Gun shy

We have been working hard and taking our time with the gun shy issue. Making noise at feeding time, cap gun, starter pistol when throwing birds. It is working but not as well as we like. One of the best things is to keep working with birds and incorporate the noise of a gun into the training.
Whenever the dog stops or reacts to the noise, just go back to throwing birds with no gun.
Now if you just can’t get over the hump, here is a method you may want to try. If your dog is a strong water retriever we are gouing to move to the water. Toss a bird in the water and send your dog on the retrieve. As the dog is about to pick up the bumper fire a starter pistol in your pocket. As the training progresses fire the pistol sooner. Work it in about 10 yard increments. The first few times as stated, fire just before the dog reaches the bird. Next fire the gun when the dog is 10 yards from the bird. Keep working it closer, soon you will be firing as the dog enters the water and up to firing before it enters the water.
This method sometimes works better because the dog doesn’t have the escapes hatches it has on land. This is not meant to be a shortcut but you may get faster results when working on gunshyness.
If you are interested in this method please contact me and we will discuss if it is right for your dog.

I am currently using this method with two dogs. One dog it looks like his ears twitch a little but he still swims strong to the bird. Today was the first session for the other dog. She turned back from the bumper but turned right around and went back to the retrieve. that was on the first shot. The key thing is both dogs were fired up about the water retrieves.