Just curious Thunder storms

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powbass@gmail.com
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Just curious Thunder storms

Post by powbass@gmail.com » Tue Apr 15, 2014 9:12 am

How do dog breeders guard against pups becoming gun shy during a mid west thunder storm?? I Think it is mostly breeding.

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ezzy333
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Re: Just curious Thunder storms

Post by ezzy333 » Tue Apr 15, 2014 10:37 am

Over many years and hundreds of dogs I am yet to see any connection between thunder storms and gun shyness. I have had many dogs that didn't like storms that had no problem at all with a gun and vice versa.

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Re: Just curious Thunder storms

Post by Mountaineer » Tue Apr 15, 2014 10:49 am

powbass@gmail.com wrote:How do dog breeders guard against pups becoming gun shy during a mid west thunder storm?? I Think it is mostly breeding.
I would doubt any breeding angle as a cause of gunshyness, I do believe that a bad decision at an inopportune time would indeed raise an issue with gun noise.
I also would expect that many folks would like to blame either breeding or thunderstorms for their own mistakes at those inopportune moments.
I am very afraid and saddened that some "breeders" might advertise that their dogs have the gunshyness bred out of them as a selling point to the inexperienced....no good, that level of marketing.

I have one setter that, at 13, has gotten much worse over time when a thunderstorm advances and arrives....however, never has there been any issue with the pop of a scattergun.
Mostly, I think he grins when he hears it.

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mrcreole
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Re: Just curious Thunder storms

Post by mrcreole » Tue Apr 15, 2014 11:01 am

My son's gsp is absolutely terrified of thunder. Not gun shy in the least.

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birddogger
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Re: Just curious Thunder storms

Post by birddogger » Tue Apr 15, 2014 12:06 pm

ezzy333 wrote:Over many years and hundreds of dogs I am yet to see any connection between thunder storms and gun shyness. I have had many dogs that didn't like storms that had no problem at all with a gun and vice versa.

Ezzy
Exactly right!!

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Re: Just curious Thunder storms

Post by Muygrande » Tue Apr 15, 2014 12:54 pm

birddogger wrote:
ezzy333 wrote:Over many years and hundreds of dogs I am yet to see any connection between thunder storms and gun shyness. I have had many dogs that didn't like storms that had no problem at all with a gun and vice versa.

Ezzy
Exactly right!!

Charlie
Dead on in my book. I had an old britt that was not gun shy in the least but was afraid of thunderstorms since he was a puppy.

The funny thing is that hard-headed dog was not afraid of anything, including coyotes, wild hogs, badgers and brahma bulls, but a rumble of thunder would send him running straight to his dog house.

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Re: Just curious Thunder storms

Post by hi-tailyn » Wed Apr 16, 2014 7:46 am

Maybe they are a little smarter than we are. :roll: :roll:

When it Thunders you need to head for cover. :roll:

Unlike those of us that rode for 2 hours in the thunder and lightning at this years NGSPA Open Shooting Dog Nationals at Booneville this past March.

Lightning and thunder right on top of us and we kept running till lightning struck very close to us. Ended up finding out it had killed a local field trialers horse only 1/2 mile from where we were at that time.

Who says we are the smarter ones? :roll:

One judge wanted to keep going. :?:

We said we are picking up our dog and heading back. Not worth getting killed.

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Re: Just curious Thunder storms

Post by hi-tailyn » Wed Apr 16, 2014 7:54 am

Have a GSP that I bred and was at trainers many years ago, and kennels were hit by tornado and tumbled all the kennels and dogs across nearby field. (no dogs were hurt very bad). She has ever since been deadly afraid of storms. No problem with gunfire or trialing.

She won the NSDC 3 yrs ago and one of the best wild bird dogs I have hunted behind.

She is the mother of my avatar dog.

Have her at my house now with a litter of pups. When she starts getting anxious, I know there is a storm coming.

More reliable than the weatherman. :lol: :lol:

Dogs can tell the difference between thunder and gun fire.

Gun fire means fun and birds, if introduction is done correctly. :lol:

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powbass@gmail.com
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Re: Just curious Thunder storms

Post by powbass@gmail.com » Wed Apr 16, 2014 9:55 am

I have a rescue Britt that is gun and thunder shy. she came from Neb, I just thought gun and thunder shy went hand in hand. Needless to say, I wasn't told she was gun shy, when I picked her up.

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Re: Just curious Thunder storms

Post by tfbirddog2 » Wed Apr 16, 2014 11:01 am

Never had a pup gun shy at all! Every litter I have had was born during or before a thunderstorm, no issues! But after my now 13 yr old Lab started having seizures 4 yrs ago she doesn't care fore thunder it has given her seizures,

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Re: Just curious Thunder storms

Post by CCBIRDDOGMAN » Thu Apr 17, 2014 7:04 am

I have two that are scared to death of thunder (one French Britt, one English Pointer) neither are gun shy. I live on a very popular lake East of Dallas and the big thing around the lake is fireworks, there is never a Friday or Saturday night that someone doesn't shoot fireworks, the EP is scared of them too, you cant beg him to come out of his house on the 4th of july. But he ain't scared of nothing in the field.

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Re: Just curious Thunder storms

Post by larue » Thu Apr 17, 2014 1:38 pm

my old dog max loved storms,he would sit in our bay window and watch the storms roll up our valley.
He loved shotgun blasts,he would run toward them.
Now he was afraid of high powered rifle noise,as they have a different noise and he would hear them during deer hunting.
He would go lay down and you could see that they bothered him.

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Re: Just curious Thunder storms

Post by Chukar12 » Thu Apr 17, 2014 4:33 pm

I believe some dogs are born with predisposed characteristics that are inclined to make them noise aversive, these same dogs often pose challenges in other difficult to work with behaviors. It is a reasonable argument to say it is genetics. This is enhanced or mitigated by their exposure and environmental factors; hence you see numerous examples above where a dog reacts to a "similar to gun shot" loud noise in one way and to a familiar shot itself in another. The reason for it is the same as the catalyst for the process in most gun shy remedies. If a gun is properly introduced and associated with prey, and that prey drive is strong enough and nurtured well enough to supersede the anxiety of noise the dog not only is desensitized to the noise they make a positive association.

Some dogs do not show these characteristics at the same levels as others might. This is why we see advice and examples like "I took my puppy to the trap club and he was fine.", " I took him to the pheasant club and four of us shot the first bird my pup ever smelled and he ran right over to it without hesitation" ...this mentality is Russian Roulette. These mistakes are some of the more severe in rookie gun dog training, because the problem is difficult to undo requiring patience that probably is not naturally employed by the trainer or the problem wouldn't be there in the first place. The good news is that many, many dogs come back from the abyss of gun shyness under the hand of a patient trainer who knows how to use the dogs natural prey drive and proper increments of noise associated with presence of game to desensitize the dog...however, it is not likely the fear of thunder, fireworks or even distant/unfamiliar gun shots will ever wane.

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