Pistol shot - Page 2

Mark,

When I thought all what could be said had already been said, came your post to prove there is more to be added, thank you so much.

Ibrahim

 I somewhat disagree with Mark's statement, as I have seen dogs react to weapons in a way that they would not react to another object that they had never seen. I think much of it has to do with the body language differences when we handle weapons as opposed to something benign. Somehow, even not knowing what it is, or what it can do, they can perceive it as a threat. 

I totally agree w/Jeff's statement, BTW.

my dogs/pups are generally used to hearing gun fire and will even lay at your feet during target practice.  plus they get used to fireworks pretty quickly out here, they are used to keep the stray cats away from the garbage on trash day.

we live next to a 800+ acre ranch and people hunt every year on it, you always hear shotguns and rifles in the fall/winter out here.

personally, if I was trialing a dog, I would expose it to the gunfire/loud noises before taking it out.  always start with them as pups.  but a weak nerved dog may never get used to it.

michael49
I do not agree. You can make any pup to be scared of gunfire (sometimes for life) if it is used without transition and it is  big enough and close enough and sudden enough. Unless the dog is a complete dope.
On the other hand I agree with Uber land :weak nerved dog may never get used to it.
Thus you need to start the pup easy and give them a chance. If he has weak nerves you will now soon enough. He will never get used to it or get conditioned to it. 99% of dogs are MADE gun shy or are not given chance not to be gun shy.

Prager Hans
http://www.alpinek9.com

If you train a dog to "take " real gunfire then please keep in mind that there are more aspects to it then the powder explosion. They are:
1. Shock wave.
2. Hiss of the bullet flying through the air.
3. Sonic boom supersonic bullet produces (9 mm for example)
4. Slap of the bullet into object or ground near the dog.
5. already mentioned explosion
6. Flash
7. crack of the semi automatic action.
The shot in SchH trials deals just with the explosion for the charge usually in the revolver.
In some really anti gun countries where even blanc guns are illegal to use, they  slap togehter  2 boards hinged on one side. That is a poor way to train the dog to be gun fire resistant.
Prager Hans
http://www.alpinek9.com

OK... Here is a scenario. My 3 yr old DDR/Czech boy gets all fired up at the sound of the gun. He is at the end of the line with an intense deep bark, ears up forward motion. He cannot help himself, mind you, I have complete control on this dog but as soon as he hears ANYTHING that sounds like a whip (ie; firecrackers, guns, or the whip) He looses all focus on me and acts like he HAS TO get that noise. What is it? Where did it come from? And do I want to fix it?

Renee
http://workingk9.lefora.com/

I am going to guess it sounds more like #1... Only because he has been fired up for bitework with the whip more times than I can remember. My new qustion is, do I fix it, Can I fix it, and how do I avoid it with another dog?
I would like to take him hunting/skeet shooting with us but I can't....  

Ruger,

 I have the same problem with one of my dogs (still working on it) he's almost 4. My guy is a very hard stuborn dog, so this may not work for all types of temperments. I have my wife fire the starter pistol about 200 yards away while I work him in fast obedience making him perform various positions and heeling. I had to put a prong collar on him and it wasn't pretty the first few sessions. As I started to get his attention and he was ignoring the shots I asked my wife to move closer. We are at around 100 yards now and still working. My mistake was not correcting him for barking on holidays where fireworkers and firecrackers were going off. He was worked around gun fire when he was younger and was completely nuetral, but now it's a call to war for him.

I think exposing dogs to gun fire in situations without bite work first like others have stated is the best bet. Once a dog is neutral than add shots during bite work to ensure it's not a distraction. It's the same as a dog hearing the whip or the clatter stick because it's always associated with bite work and will get them fired up everytime. 

That is why as I stated before I crack the whip when I feed or during obedience. In" by the way" fashion.
 I would never train the dog protection around gunfire commenced by decoy before agitation until later. At first I would fire the gun by non-decoy/non-helper during bite and not before the bite. For practical reasons it is not important to fire the gun in training before the agitation starts. Also keep in mind that if the dog hears the gunfire while the other dogs are trained around gunfire, that  will cause due to such association  the dog to be sensitive/aggressive to such gunfire.
Avoid the cause and effect sequence=gun fire -> agitation at all cost.  Gun fire is just another noise during and even after bite work. Not a signal  to do bite work.  
 Once the dog becomes aggressive on gun fire then  it is almost impossible to brake him/her form it.
Prager Hans
http://www.alpinek9.com