started training at 4 months old. He has done a great job so far he was ready to hunt. I last trained him with gun fire on nov 10 he did great was all ready for opening day. Took him to groomers the next day. Day before opening day I took him out side had him heel next to me like always fired my gun to make sure it cycled good and was ready for opening day and my dog jumped behind me!! He has never done this before!! He looked scared. I thought maybe it's cause we have never shot in the back yard and that was his safety place. So opening day we get our farm set decoys out get in to our blind and I pull my gun out and he starts shaking and looks nervous. If I put the gun down he is fine. No birds come in all morning so I figure we could train a little and see what would happen I hit my call my buddy tossed a bumper and I fired my gun and he ran behind me about 8 ft!! I put my gun down stepped out of the blind and told him to heel he did. Sent him to fetch the bump and he did not problems but if I pick my gun up he will not heel and stays behind me. What could have happend??

Thanks nick

[birddogger]

What steps did you take to introduce gunfire?

[ruffbritt4]

So you had him at heel and shot over him... why? Heck, I understand why he was afraid, someone just fired a loud gun over his head and it scared him. I don't let my dogs get shot over at any time unless we are hunting. You said you had him heel next to you like always, so I am curious how you introduced him to the gun.

[Neil]

I don't want to alarm you, but you need to be careful.

Close gunfire hurts, there should always be something to distract them. Properly introduce him to gunfire. You toss a bumper and have a helper fire a .22 blank some distance away. Ignore any reaction, have the helper work closer. Never fire a gun promiscuously, always have something good to get his attention.

I think he will be fine, but go slow until sure. Don't take him out with a bunch of buddies firing away. It hurts, it is why they all go deaf by 10 or so.

Enjoy, and don't worry.

[TaterHead]

i may have explained it wrong I did not fire my gun while standing over him!! He was heeled beside me back behind the gun just like in training. He was introduced to gun fire in a large field while retrieving a bumper the shooter started about 50 yards away with caps then he worked closer and closer then we started with .22 100 yards away Working closer then 20 gauge 100 yards away then got closer. This took weeks it was not done over night. He hunted early goose and no problems. Could they have damaged his ears at the groomers? Could this be an ear infection? Has anybody else had this happen?

[bobman]

If someone slipped up behind you and fired a shotgun would it scare you?


Never ever ever shoot a gun around a hunting dog if its not focused on birds, even a broke dog can be damaged.

[ezzy333]

I didn't see where anyone slipped up behind the pup. He just said he had the dog at heel behind the gun unless I am reading it wrong.

[ruffbritt4]

I didn't see where anyone slipped up behind the pup. He just said he had the dog at heel behind the gun unless I am reading it wrong.

I think the point was that he caught the dog off guard, resulting in a scared pup.

[ezzy333]

I didn't see where anyone slipped up behind the pup. He just said he had the dog at heel behind the gun unless I am reading it wrong.

I think the point was that he caught the dog off guard, resulting in a scared pup.

I tend to agree with you. It is not the way I would ever treat a pup even though he had been shot over. I was just trying to clear it up a little since we are working with a fairly new gundog owner.

[bobman]

I didn't see where anyone slipped up behind the pup. He just said he had the dog at heel behind the gun unless I am reading it wrong.

I think the point was that he caught the dog off guard, resulting in a scared pup.

Yes that was my point, visually a young dog doesn't know a shotgun from a broomstick, he just heard a unexpected very loud noise with no birds around, no dummy thrown.

[birddown12]

i may have explained it wrong I did not fire my gun while standing over him!! He was heeled beside me back behind the gun just like in training. He was introduced to gun fire in a large field while retrieving a bumper the shooter started about 50 yards away with caps then he worked closer and closer then we started with .22 100 yards away Working closer then 20 gauge 100 yards away then got closer. This took weeks it was not done over night. He hunted early goose and no problems. Could they have damaged his ears at the groomers? Could this be an ear infection? Has anybody else had this happen?

Tater - so i have viewed this forum for years, finally became a part of it. I'm by no means an expert and others will probably think I am ridiculous (I try not to share my thoughts too much, but i feel like some people on here are here more to tell you how you did something wrong instead of HELP). I don't do field trials anymore, but have trained up several very nice dogs over the years for my own pleasure of hunting and trials. what you did by firing the weapon without distraction seems to have changed your dogs attitude. was it right or wrong?? at this point doesn't matter. Never have I Ever introduced guns as you described. I hear a lot of people do it this way... All my new pups were introduced to gun shot on our very first hunt. the first bird that flies or gets pointed gets shot. no big deal and never had an issue. Call me lucky, but luck runs out, so i don't believe so. the dog correlates shooting as a good thing. I think most of the time when we make a big deal out of something that shouldn't be, the animal can sense it. I don't think you ruined your dog at all. I would first check your dog for ear infection (step 1). step 2 - see about taking your dog out after some upland birds and let him chase and go ahead and shoot them. this will be fun for him. Give tons of encouragement and i think you will find everything is OK. please report back and keep me posted.