Question: I have a fourteen-month-old German Short-haired Pointer that is gun shy. He seems to have a good nose and can find birds, but after shooting a couple of times at birds, he loses interest and runs off, not wanting to come back. At home, I let him run around with a wing and shoot a cap gun off, after which, he will hide in the garage or in the bushes. I am afraid he will associate birds with the gunshots and stop hunting. Any suggestions how to break him before I give up on him?

David M.

Answer: As with most letters I receive asking for help, you have not included enough detail. What gauge shotgun are you using? How close to the dog were you when you shot? How many times are you shooting at each bird flushed? Did the dog see the flushed bird before the shot? What caliber blank gun were you using? At what age did you introduce the pup to shot gun tire?

Dave, stop all shooting near this dog. That's number one. Now, why do you think more shooting will help, as you say ‘break', a dog from being gun shy? Gun shy is a condition created by people, not dogs. Some dogs are noise-sensitive, which then becomes ‘gun shyness' when gunfire is introduced. There are a million books that advise the use of blank guns, or cap guns as you described, to introduce dogs to gun fire. This is fine, provided you are not starting with a noise-sensitive dog. Also there are a wide range of blank guns. I find the .22 caliber blanks to be of little use. If I use blanks at all, I use a .32 caliber blank gun. I bought it mainly to use for the few times I may be competing with a dog where a blank gun is used in the back course. I find the .32 very similar to a .410 shotgun in noise levels, and loud enough to be of value when training a dog to be steady to gunfire. The relatively quiet .22 blank does little to prepare a dog for the much louder blast of a .12 gauge shotgun. You say you are afraid that your dog will associate gunfire with birds snd then you turn around and shoot at birds with a shotgun around him and shoot off your blank gun when he is carrying a wing from a bird. You already have done everything possible to associate gunfire with birds to this dog.

I wish you had included your phone number with your letter so that I could discuss the situation with you. Please call me as soon as possible, whenever you read this. Your dog still has hope of recovering from your blunders, for you see, common sense plays a large roll in dog training. Have you ever seen the Three Stooges movies? Moe goes to the doctor and says, ‘Doc, it hurts when I do this. What should I do?' And the doctor says ‘Stop doing that.' Well, if what you are attempting to do is not working, then common sense should tell you to stop doing it.

There are many factors to consider when first introducing dogs to gun fire. Maturity (age is not a determining factor), confidence, nervousness, noise sensitivity, interest in birds, closeness of the dog to the gun when shot and the gauge of the shotgun used, all play into the picture. There seems to be a lot of pressure to start gun dogs at very young ages. I listened as one ‘supposed' professional trainer told a group of people that in the old days, trainers waited until a dog was twelve months old before training was started, because so many dogs died from disease at a young age. And now with the aide of modem medicines, dogs have a better chance for survival, so you need to start bringing them to him for hour-long training sessions at sixteen weeks of age. This is merely a ploy to pad the trainer's pockets. A dog's attention span at sixteen weeks of age is about ten to fifteen minutes at best.

Sure, I have seen the occasional dog that is competing at Senior or even Master hunt tests at ten or twelve months. But these precocious youngsters are the exception, not the norm. And a pup who starts or even finishes it's training at a very young age is not necessarily going to be the best dog in the litter. Please allow your puppies time to be puppies. Advance them as they are ready to advance, rather than on your predetermined time table. Maturity is not always related to age.

Problem-solving on a sight-unseen basis is difficult because the owner's perception of what is taking place is seldom accurate. But until you are able to contact me, stay away from gunfire. By all means, keep exposing your dog to birds and allow the dog to have some fun with the birds for now. This means no rules around birds. We can steady him down later. To get him over his noise-sensitivity, you need to utilize his desire for birds. This desire will help carry him past his dislike for noise. The connection between gunfire and birds must be made.

You probably have seen the reaction of experienced gun dogs when a gun is fired. They are excited and interested in the noise because they have made the association between gunfire and the presence of game. Most gun dogs assume there is game down when they hear gunfire. Your letter states that the dog loses interest and runs off after shooting a couple of times at birds. My question now is “are you shooting repeatedly at each bird flushed and does the dog see the bird as it is flushing?”

I use a method similar to the ‘shoot a blank when he is eating' method, except I shoot the blank or .410 when a bird is flushing and the dog is in pursuit. One single shot, not a barrage. I try to bring the bird down with the shot, if not, I do not shoot a second time. One shot from a .410 when the dog is focused on a flushing bird is seldom noticed by a young dog. I am not gun shy, but if you were to sneak up behind me while I am eating and shoot a gun.... Let's just say my reaction would not be favorable.

Charlie Linblade

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