Correcting Gun Shyness

[Donjuan]

So I know gun shyness is usually caused by human error. I have a 1 year old Brittany who I got to pointing birds last season. I shot a 22 around her and then took her on a planted chukar hunt with my old bird dog and a friend. Every thing was fine until we both shot at once and she ran back to the truck.
For several weeks after she was bird shy. After dropping hundreds on pen raised quail and running her on my friends pigeons she became interested in birds again and we shot a 22 with no concern from her.
Everything was going fine until I brought out my old dog and instead of backing her on point she ran back to the house. Now if she smells a planted bird she will hold a point for a few seconds then run back to the truck. She will chase the quail or pigeons and I have not fired a shotgun near her for 6 months. The breeder won’t return my calls and I’m worried I can’t get her over this.
Any help?

 

[Macintosh]

Get professional help from a trainer who will work with the dog on this issue and help you understand whats needed as well. It wont be cheap, but imo worth it, this is not an easy thing to deal with once at this point.

 

[KurtR]

Intro to gun fire is a process but its to late for that. I would seek out a pro trainer who has experience to band aid the problem. Its probably the hardest thing to fix in a gun dog.

 

[Irish Miner]

Bummer. Good luck with that and really hope the pup can get passed it.

 

[longhorn8011]

As others have said, it's much easier to prevent than fix, but there are options for getting over this if you are willing to put in the time. Getting help from a professional trainer would be best, but this video series from Perfection Kennel could also be helpful to you [The Perfect GunShy Fix]. Jon and Jessica are great trainers (and people) and their videos are made for the "do it yourself" type of guy. I observed one of their broke dog clinics in TX a couple years ago and learned a ton.

 

[jml49]

Make sure you keep your dog away from fireworks, I am on my 4th Brittany and she was fine with gunfire but we have a cabin in the U P on a lake and July 4th it sounds like a war zone for hours and now she is noise sensitive.

 

[Loo.wii]

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