Of dogs, guns and noise

**Dylanm** · 26-12-2012, 20:25

Howzat
I know he is not a hunting dog per se but I have recently adopted a Swiss Shepard pup (male). He is 3 months old and already a good companion.
I would like to find out from you guys that hunt with dogs: How do you train your dogs to be oblivious to gun fire?

Thank you all in advance
Dylan

**gwj DICKDEKOCK** · 26-12-2012, 21:04

I would also be interested to know. We own a GSP which the previous owner was unable to get to hunt, since she is "gun shy".

**Blunderbuss** · 26-12-2012, 21:26

Start with a handler he knows and trust (you) and some else he knows. Handler must remain with dog and encourage him when he first hears the "bangs". Start at a fair distance with a loud cap gun (I used primed cases in my revolver) fired directly at the ground.
As he settles to the noise slowly decrease the distance between him and the "gun", the "shooter" is to move towards him. Once he is no longer bothered by the "cap-gun" start with low charged "blanks", again at a distance.

Worked for my old GSD. Worked so well that when I took any rifle out of the safe he went batshit crazy. He believed it was his duty to retrieve the lead from the 100m backstop.

**johannvdg** · 27-12-2012, 09:30

A gun shyness is a classic form of conditioning gone wrong, a loud bang in conjunction with a negative experience that got repeated enough for the dog to start associating the sound with the negative experience. You need to reverse this conditioning.

Think about what your dog like doing the most and that you can do as often as possible.
For me the solution with younger dogs is always dinnertime, add a tasty sauce to their food and you have the positive connotation down. Get them really exited by letting him sniff the food, to the point of salivating, prior obedience is key here, because you do not once even want to raise your voice during the whole exercise, it has to be a completely positive experience for the dog.
The gunshot can very easily be substituted in the early stages by taking a hard cover book and slamming it closed, let your wife start doing this two or three rooms over. The "shot" must be loud enough for him to hear, but he must show zero reaction to it while eating, and it should stop while he still has plenty of his meal left. As time progress you want to gradually bring the "shot" closer, until you can slam the book closed right next to him, without a reaction. This is the time for fieldwork to begin like described by Blunderbuss.

If you follow the process above with puppies, it is a two-three week process to prevent a dog ever being gun shy, but if a dog has already the condition, depending on its temperament, it can take anything up to 6 months to recondition. Like most things in life, prevention is better than cure.

Sadly some people believe that if they continue to bring a gun shy dog into the field he will eventually loose his shyness, but they are worsening his condition to the point where even a great trainer will struggle to get the dog right in a reasonable amount of time.

To illustrate how easy the conditioning works, I used to bread GSP's my puppies left for their prospective owners at the age of eight weeks, trained to come to whistle or voice, sit on whistle or voice, and ten to twelve puppies would sit patiently in a line waiting for the command before starting to eat, the were also completely accustomed to shot from a .22 blank fired about ten paces away as well as accustomed to water. And all of this using conditioning with their food being the positive factor. I would go so far as to say they were all at this level at six weeks, but they still had to be taught how to be a proper dog by their mother and the other members of the pack.

**h0stag3** · 27-12-2012, 12:22

Shouldn't the dog have some form of hearing protection? Just like we have? It is a bit unfair to something that can hear many times better than us to endure that don't you think?

**Dylanm** · 27-12-2012, 15:46

Originally Posted by h0stag3

Shouldn't the dog have some form of hearing protection? Just like we have? It is a bit unfair to something that can hear many times better than us to endure that don't you think?

Exactly what I was thinking.

**Meteor** · 27-12-2012, 20:25

I have the same idea as Johann but mine is a bit more crude. I just take the dog with and shoot. Don't tence up when you shoot and dont keep looking at the dog for his reaction ,he is not a human and he does not have feelings about the issue, he uses instincts.

About the hearing aid. It would be nifty if we could dress them up but I am not taking them to the indoor range so none is needed.

**h0stag3** · 27-12-2012, 20:48

Originally Posted by meteor

I have the same idea as Johann but mine is a bit more crude. I just take the dog with and shoot. Don't tence up when you shoot and dont keep looking at the dog for his reaction ,he is not a human and he does not have feelings about the issue, he uses instincts.

About the hearing aid. It would be nifty if we could dress them up but I am not taking them to the indoor range so none is needed.

Doesn't make it right hey. Even outdoors shotguns and rifles make huge bangs. I am sure many would agree that many rifles and shotguns are louder than many firecrackers? Now besides the stress it causes the animals I am very sure it damages their hearing. SPCA is against fireworks. That is cruel.

Get innovative and protect the pooch's hearing :-).

**ikor** · 27-12-2012, 23:16

Some dogs can be cured if they are already gunshy and others cannot. Some have no issues with things like fireworks or thunder but spook badly under gunfire...and vice versa. One of the best GSD Police work dogs I ever knew...zero reaction at all to gunfire or fireworks...would crawl into the handlers bathtub and whimper in a heavy thunderstorm. Go figure.

I always started both Labrador and GSD pups with the same method described by johan above...at feeding time. My last GSD would lay in the back of my SUV at the firing range and sleep while all manner of pistols, rifles, full auto, etc...even some explosives work...was fired around him.

For firearms work when we were shooting over and around the the dogs we did try cotton in the ears but I think it only made us feel better really. Apprehension under gunfire was done only seldom and never with ear plugs.