Thread: Is she old enough?

Originally Posted by Bavarian_Hunter

Is she old enough?

I ask my self that almost every week!!!

thanks for the advice everyone, I didn't actually get around to checking this thread until now so I'm only just reading the responses now.
What I did though was start out with a few .22 shots and once I saw she didn't mind broke out the shotgun and fired half a dozen through that and Ellie didn't mind at all. She was interested in this new sound she hadn't heard before but there was no fear or anxiousness which was good.
Being a cropping farm we have permission to take ducks out of season that are damaging it, so I managed to take a teal which Ellie did a bit of a retrieve on. Was a very good day!

As for Duck opening, I'm not expecting anything from her. She's not coming to be useful she's coming to just get a feel for it. I don't think it'll be anything too strenuous on her, we just go along some rivers with about 4 blokes and shoot birds that fly passed and jump a few dams. I don't see any issues with that.

Sound like your pup has answered your question,good skills on keen gun dog.

That's it Dundee, she's probably the best one to indicate what she is willing to do.

As for Duck opening, I'm not expecting anything from her. She's not coming to be useful she's coming to just get a feel for it. I don't think it'll be anything too strenuous on her, we just go along some rivers with about 4 blokes and shoot birds that fly passed and jump a few dams. I don't see any issues with that.

it all sounds innocent enough, however she don't need to get a 'feel for it', she would be better to ease on into it slowly, balance the natural with the trained and vice versa.

Originally Posted by Bavarian_Hunter

That's it Dundee, she's probably the best one to indicate what she is willing to do.

Hold that thought, BH...

Originally Posted by kawhia

As for Duck opening, I'm not expecting anything from her. She's not coming to be useful she's coming to just get a feel for it. I don't think it'll be anything too strenuous on her, we just go along some rivers with about 4 blokes and shoot birds that fly passed and jump a few dams. I don't see any issues with that.

it all sounds innocent enough, however she don't need to get a 'feel for it', she would be better to ease on into it slowly, balance the natural with the trained and vice versa.

Ive been there BH and like you am eiger to see if they have instinct to hunt . The best advice I can give is stick with to the training . I can guarantee your dog will no how to hunt ! . I can't guarantee you will be able to controll that hunting drive . It's when they get to about 2 or 3 yrs and there brakes don't seem to work anymore . Hope I don't come across as a smart arse , just food for thought . It a case of do as I say not as I do

With all due respect, I think you got lucky with your intro to gunfire. Instead of sharing how well she reacted to the noise, you could just as easily be on here asking advice on how to fix a gun-shy dog. Personally, I would never take that risk.

As for taking the pup out on this opening....leave it at home until next year.

I wouldn't risk taking her with 4 other shooters, too much shooting going on could be overload for her. Take just yourself and her unless you are quite a distance from your mates so the shots are something in the back ground. You get near someone using magnums could be bad news for pup.

My level on knowledge in training a dog around guns is limited to one, he is a Huntaway Lab cross, I had no idea what to do so I just started off with hand claps turned into a game and moved onto blowing up bread bags and popping them, he was about 5 months old on his introduction to firearms, first shots were with a .22mag, he reacted fine and as I had the shotgun with me I pulled that out, he did flinch a little with the louder bang but stayed sitting on his haunches, I either did something right or got one that just doesn't mind a bang, in fact the sight of the rifle coming out excites him and he can hardly contain himself when I pull the trigger, that bit im not too keen on, (I use him while deer stalking to scent if anything may be on the wind) I am still working on how to stop him running towards deer when I shoot them, he comes back with a short verbal barrage from me and to date I have been lucky enough not to miss a deer when I have had him out with me, that day will come and hopefully he will stop if on runs off! The Huntaway in him loves chasing anything that runs.

When I bred labadors I used to clap above their heads while they were suckling. None of them were ever gun shy. When they were a little older I would clap then throw a dead pigeon for them to retrieve. They ended up associating the noise a loud noise with pleasure.

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