I have a 2-year old English Pointer that shows to be gun shy. Any tips on how to fix?

A single shot here or there isn't so bad but if she's real close or if there are multiple shots she gets spooked. This past Sunday (on a private club) she actually sat down and did not want to re-engage in the hunt a couple times after a we let loose a few rounds in succession. I'm thinking about taking her out while we shoot trap and literally sitting with her on my lap about 30-yards away while guys shoot. My thought is that she will feel safe (i.e. not scared) while I pet her despite the shooting noise. What do you think?

Thanks in advance,

if possible, fire off a couple rounds/blanks before feeding. Get the dog to associate the bang with something good. Start out light working up to louder. Taking it to the range should help too.

I have a friend who always takes his pups to the gun range before he ever shoots around them. He starts out about 100 yards away and each week moves a little closer. While he's with the dog he plays fetch with it and as long as the dog ignores the shooting he gets to move closer. Eventually he ends up close to the line and that's when he begins training in the field. Takes time and patience but has always worked for us.

Jack

Whatever you decide to do, just take your time. It is infinitely harder to undo things while dog training. I noticed that while training my female Gordon that she was fine in the field with shooting when there were birds involved, but spooked by any shooting(also thunder and fireworks)when we weren't in the field. I just chose to keep her out of any nonhunting situations involving gunfire when I could. I'm sure each situation and remedy is different.
Good luck with your dog.

I use the same procedure as Jack. Banging the feeding dishes around while the dog is eating is also part of my routine with a pup. Take it slow...............

Everything that has been mentioned thus far for a fix for gun shy-ness is actually a method to prevent gun-shyness. Gun shyness is caused by something that you did or didnt do in your early training. Dogs arent born gun shy, it is the result of the training methods. It is not really easy to cure from what I understand but I do know that somethings mentioned in these posts will only make things worse. I have never dealt with a gun shy dog because I prevent this from happening early on. My first suggestion is to set down and give some thought on what you did to possibly cause this problem or what happend in the pups early day to cause this problem so that you dont let this happen again. My next suggestion would be to contact a pro trainer that has dealt with this problem before and have him fix if for you. The trainer will evaluate you dogs problem and then form a training plan to cure this problem. It can be more that what the average trainer can do by himself

You might read this

http://www.huntsmith.com/articles/gunshy.html

I would strongly discourage you from the gun range experiment