Anyone ever have a dog afraid of guns?

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Trust and patience.
Not " breaking. "
Yes, all are different, some can't tolerate loud, sharp sounds or anything associated with them.
Sights, smells, commands...anything.
;)
 
230RN said:
I'm told that cats and cucumbers don't get along.
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My cat could care less about cucumbers... I even tried the surprise tactic and he just turned and sniffed it and walked away. Now the air compressor is another story...

Didnt have time to read all the posts...

Ive had a couple labs that were terrified of loud noises. They do make pills for them that is similar to benedryl that keeps them calmer. Great for fireworks and storms when you have time to prepare. Most all dogs are adverse to loud sounds unless they have been trained around them. Though i did have one who either really liked or really hated fireworks... He would catch bottle rockets as they left the tube and pick up smoke bombs.

Does said dog cower at handguns or just long guns? Could be that long guns look like a bat or stick that it was beaten with by a past owner.

My dog hasnt heard a gun go off while ive had him (7 years) yet he does look a bit nervous if im handling one. He was a country stray and is half beagle, half brittany.
 
My blind, deaf and senile old dog just left this mortal coil last week, but he ignored guns completely his whole long life.

Now my cats are a different story. Two of them love, love, love to rub all over firearms and lay on them for hours. A third, who died earlier this year, would run for the hills as soon as one was brought out. But he had been present in the household when someone showing off their new gun had a ND. But he was afraid of most things in general. I bet the ND didn't help though.
 
The Exile said:
I really don't understand how this is happening, whenever I pull my guns out of the box she tucks her tail and feels the room. If the door is closed she sees herself to the corner nearest the door, and she moves her head away my hands until I force her to see they're empty at which point she relaxes slightly. Now she has a general phobia of sounds, comes to cower underneath my bed whenever my dad's air compressor goes off and she is practically vibrating constantly on July 3rd and 4th, so it wouldn't be too shocking to me if she didn't want to be around me shooting them, but i've never taken her to the range or anything. Any ideas what could be spooking her? I'm not trying to turn her into a hunting dog given she's clearly uncomfortable with the noise but no clue why she'd be afraid of the actual gun itself like she knows what it does despite having never seen it do anything.
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Has she never heard it before?

Two of mine would go to the opposite side of the house from my range. Two others didn't care.
 
I have seen both dogs that run from the sight of a firearm as well as dogs that will travel some distance to be closer to gunfire. Oddly enough both are/were owned by the same people, just have different characteristics. Same goes for people.
 
My Rat Terrier is very scared of guns and knives. I use it to my advantage. When he comes down to my shop to pester me to go outside, I grab whatever gun is out, don't even have to point it near him. He's gone!
 
My 100 pound pit bull mix will try to take it out of your hand when firing. She must think it's some kind of fireworks, which she loves to attack. I have a video from about 11 years ago of me firing a rifle. A nearby dog flees in terror while a somewhat tame deer comes running up to see what i was shooting at. The deer was fascinated by gunshots. Go figure.
 
Cowhide Cliff made me laugh with this:

"Even when I'm just target shooting my dog will sit behind me and watch me shoot all afternoon and go to the target with me and look around just in case I accidentally killed something he needs to retrieve."

Terry
 
I have a Scottie. Doesn't mind the gun shot, just don't cock the gun first. He's shy of the cocking sound. Shy of a camera click if I take his picture. Thunder storms don't bother him.
 
Bill_in_TR said:
I have a Brittany that is gun shy. She also is very unhappy in a thunderstorm or on fourth of July or on New Year's Eve. She was intended to be a hunting dog. I started her out early on gradually exposing her to the sound of a shot. She was doing fine for quite a while. I don't know what brought about the change or when but loud noises frighten her quite a bit now.

But just the sight of my guns doesn't bother her, just the loud bang. And it doesn't have to be real loud. My air rifles will do it.

But other than no hunting with her she has been my faithful companion for 13 1/2 years. I will be sad to see her go.
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You know that might be it possibly, my brother used to have friends over for airsoft wars in the backyard and she seems equally frightened of my brother's airsoft 92FS.. kinda wonder if she got let out on accident during one of their wars and that noise was enough to make her associate the vague shape of a gun with loud noise.
 
My Golden Retriever Brutus was gun shy I got him from a rescue I was told he was supposed to be a good bird dog. We went out and visited a friends range and as soon as the first round went off the dog vanished. We looked all over and finally gave up and went back to the truck. There we found the dog hiding under the truck . he was afraid of thunder storms also . My basement door got all scratched up from his trying to go downstairs during bad weather .
 
I had a female Lab who we got as a pup. I trained her not to be gun shy and took her hunting several times. She didn't mind if you shot, but she didn't have much of a nose. It was still fun having her along.

One day I took some kids into the woods behind the house to shoot some .22's and she came along. As we set up to shoot, she kept running up to the targets. I was already pretty stressed out with 4 kids and rifles, so I scolded her, maybe whacked her with my hat, and finally drug her back to the house.

From that point on she was afraid of guns. That was a big regret that I wasn't kinder in that situation. I lost a good hunting buddy.
 
C.R. said:
My Golden Retriever Brutus was gun shy I got him from a rescue I was told he was supposed to be a good bird dog. We went out and visited a friends range and as soon as the first round went off the dog vanished. We looked all over and finally gave up and went back to the truck. There we found the dog hiding under the truck . he was afraid of thunder storms also . My basement door got all scratched up from his trying to go downstairs during bad weather .
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You have to expect rescues to have an issue or two. I don’t think too many owners say, “Spot is such a good dog, I think I’ll give him away or take him to the pound.”
I understand living situations can change but odds are the dog has a habit the owner finds intolerable.

The trick is to identify their shortcomings and work on them. I’ve had a number of rescue dogs and each, with a bit of guidance, has turned out to be an excellent dog.
The two dogs we have now are rescues. I can tell both have had bad experiences of some kind in their past but each is very loving, devoted and protective. I really couldn’t ask for better dogs.
 
Usually ones that have been put out to pasture and shot.
I rescued an old deer dog from the farm back in the 70s - long story.
But he turned out to be one of the most loyal dogs(pets) I ever owned.
But if he heard a gun go off, I had to go to the county over to find him.
Being very old, I assume he had been shot by his former owner.
Old Bill stayed by me until he died a number of years later.
 
This goes back a ways but I will try to keep it simple. There was once a legendary dog out west that risked his life and defended his family from a rabid wolf and it led to his trusted owner (young boy named Travis) shooting and killing him with his rifle after a few days. Ever since word got out many dogs have never been the same.
 
starling said:
This goes back a ways but I will try to keep it simple. There was once a legendary dog out west that risked his life and defended his family from a rabid wolf and it led to his trusted owner (young boy named Travis) shooting and killing him with his rifle after a few days. Ever since word got out many dogs have never been the same.
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He wouldn't have been "yeller" in color, would he?
 
Speedo66 said:
I remember seeing that in the movies in 1957, definitely brought tears to my 10 year old eyes at the time.
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Dogs and firearms have never been the same since 57. It takes a lot of training to gain that trust back.

My Boxer is to stupid and silly to be afraid of firearms.
 
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