Thread: Gunshy dog

Hi
I''ve managed to make my pup (8months old) gun shy whilst shooting rabbits. I thought he was all good as I had done it properly and slowly introduced him to the 22 a while back but only shooting it into the ground. I had even shot the 308 about 10 metres away from him and he didn't give a shit. But for some reason the other night shooting bunnies (admittedly he hadn't heard the gun in a while) he packed a sad and has been off it ever since. His temperament has actually changed a bit in the last couple of months I think, he's calmed down quite a bit so maybe that has something to do with

Now I've gone back to the beginning and am doing work with him with wooden clappers which he is all good with. Now I'm ready to start introducing the gun again. He is pretty suspicious of the gun and even the actioning of the bolt.
So I'm just slowly gettin him used to me walking around with the gun actioning the bolt and giving him food etc.. next I'll action the bolt and then do the wooden clappers and then finally make my way up to 22 fire getting closer and closer.

So I'm going to do it all properly this time, that was the intention initially but seeming as he didn't seem bothered by any of it I skipped a few steps and fucked him.

Main things I wanted to know were:

Has anybody had a gun shy dog that they've fixed? Or am I pushing shit up hill?
Should I give him a couple of weeks before I start trying to desensitize him again?

Cheers
Any advice would be appreciated. I don't want to have a dog I can't go hunting with