Obviously 'gun' dogs are not scared but how about the other breeds?

I have a Lakeland Terrier - he won't back down from anything with 4 legs but he's scared sh*tless of guns.

Not anymore...

I have a 14 year old black Lab that is so scared of guns he is to the left Schumer and Feinstein. On a recent total body Xray we found out why. He has a FMJ lodged near his spine. His former owners told us that he may have been shot by a nutcase who lived near them when he was young. He has carried that lump around ever since. The looks he gives me when he sees me with a weapon are so heartbreaking I have to take pains to camoflauge the weapons before I walk past him going in and out.

Edited because I can't type.

My buddy trains his coonhound pups by first shooting off a cap pistol at feeding time..the fist few times he does this a few feet away from the dish and the pups and decreases the distance weekly..He builds up to shooting a 22 LR at feeding time.. (this is advisable to do outdoors). His dogs come running at the sound of gunfire...and you can actually call them from the woods by shooting off your rifle..
I just take mine to the range in the front seat of the truck and park a ways off from the shooting...take a long a few treats...and graually work them closer to the shooting as long as they dont get skittish..you can roll down your windows to get more sound..eventually I started playing fetch with them in the picnic area and now gunfire doesnt faze them...My Shepherd will lay at the back door and I can shoot a 22 over her head at grackles and she just gives me an annoying look...but likes to go check out the shot ones...

ihave a long haired Chihuahua.., the meanest lyttle motherhumper in the state of Arizona, i can get out a hand gun & he gets excited, a lyttle.....

i get out an AR-15 & that lyttle SOB thynks there is an invasion coming & he wants his chunk of leg, he will race out his doggie door barking, & acting as if he will kill the first thyng he sees.....

i really drive him insane by cycling the action, i also have two birds, one is my baby, a Military Macaw, the other is my wifes baby, an African Grey..., when the action cycles the dog goes insane, the birds squawk so loud the only thyng left is to put down my AR & walk outside for a few minutes....

my malamute-rottwieler is not afraid of firearms.

but i suspect he has been shot (at) with air rifles, he refuses to go outside when i go to shoot mine.

if i ever catch whoever did this, well, they arent going to be shooting air rifles again any time soon.

My black lab LOVES the sight of rifles/air rifles. This is because my grandfather has to bring them over from his place when we're gonna shoot (mom will not let us keep guns at home), and while we're shooting, we usually take breaks to play fetch with the dog whenever he walks over, and grampa is just soft in general about the dog. The dogs thoughts probably look like:  guns=(Grampa)+ Fetch= Extra treats & attention + Fetch = :D :D

I have two Austrailian Cattle Dogs...

Older one, "Hank the Cow Dog", can move steers around a pasture with enough skill that it makes you want to cry.  But let him see a gun of any kind & the whining begins.  Shoot a gun & he wants into the truck or house and hides.

Younger dog, "Star", sits next to you on the firing line and tries to run out after each shot.  My theory is that in her former life (somebody dumped her at my horse vet's office when I lived in TX) she had a bit of hunting experience, or at least watched her prior owner's bird dogs.

-hanko

TLBS,

you have no guns in your home ??

you are defenseless ?

learn well from your Grandfather well son, yore gonna need it !! i am certain your mother means well & is a wonderfull woman, BUT !! guns are NOT evil, & will harm no one !! it is people who are evil, NOT their tools or their choice of tools, & i am quite certain your Grandfather will be more than glad to explain to you what i am saying about a gun being only a tool, just ask him............

Quoted: Obviously 'gun' dogs are not scared but how about the other breeds? I have a Lakeland Terrier - he won't back down from anything with 4 legs but he's scared sh*tless of guns.

That might have something to do with the fact that K9 hearing is MUCH more sensitive than our own, and the sound of a gun being fired just might be a very unpleasant thing to them.

I really don't think any animal actually enjoys hearing a gun being fired. Considering most of us use hearing protection, it's unanimous. Now imagine shooting a gun, with no hearing protection, and having your hearing be 20 more acute than it is now. Sound like fun? Question answered.

