Gun Conditioning Question
Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2022 1:09 pm
I am working on conditioning my 9 month old Novia Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever to gun fire. I am basing my training off of the Standing Stone Kennels videos. I am in the process of trying to trap pigeons to aid in this training, but have been using dummies with grouse wings attached because my dog has a huge drive to retrieve them and I don't have live birds yet.
We started with .22 blanks and 20 gauge primer only loads and have worked in to about 30 yards. We are shooting while the dummy is still in the air and the dog is intently in chase. At the distance of about 30 yards and in, upon gunshot, the dog will often stop running at the sound of the gunshot, look the direction of the shot for a second, but continue on searching for the down dummy with her tail wagging. We were getting the same reaction at 100 yards with live 20 gauge loads (only tried twice)
We have about five days of training in. My dog is very excited about seeing the gun at home and the idea that we are going to go out to shoot and chase the dummy.
At the end of one training day, I had picked up some 12 gauge blanks and wanted to see the sound difference between them and 20 gauge loads. I left the dog I the truck with my wife and kids. I shot a 12 gauge blank and a live 20 gauge at 100 yards + from the truck. My dog tried to jump out the window in excitement to get to me, believing there was a dummy to chase. At this point I am only seeing positive associations to the gun fire.
My questions- Is this a bad reaction? Should I be putting more time in with blanks/primer loads at a further distance? Is it okay to keep moving with louder loads?
We started with .22 blanks and 20 gauge primer only loads and have worked in to about 30 yards. We are shooting while the dummy is still in the air and the dog is intently in chase. At the distance of about 30 yards and in, upon gunshot, the dog will often stop running at the sound of the gunshot, look the direction of the shot for a second, but continue on searching for the down dummy with her tail wagging. We were getting the same reaction at 100 yards with live 20 gauge loads (only tried twice)
We have about five days of training in. My dog is very excited about seeing the gun at home and the idea that we are going to go out to shoot and chase the dummy.
At the end of one training day, I had picked up some 12 gauge blanks and wanted to see the sound difference between them and 20 gauge loads. I left the dog I the truck with my wife and kids. I shot a 12 gauge blank and a live 20 gauge at 100 yards + from the truck. My dog tried to jump out the window in excitement to get to me, believing there was a dummy to chase. At this point I am only seeing positive associations to the gun fire.
My questions- Is this a bad reaction? Should I be putting more time in with blanks/primer loads at a further distance? Is it okay to keep moving with louder loads?