Keeping Dog Calm on Gun Fire
Keeping Dog Calm on Gun Fire
I have a 15 month old German Shorthaired Pointer. She is very good when it comes to quail hunting and pointing birds, and when a gun is fired she runs to the bird or runs with nose down looking for the next. However, lately I have been working on dove hunting with her and it is very hard to keep her calm. Every time a gun is fired, she wants to bolt with her nose to the ground and if I hold her back she will whine constantly. Does anyone have any tips on how to keep her calm in situations such as dove hunting where it is a more of a sit and wait type of hunting. I have fired guns around her since she was a pup and they have never seemed to bother her, but it seems she has started wanting to run wild when a gun is fired after I began working with her with live quail. Any suggestions? Any tips will be appreciated. Thanks.
Re: Keeping Dog Calm on Gun Fire
Are you shooting dove with other people shooting too?
"she wants to bolt with her nose to the ground "... Where does she go?
All this is hard to understand , but my general impression is that there may be too much shooting going on. ?????
"she wants to bolt with her nose to the ground "... Where does she go?
All this is hard to understand , but my general impression is that there may be too much shooting going on. ?????
" We are more than our gender, skin color, class, sexuality or age; we are unlimited potential, and can not be defined by one label." quote A. Bartlett
Re: Keeping Dog Calm on Gun Fire
Does she retrieve at all?
I have a family member who adopted a Wachtelhund a few years ago at about age 5 and had/still has no desire to retrieve but has the best nose I've ever hunted behind. When pheasant hunting she will flush up the rooster, wait til it's shot, then nose is immediately back to the ground onto finding the next bird. Has no desire at all in a dead bird or retrieving anything, but a live bird is another story. What you described sounds similar to what she does once the gun goes off. Not gun shy, just pumped to go find the next one.
We hunt together a lot, so we just make sure that we always have my lab in the field with us and they form a great team. My Lab hunts and retrieves all birds, wachtelhund just hunts. Lab retrieves the birds for the both of them.
I have a family member who adopted a Wachtelhund a few years ago at about age 5 and had/still has no desire to retrieve but has the best nose I've ever hunted behind. When pheasant hunting she will flush up the rooster, wait til it's shot, then nose is immediately back to the ground onto finding the next bird. Has no desire at all in a dead bird or retrieving anything, but a live bird is another story. What you described sounds similar to what she does once the gun goes off. Not gun shy, just pumped to go find the next one.
We hunt together a lot, so we just make sure that we always have my lab in the field with us and they form a great team. My Lab hunts and retrieves all birds, wachtelhund just hunts. Lab retrieves the birds for the both of them.
- aksportsman
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Re: Keeping Dog Calm on Gun Fire
Sounds like she thinks the gun signals a dead bird and time to go to work. Obviously that is true on some occasions but in the 'rare' occasion any of us miss (obviously the guns' fault) you don't want her wining to go get a bird that isn't there.. I'm new to the forum so take this advice with a grain of sand but I'd work with her on a platform (make sure she knows she isn't supposed to leave that platform until you release her). Then introduce a blank pistol, with her on the platform shoot the gun multiple times without throwing a bumper or dummy and not allowing her to leave the platform. After she is steady with that and she starts to calm down not associating 'every' gun shot with a dead bird start shooting throwing a bumper or having a bumper placed in sight and releasing her. Add additional distractions slowly to the scenario, live birds and other hunters to make it as realistic as possible and to ensure she doesn't leave her spot. I think its is going to be a bit of a process, don't rush it sounds like she has associated a bird with every gun shot.HuntGSP wrote:Every time a gun is fired, she wants to bolt with her nose to the ground and if I hold her back she will whine constantly.
Like I said I'm new so don't rush to the training grounds with this approach before getting confirming advice.
best of luck
Re: Keeping Dog Calm on Gun Fire
Back up to the training field and over lay whoa and the gun shot. Whoa the dog, let it stand a moment and fire the gun. Your dog will likely break. have it on a check cord and get it settled down and whoa'ed again. Then go on. Keep doing it until the dog stands through the shot. Then start moving the command and the shot closer until you can eliminate the command and stop the dog with the shot. I'm guessing the dog really like to retrieve and has had a bunch of birds a lot for it. Gun goes off equals dead bird and time to go. Stop her from doing it and she'll whine!
I pity the man that has never been loved by a dog!