Training a dog around guns.

I took my dog to the range in the country where I was by myself. Started the dog with a 22 rifle and target ammo with the dog being at some distance (30 yds) from me. I watched the dog and when he was looking at me from distance, discharged a 22 rifle.

Dog came over to see what it was, and I showed him the gun and let him sniff. Repeated this over and over, gradually shortening the distance. At the end of the session dog was quite comfortable with the 22 discharged a few yds away.

I repeated this many times with increasingly heavier calibers and always starting at distance. At the end of several sessions for several weeks the dog was comfortable with a 12 gauge discharge from a few yds away.

The point of the training was to always let the dog see you discharge the firearm and come over and investigate. In the end is no big deal.

A bird dog that's afraid of gunfire is useless.
 
Buddies dog was a rescue pup from about 8 weeks old.
Bart hated guns.
He even hated air rifles...the mere sight would send him cowering.
He also hated flatulence, but that was because he could smell them and though they where not his he was scolded for them.
He would sulk off to the dog house, but on occasion he would drop a bomb and savour the moment.
Try some cap guns while feeding the cross breed and increase the experience from there.
Do not acknowledge the noise when you bust a cap.
Praise and reward as you two progress.
Some simple steps from when I helped a buddy with training his labs.
Rob
 
I'll chime in with my experience, in my case Pitbulls. I start small, usually during grouse season and a .22 caliber or .410, sometimes a 20 Gauge. He or she will be nearby, I'll harvest the bird and quickly return to said dog while the event is still fresh in their mind. The pup will give it a good, healthy sniff, and usually by bird 3, puppers now correlates the sound of a shot with retrieved game, and will be expecting it, excited and tail wagging as opposed to cowering and shaking which can be the result of a sensory overload, especially in the decibel department. Simple and effective, works everytime for me thus far.

Can be done with a dummy as well, maybe followed up with a treat.
 
Only done it twice, and only once for an actual gun dog, but I like what I was taught about buying a kid's cap gun and introducing the dog to that. Recommendation was to have the cap gun in another room and having it fired just as a plate of food was being set down in front of it (normally a puppy) then, depending on how it was reacting, bringing the noise in a bit in closer and closer gradually day by day, then going outside with the cap gun then a .22 at as big a distance as possible, always firing it when the dog was having fun, then introducing a shotgun. I suppose with a more mature dog you could start with a cap gun outside and skip the indoor process completely.

After becoming a club member, I also had the idea that I if I got a dog I'd drive to the very outskirts of the place when steady skeet and trap shooting was going on, stopping where the shooting was just a faint noise. I thought I would walk the dog in gradually as it was having fun along the side of the road, watching its reaction the whole time, like the above steps using something called successive approximation to keep the dog at a comfort level until it was really broken in to gun noise. I never did that but it seemed like a good idea.
 
I used to smack two 6” 2x4s together a few times together when they’re small pups while they eat indoors and a cap gun for outside. Lots of positive reinforcement
 
Try to get your dog on a "pheasant hunt", put him on leash sit back and let him watch the other dogs and what they are doing distracting him from the shots.
 
Its not so much getting used the the bang as associating a rifle with a reworded. Let them see and smell the rifle. Shoot a pellet gun through a toy, repeat. When you grab a rifle and the dog gets excited switch to a 22rf. In no time car ride and rifle = fun in the dogs mind. Soon it will tough to sneak out of the house without your dog begging to go too. All my dogs have run to the cabinet as soon as the here the keys rattle, chickens moose, bear are things we spell out or our present dog (a hunting fanatic corgi) is doing cartwheels a the door.
 
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^^ This. Also take your gun/rifle and dog for a walk. Make him used to you carrying this tool sometimes. Shoulder it as you were to shoot it and have the dog observe you.

Making a dog used to the noise is only one step in the process.
 
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