The only dog that I ever had who was gun-shy was a golden retriever named, Benny. I became his proud owner when he was already a year old. He was deathly afraid of loud noises! I immediately made inquiries as to how to correct this issue. One friend of mine, Chuck, said that he went through several beagles trying to find one that was not afraid of gun noise. He was so desperate that he went to the pound for several weeks to find a beagle. He took the first one out in the field, and fired his gun. He never found the dog! Five times this happened and five times the furry rabbit hunters disappeared. Oddly enough, dog number five looked eerily similar to the first dog. Chuck looked at me very sternly, “You know. There might be a good reason why these dogs are in the pound!”
To a man, every hunter told me that a gun-shy dog was no good. They simply cannot hunt. I took this as a challenge! After all, this wasn’t the first dog I had ever trained. At the time, I was a successful track and football coach. I could motivate and train kids, why not dogs?!
I acquired Benny, because he would not stay out of his neighbor’s chicken coup. This was a good attribute for a bird dog, but not for one that wants to live very long! I was happy to take him in, but the wife said that he could not stay in the house. What a laugh! Not only was the loveable golden retriever permitted in the house, he was on the couch with “Mommy” in no time!
Benny entered our lives in April, and he had never hunted. Right away I started retriever training. I bought a new duck trainer dummy and duck scent. The training was going well. He loved to retrieve, and was eager and willing to learn. After a week, I decided to test his noise sensitivity for myself. I tied him to the end of a fifty foot rope, and led him into a field. When I fired the 20 gauge light load he nearly pulled me down trying to get away! He hated it!
The training emphasis had to be changed immediately! Teal season was five months away, so I had that long to get him ready for my 12 gauge. Six weeks after that I would be shooting my 10 gauge for the opening of duck and goose season. Luckily for me Benny loved to eat treats! His two favorites were hamburger and cheese. Well, who would turn up there nose at a good cheeseburger? I was unable to locate any magic cure for this ailment, so I had to develop my own plan, so I developed a schedule. The amount of time for each Phase and for each step was a mystery, but I had a workable plan with measureable goals. One key to the training was that he had to be trained every day without fail!
Phase One of my plan was to use a cap gun outside. I wanted to avoid pots and pans or anything other than the gun looking noise device. I was going to need to retrain his visual response to the sight of a gun as well as the sound of a gun. Step One: I took Benny outside on the end of a fifty foot rope, while I held a cap gun. When he saw the gun, he stretched the rope out to fifty feet six inches! Day one, I pulled him to me for a piece of burger after the shot. The next day he stretched the rope, but he came to me eagerly when he saw the treat! The first few days he would cower waiting for the noise. At the point where he was no longer cowering at the anticipation of the cap gun, he was ready for step two. We had been working on “Sit and Stay” commands since his arrival. I was able to apply that training in the next step. Step Two: Benny was able to sit and stay while I walked away to twenty five feet. He was not fond of the sound, but he came to me immediately after the cap gun report. After I was pleased with his response at twenty five feet, he sat at twelve feet, Step Three. Step Four followed at six feet. Step One took three weeks, but each subsequent step was shorter and shorter. I did not eliminate retriever training drills, but they were reduced to three days per week and shorter in duration.
Phase Two of my plan was still with the cap gun, but conducted in my garage in order in intensify the noise level. I was able to begin Phase Two in mid-June. Step One: The dog was commanded to sit and stay at the opposite end of the garage, approximately twenty two feet away. From the other end I fired the cap gun, no rope was used. He was not able to escape as the doors were closed. He flinched significantly at the intensified gun shot as I suspected. He was still eager to come for his treat, but not until I put the gun away. At this time in his training I began teaching him hand signals. As I had done previously, I pretty much followed Richard Wolter’s book, “Water Dog”. Step Two was to have him sit and stay in the middle of the garage. Step Three was to have him sit next to me in the garage while I fired the cap gun. By the end of July he was able to sit next to me and turn his head away waiting for the shot. He quickly turned to me painting and wagging his tail for his treat when the noise ended.
Phase Three was outside with a 20 gauge shotgun. My son, Will, had the dog on a leash seated at one hundred yards, and I fired the gun. After the shot, I called Benny to me for his treat. We repeated this three times in a row. When Benny seemed comfortable with this distance, we moved him to Step Two at fifty yards. Step Three followed at twenty five yards. Finally, the third week of August, Benny sat next to me while I fired the 20 gauge, Step Four. Steps Five was a repeat of Steps One through Three with a 12 gauge shotgun. He passed Step Five in three days. I probably did not need it, but I followed the plan.
Three days before the start of teal season, we introduced Phase Four. I sat on a bank at a local pond. It looked very “ducky” with cattails and duck weed. The golden retriever sat next to me while my son hid in the cattails behind us. Will threw the retriever dummy over our heads into the water in front of us. As the bird passed overhead, I shot into the air. When the bird hit the water, I yelled “fetch him up”! Benny took off like a rocket! It worked! He did not flinch at the noise at all. From the time he saw the bird, he was totally focused on the retrieve!
On opening day of teal season, Chuck and I were poised to shoot as the sun rose. Fifteen minutes after shooting time, Benny retrieved his first blue winged teal. It was a textbook retrieve.“Now that is a miracle!” my hunting partner marveled. He was right. It was a miracle. This miracle came with much time and patience!