Gun Training My Vizsla

[Waterfowler21]

Hello All,
My V is 6 months old and I have worked hard to get her on wild birds the last month and a half. I live in ND and there is plenty of land to get her out on, so that has been successful. So far we have flushed around 100 birds that were further out but she has managed to get right on top of a pheasant twice and I flushed them within feet of her so that has been exciting.

I have a .22 pistol with blanks I plan on introducing this weekend. Any advice on how it should be done? I planned on letting her get into "hunt mode" out in CRP and then having my brother stand next to her 30 yds away while I throw up a dummy and shoot. She seems to be a normal V temperament and can be skittish to unexpected noises, but it seems to be when she's in a sleepy or calm state. When she's out in the field nothing has freaked her out yet. Thoughts?

Thanks!

[marysburg]

Glad to hear your pup is doing well on birds. That will give you an opportunity to link the sound of the gun with something very exciting (the flying bird). Let your pup range out well away from you, and if you get a point and flush or even just a wild flush, let her get committed to the chase, then fire the starter pistol: away from the dog, behind your back, only once. Do not repeat this more than two times in each outing, and keenly observe your pup for signs of stress (lowered head or tail, returning to your side, discontinuing her search, returning to the truck would all be signs of stress). It's easy to do too much, and very difficult to undo it if you scare her.

If you search topics on this forum, there is a lot of information on conditioning for gunfire. Have a great time this fall with your pup.

[Makintrax73]

Hello All,
I have a .22 pistol with blanks I plan on introducing this weekend. Any advice on how it should be done? I planned on letting her get into "hunt mode" out in CRP and then having my brother stand next to her 30 yds away while I throw up a dummy and shoot.

I'm not nearly as experienced as many of the posters on this board, and I'd like to see what they have to say. I would NOT introduce a dog to the gun using a dummy.
I would use live birds, assuming they are heck bent on chasing and excited about birds, and only shooting a blank while they are in full chase. You only get one chance
to do this right the first time, and the downside of screwing it up is pretty big.

[Sharon]

Glad to hear your pup is doing well on birds. That will give you an opportunity to link the sound of the gun with something very exciting (the flying bird). Let your pup range out well away from you, and if you get a point and flush or even just a wild flush, let her get committed to the chase, then fire the starter pistol: away from the dog, behind your back, only once. Do not repeat this more than two times in each outing, and keenly observe your pup for signs of stress (lowered head or tail, returning to your side, discontinuing her search, returning to the truck would all be signs of stress). It's easy to do too much, and very difficult to undo it if you scare her.

If you search topics on this forum, there is a lot of information on conditioning for gunfire. Have a great time this fall with your pup.

..............................

Well said!