I have a German Shep and a mix breed.  The mix breed is afraid of any loud sound.  When she was young our neighbors shot fireworks at her while she was outside.  (I did get even with the neighbors...leave it at that)

However, my German Shep loves gunfire and wants to run toward what I am shooting at.  

medcop

As long as the dog associates the firing of the gun with something pleasant, he wont ever be afraid. The problem of gun shy dogs is man made. My lab nearly wets himself when I pull my guns out. He learned, since being a puppy, guns equal birds. And birds are fun.

The machine gun guy at BRC (the one with the 1919) had a yellow lab with him. The dog was there all day, every day, with relentless machine gun fire going on all around! I would imagine that pooch is a "little" hard of hearing by now! The dog seemed to be having a good time though...

Quoted: The machine gun guy at BRC (the one with the 1919) had a yellow lab with him. The dog was there all day, every day, with relentless machine gun fire going on all around! I would imagine that pooch is a "little" hard of hearing by now! The dog seemed to be having a good time though...

I saw that dog too, I would flinch everytime a .50 would fire, it seemed he didn't even notice it.

If my dogs see guns, they know they are going shooting. They don't mind the noise at all, the problem I have when shooting cans in the dump is the dogs will go down to check on the cans.

Keeps my ammo comsumption way too low.

My Golden is very scared of the sight of guns.  I took him with me when I was shooting once, hoping he would get over it, but it didn't work.

But he is kind of a wuss, he's also afraid of the remote control!

My pug (yes, I said pug... laugh and you'll be minus an achilles tendon) is convinced that my Garand is HIS.  

No one else may touch it.  Even I cannot mess with it for long.  He'll let me clean it for him (as he has no thumbs... go figure), but that's it,  After too long, he starts tugging on the sling and growling.

Nope, as a matter of fact she loves em.  She ignores them if she is heeling or on command otherwise she is looking for the bad guy.

Quoted: Nope, as a matter of fact she loves em.  She ignores them if she is heeling or on command otherwise she is looking for the bad guy.

Nothing like a thundering explosion to make a dog happy. Hell, toss the Milk Bones and just light a firecracker next to her head when she's good.

Wow, a lot of Shepards that like gunfire.  Mine too!  I never would have thunk it, but from day one (we got him at 8 months old) he loves guns, and I have to be careful of him running downrange.  If I put him on stay at the firing line, he somehow manages to always sit where he can play with the flying brass.  

Now my Springer is another story.  My wife found him at the Humane Society, he had been through 5 other adoptions.  Was supposedly a chewer. My wife knew I wanted a bird dog and had sat through a few stories of how great Springers are for pheasant hunting, so when she heard about this guy she went and looked at him and of course fell in love.

He is a great dog, super enthusiastic, loves to jump, always hunts even in the yard.  Birdy as hell, tries to jump through the window once in awhile after the bird feeder.  BUT, somebody shot him or at him, or maybe tried to gun break him wrong, because he is gun shy.  He started out not even wanting to go outside if I had a gun.  If I forced him, he would just cower and shake with fear.  So, I spent a few months working on it.  I tied him up in the yard, and shot the .22 for a couple weeks with him 50 yards behind the firing line.  After every shot, I would go play with him.  I worked up from there, careful to not encourage his "cowering" behavior.  

Now, he still doesn't like guns, and I almost have him over it completely.  He is still a little bit shy of them and still prefers to not be around them when they go off.  BUT, when a bird is in the air, or he is on something....he forgets about the gun and doesn't even pay attention when it goes off!

Our Yorkies don't even like the smell of anything metal or oiled, and if I rack the slide on my Glock the older one hides...

my gun dog is afraid of guns. its odd, she isnt bothered by my hunthing guns, as she is a hunting dog. she dosnt really get the AR at all, but my bolt action 22 is a whole other story. this is the gun i shoot colibres out of (powderless .22 shells for the uninformed). when that thing comes out she hides in her house. she must not like the raining of birds and squrills from the tree over her head. those sneaky bastages eat her food.  

ever since the fourth of july when some dick heads where lighting off huge shit right next door my dog has been scared shitless of loud noises. This includes thunder, fireworks, guns you name it.