deerpoacher1970
Senior Member
Just wondering if anyone has ever broke a dog from being gun shy.I got a pup that started treeing on her own at 5 months old but scared of a gun .
Just wondering if anyone has ever broke a dog from being gun shy.I got a pup that started treeing on her own at 5 months old but scared of a gun .
I have only tried shooting 22 shorts with a very long barreled bolt action rifle you can't even hear the bang so don't assume that I am stupid and started this pup out shooting a shotgun over it's head regardless of what some of you think on here dogs are born gun shy I was just wondering if anyone had broke one from it I have never seen one broke myself but she is so smart I hate to give up on her and was just hoping someone had a way to save her,she is the smartest pup I have ever seen she is a natural tree dog.You can't just shoot over top of a dog that hasn't been conditioned to it. That is how one gets gun shy to begin with. If you slowly condition them to it, you should never end up with a gun shy dog. Apparently, though, you fired a shotgun or something over this ones head though way before it was ready, so it now associates that noise with danger and fear. You have to disassociate the sound noise with fear. All you can do at this point is what has already been suggested. Buy a cap gun, some of those snap and pops, or even fold up a piece of paper to make a popper if you know how to do that. Since this one is already gun shy, you can even start by simply clapping your hands real loud or hitting your leg with a newspaper or something similar. Get the dog doing something she likes to do a good ways off from you. Give her a toy, let her play with the kid, etc... and then start popping off the cap gun or in this case maybe just clapping loudly well of from the dog. If she acts even a little startled, don't do it again. Wait until the next day, do it softer and from a further distance. If she doesn't act startled, don't be tempted to move closer. Just make the noise a few times, see her basically ignore it and wait until tomorrow. Once she gets to the point that the noise doesn't faze her, get a little closer the next day and do it again. Just don't get too close too fast. It can take a long time to condition them, especially if they are already gun shy. If she acts even slightly scared at any time, stop for the day. You are trying to condition out the fear, not strengthen it. Back up again further the next day, an try again. It may take a while or it may not take long at all, but you eventually work up to where you can clap loudly right by her and she won't flinch. That is what you want. Then start over with the cap gun from a good distance and repeat that daily the same way until you can fire the caps right beside her and she doesn't flinch and just carries on playing or whatever. Then start over again with a 22 LR and repeat daily starting at a really far distance, until you can shoot that around her. Then you eventually work up to a shotgun, starting waaaaaay of, and over time working closer and closer. You have to condition the dog the not associate the loud noise with fear. If she is doing something fun, while shots are ringing off, even better. She associated the noise with fun stuff, and not something to be scared of. A lot of dogs are scared of thunder, but that is because they sit there for weeks not hearing anything loud, then boom, a clap of thunder hits. Off course they will be scared. The same thing happens when a gun randomly goes off over one's head. It may take longer to get your dog accustomed to it than it would if you had started this way, but if you go really slow with it, and don't make a big jump in sound too quickly, you should eventually get her straightened out. I know this is hindsight now, but you never, ever, shoot a gun over a pup or dog who has never been conditioned or accustomed to loud noises or shots before. It is extremely traumatic to most dogs and can put a fear in them that can take a ton of time to get out.