A bit of advice required

Staloejunior

Lads have an English setter dog that I want to breed off of, so I purchased an English setter bitch that's five years old to breed off of. The man that owned her didn't shoot and had her tied up in a barn 24/7 but she is a great on birds and has an excellent nose, only problem is she is gun shy.

Question is, do lads think gun shyness is hereditary?

Myself I believe a lot of it is down to the way the dog is raised but i'm open to opinions.

Here's a clip of her working with my own dog she is the smaller black and white one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OqkuxYjHGE

TriggerPL

It can be carried down alright ! But the big question is was the bitch ruined by the owner of was it bread into her if ya get me . I'd take the chance keep a couple of pups and train them and see how they fair out if ur in the position to keep a couple of pups

jap gt

Staloejunior wrote: »

Lads have an English setter dog that I want to breed off of, so I purchased an English setter bitch that's five years old to breed off of. The man that owned her didn't shoot and had her tied up in a barn 24/7 but she is a great on birds and has an excellent nose, only problem is she is gun shy.

Question is, do lads think gun shyness is hereditary?

Myself I believe a lot of it is down to the way the dog is raised but i'm open to opinions.

Here's a clip of her working with my own dog she is the smaller black and white one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OqkuxYjHGE

is she generally a nervous dog, like is she confident up until the shot is fired

two lovely dogs, the dog looks a fair size

ntipptop

just my penney's worth
had a springer as a 8 week old pup , banged pots and pans always around her when she was young , then started firing a .22 [with silencer] getting her to retrieve, took of silencer done the same retrieving with her no problems , used starter pistol with her and then it started lying down after the shot away from me
took her out with other dogs when she was 18 months old and fired away from her [40 yards far side of a ditch] and again done the same
so in my experiance with her i think its in the dog
ps her parents are top class but two of her sister s are the same
maybe i did something wrong ????? i dont know!!

huntsman77

Nice setters I'd take the chance and breed them I think the way a pup is brought up can be a big thing with them been nervous and depending how there introduced to the gun goes a long way to them been gun shy .

Staloejunior

jap gt wrote: »

is she generally a nervous dog, like is she confident up until the shot is fired

two lovely dogs, the dog looks a fair size

She is mad for birds have her out generally with the other dog in the video and she is confident out.

Thanks alot mate.

Staloejunior

ntipptop wrote: »

just my penney's worth
had a springer as a 8 week old pup , banged pots and pans always around her when she was young , then started firing a .22 [with silencer] getting her to retrieve, took of silencer done the same retrieving with her no problems , used starter pistol with her and then it started lying down after the shot away from me
took her out with other dogs when she was 18 months old and fired away from her [40 yards far side of a ditch] and again done the same
so in my experiance with her i think its in the dog
ps her parents are top class but two of her sister s are the same
maybe i did something wrong ????? i dont know!!

I never had her when she was younger my father shot over her and thought she was a bit gun shy 2/3 years ago. I think I'll chance her and see what happens. She is a highly breed bitch so i might cover her and see what happens.

jimf

why not get somebody else to do a bit of shooting for you but at a distance while you stay with the dogs

best way to judge her reaction is when she is on game if you see a negative reaction then id be afraid for her

if no reaction at maybe 200/300 hundred yards come closer and try again but don't over do it 3 or 4 shots and leave it for another day

TriggerPL

ntipptop wrote: »

just my penney's worth
had a springer as a 8 week old pup , banged pots and pans always around her when she was young , then started firing a .22 [with silencer] getting her to retrieve, took of silencer done the same retrieving with her no problems , used starter pistol with her and then it started lying down after the shot away from me
took her out with other dogs when she was 18 months old and fired away from her [40 yards far side of a ditch] and again done the same
so in my experiance with her i think its in the dog
ps her parents are top class but two of her sister s are the same
maybe i did something wrong ????? i dont know!!

Yea pretty much everything , esp first shot of a shot gun while she was the far side of a hedge and couldn't see u ,

I don't agree with banging pots and pans at a 8 weeks ,

People really rush things with pups , Y not have a bit of a radio going or when the pups older then bit of noise when feeding walking .

Then around 9 months start with a starting pistol at 100 yards , u with the dog and a friend firing a shot , and each day work ur way in , one shot per day .

Then when ur happy repeat with the shot gun .

Reassuring the dog ever time that things are all ok

snipe49

the lad's here have given u good advice. it may not be the end of the world if the dog is not complety jumping out of there skin with every noise gun shyness can be cured. i have a lovely dog here now who would not come out from under the table when i got her. And now is full of bean's and can fire a hot while 50 m away. so with a little more work should be fine. The amount of dog's that are made gun shy by having the first shot fired to close it huge 'poor dog's. I'll leave ye with this. when u go to bye your pup. look closely at them all and don't go for the one sitting in the corner shying away.:cool:

allan450

breed her 90 percent of problems with dogs are man made.plus from what you describe locked in a shed on a chain no wonder she is nervous you will get her right but will take time bond with her as much as you can.bring her into the house get her used to all the different sounds on the tv and doors banging ect ect.think about it she would have been in silence for god knows how long locked in that barn.the plus side to this story is she is gone to a better home.good man