Thread: Gun shy

My 3yr old Vizsla was going ok. This year he was going under a fence wire, as his back came up a bit, hit the wire and whack, electric stock on the spine.

Since then he leaves the garage every time a rifle or gun comes out of the safe. He wont get out of the ute when we go hunting and if I lift him out, he runs and hides in a bush.

Bugger. Some CC as above might be for you too.


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I call BS to the age you start a dog with the gun. The sooner the better.

There is a 10 week old pup here that is well broken to the gun and comes along for a walk whenever I go (four days a week) Same goes for all the other pups I've bred.
I will say that of the god knows how many other dogs I've been through that are the six months plus the fail rate has been massive when it comes to gun shyness. And yes, I did the slowly slowly thing.

Originally Posted by jord

Sorry EB - appreciate your input, that's just not me or mine you mentioned.
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I wish your mate the best of luck with the little dog...

Better today. Tried some of the above advice and already seeing positive change. Cheers


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Originally Posted by Wirehunt

I call BS to the age you start a dog with the gun. The sooner the better.

There is a 10 week old pup here that is well broken to the gun and comes along for a walk whenever I go (four days a week) Same goes for all the other pups I've bred.
I will say that of the god knows how many other dogs I've been through that are the six months plus the fail rate has been massive when it comes to gun shyness. And yes, I did the slowly slowly thing.

That maybe true, but with your experience you would be able to see something Jord may not have. By reading the dogs reaction to loud noises, you would back off a step before you created a problem.

Jord I'll leave it at this before it turns into a shitfight, but my only advice would be this. As with all dog problems you start at the issue and work backwards. (not the human approach and go straight to the source). You need to address the issue of the dog being aversive to the sight of the gun before you even think of any conditioning to sound, not the other way around, as if you do all the conditioning to sound then whip the gun out, you will be back to square one. Start bringing the gun out at feeding etc, hell even stick one in his kennel and run. Then increase this to walks with the gun, or any gun shaped object. Then when he comfortable with that, only then go on to sound conditioning. Don't put a timeline on this too by the way, this could be a 3-6 month project if you are lucky. All the best.

Originally Posted by Pointer

That maybe true, but with your experience you would be able to see something Jord may not have. By reading the dogs reaction to loud noises, you would back off a step before you created a problem.

Jord I'll leave it at this before it turns into a shitfight, but my only advice would be this. As with all dog problems you start at the issue and work backwards. (not the human approach and go straight to the source). You need to address the issue of the dog being aversive to the sight of the gun before you even think of any conditioning to sound, not the other way around, as if you do all the conditioning to sound then whip the gun out, you will be back to square one. Start bringing the gun out at feeding etc, hell even stick one in his kennel and run. Then increase this to walks with the gun, or any gun shaped object. Then when he comfortable with that, only then go on to sound conditioning. Don't put a timeline on this too by the way, this could be a 3-6 month project if you are lucky. All the best.

Cheers pointer. I've trained dogs before just not hunting/gun dogs so is a learning curve. Appreciate advice and I definitely am in no rush - just dipping into the pool of information on here. Cheers.


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interesting comments on this post. my foxy I got at 12 weeks I was shooting the 22 the day I got him and the shotgun not long after. hes never been gun shy infact he starts barking looking for what im aiming at when I shoot something. i also ran him short distances at 16 weeks and hes fine. awesome tips on here i will be defnitly taking them in for future dogs. hope ya mates dog comes right soon

Originally Posted by possumer

interesting comments on this post. my foxy I got at 12 weeks I was shooting the 22 the day I got him and the shotgun not long after. hes never been gun shy infact he starts barking looking for what im aiming at when I shoot something. i also ran him short distances at 16 weeks and hes fine. awesome tips on here i will be defnitly taking them in for future dogs. hope ya mates dog comes right soon

Good on ya mate. Cheers


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Originally Posted by possumer

interesting comments on this post. my foxy I got at 12 weeks I was shooting the 22 the day I got him and the shotgun not long after. hes never been gun shy infact he starts barking looking for what im aiming at when I shoot something. i also ran him short distances at 16 weeks and hes fine. awesome tips on here i will be defnitly taking them in for future dogs. hope ya mates dog comes right soon

This is a really great point, Possumer different horses for different courses. I think I may have said something earlier about self-rewarded behaviours. Like the sheep dog - he loves chases sheep, so his job is self rewarding. My dog however, he would love to eat sheep. I am sure with training I could get him to round them up without touching them, but the actual act of doing the job would not be the reward for him. Probably a tug toy afterwards would be the reward.

For your pooch, the hunt is the reward. With CC and association, also changing the dogs emotional response to the activity, we can as handlers manipulate our dogs to enjoy the hunt. And I think that is kind of where jord's mate's dog is at. And probably a lot of hunting dogs out there too - being out with Dad and pleasing him is the reward, not necessarily the hunt.

What I am looking for in my next dog is a bit of both

Originally Posted by Dougie

This is a really great point, Possumer different horses for different courses. I think I may have said something earlier about self-rewarded behaviours. Like the sheep dog - he loves chases sheep, so his job is self rewarding. My dog however, he would love to eat sheep. I am sure with training I could get him to round them up without touching them, but the actual act of doing the job would not be the reward for him. Probably a tug toy afterwards would be the reward.

For your pooch, the hunt is the reward. With CC and association, also changing the dogs emotional response to the activity, we can as handlers manipulate our dogs to enjoy the hunt. And I think that is kind of where jord's mate's dog is at. And probably a lot of hunting dogs out there too - being out with Dad and pleasing him is the reward, not necessarily the hunt.

Dougie, for the gundog, the retrieve of the bird, hare, rabbit is the major reward and of course for the handler it is a big one too. Gundogs enjoy the hunt, hence ones under little control tend to self hunt which is simply an euphorism for lack of control and connection....their middle toe is saying expletives, but the dog with good connection, good basic controls, deep and meaningful prey drive is enjoying every minute of it all...but the retrieve is the pinnacle. To me the prey drive is what catches me...for without prey drive, you simply have a fine looking dog. With prey drive, your fine looking dog becomes a beautiful hunting machine...what the originators of the breed had intended for him to be.

Hey jord, I made a short vid for you today of some CC I did with my (pet, non-hunting) dog. The principles are the same.

Quick run down: my dog is fearful of the vacuum cleaner. When it's on, he shys away, then reacts with lunging and barking. I ensure that he isn't around when the vacuum is on (he's outside, or in the car, in another room with music or TV on.)

This session: I am marking and rewarding (possum meat, this is a high value reward for my dog) any movement towards the vacuum 'wand'. I slowly increase the criteria during this session. You might need to work slower, it's all good. This is probably the 10th session for us - we started with marking and rewarding just looks at the vacuum. In this session I add both movement of the vacuum wand and also my body posture changes.

I'm not perfect, in fact far from it! Just trying to illustrate to you some CC techniques, showing you how far we have to start from the final product.

Enjoy, I hope it helps.

CC1 of Vacuum - YouTube

Hi dougie,

Thanks heaps for that! Helps A lot. Showed it to my mate. He I don't use a clicker but he does so even better! Cheers for that aye, much appreciated.

Will keep you updated.


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Very cool video Dougie. Wish i'd tried that with my old cat! Poor thing was petrified of the vacuum.

P.S. Will this work on my wife??

Good news. Said dog no longer freaks out at sight of gun and is now coming out for rabbit hunts and doing better each time. Cheers dougie for video again.


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