Gundog Training Forum

I am hoping to get a little help with a gun shy problem. My Boykin has become gun shy after two years of being shot over, weather and illness prevented me from hunting or shooting for 2 seasons, She now has become gun shy,not totaly freaking out but shows fear and shuts down help please ,all the American sites just references following so and so cd,not so much into cd training, plus none address a dog not gun shy becoming gun shy. Added if it can be done indoors it won't be done for a couple of months this 23 below this mornings comute.

Have you checked her ears? Sometimes waxy ears can distort sound, also did you fire the gun somewhere she is used to? One of my dogs dived for cover when a gun was fired close to trees, we think it might have been the echo as she was fine both before and after.

Try going back to basics, getting someone to shoot a fair distance away while you give her a retrieve, gradually bringing the gun closer just as you would with a puppy.

We do have lots of ear problems associated with food allergies and the fact she likes to rub her head in snow and ice forcing it into her ears,so they get very regular attention and flushing ,if something has changed in her hearing I would know how to address it .Thank you so much I've asked about this on a dozen fourms and you are the first to come up with something actually useful

Meant would not know how to address

Welcome to the forum. As a Canadian I can appreciate the difficulty in winter training. I have never had a gun shy dog but I attribute that to being VERY careful how I introduce my dogs to the gun. I do a lot of waterfowling from blinds and small boats using 12 ga 3 1/2 steel magnum loads which is far more than most dogs are expected to endure at close quarters and in confined spaces. Naturally dogs don't like the sound of gunfire. Not surprising as neither do most people. What is important is for the dog to understand the unpleasant experience of gunfire leads directly to the very pleasant experience of bird contact or retrieving. Over the years I have been asked to help with "gun shy" or "gun nervous" several times. I have always been successful to some extent and what I have learned is it has a lot to do with how "birdy" (prey drive) the dog has. if your Boykin is very birdy you have every hope of success.

Not sure how available live training birds are in Alaska. My bird of choice is feral pigeons which are widely available here. If you can get a dozen or so. Let your dog have a riot with them. Chase then, flush them. even use maski9ng tape on primary feathers to allow her to catch a few. Most well bred dogs become lunatics for this game very quickly. Once she is totally wound up about this game introduce the gun first with light loads and fro0m a distance. If everything goes perfectly the dog won't even show signs of hearing the gun in her desire to get to the bird. It does not take long or many repetitions (maybe 10-12) before the dog starts to associate the sound of the gun with the bird.

When this process is complete the dog not only learns to tolerate gunfire, they love it!, because they associate it with live birds which trumps everything.

Thank you ,but we didn't start gun shy she hunted grouse and Ptarmigan for 2 seasons, her first and second years then due to illness in the family not her ,hunting ceased 2 years. This is when she showed shyness ,when going after Ptarmigan in the fall ,since winter came early and hard we had limited time in the feild sub zero since October with only a few days break.

Savageak wrote: ↑Fri Jan 07, 2022 11:42 pm Thank you ,but we didn't start gun shy she hunted grouse and Ptarmigan for 2 seasons, her first and second years then due to illness in the family not her ,hunting ceased 2 years. This is when she showed shyness ,when going after Ptarmigan in the fall ,since winter came early and hard we had limited time in the feild sub zero since October with only a few days break.

I understand but dogs are not born gun shy we make them that way by exposing them to the unpleasant sound of the gun without any pleasant association with birds. It is very hard in North American to find the concentration of birds they have in the UK so here a dog can do a lot of hunting and hear many shots without making the connection between the unpleasant sound and the exciting bird. I believe we need to “set up” the situation to help them make the connection.

Do what you wish but my experience is these problems tend to get worse not better over time unless dealt with proactively.

Good luck with the Boykin. I have only had experience with a couple but great little dogs very much like a working Cocker.

What I was getting at ,is she has had many successful retrieves for 2 seasons with no regard to gun fire then after a lay off of a couple seasons she had become gun shy
Guess when it warms up will star over like she is a puppy

Savageak wrote: ↑Sat Jan 08, 2022 12:26 am What I was getting at ,is she has had many successful retrieves for 2 seasons with no regard to gun fire then after a lay off of a couple seasons she had become gun shy
Guess when it warms up will star over like she is a puppy

I think that's your best bet, get someone else to fire the gun a good distance away, throw birds for her so that she associates the two again. Shouldn't take very long as she's been hunting before. Good luck!

Savageak wrote: ↑Fri Jan 07, 2022 9:31 pm We do have lots of ear problems associated with food allergies and the fact she likes to rub her head in snow and ice forcing it into her ears,so they get very regular attention and flushing ,if something has changed in her hearing I would know how to address it .Thank you so much I've asked about this on a dozen fourms and you are the first to come up with something actually useful

Whilst your training is limited my first step would be get those ears looked at by your vet/specialist at least to make sure the ear canal has not been damaged either by inflammation or the `flushing'. At least that will be one thing to put to rest. If they are damaged there is not a lot you will be able to do except retire the dog from the shooting field. ( You could develop some canine ear defenders and make a fortune. Just don't make pink and blue ones as your likely to fall foul of gender identity issues )
If the ear canal is ok, then follow the advise from CC, retrain as if from new and regain a positive association with the noise of gunfire.