July 08, 2023
My 3 year old adopted dog is very anxious and fearful when hearing any type of gunfire. Any suggestions on how to help her?
Full Question:
I have a 3yr old Dutch Shepherd that I adopted a year ago. No background info given. She is very anxious/fearful when hearing gunfire (large or small) from the neighborhood. She is non reactive in almost all other situations including trips to the military base at Ft. Bragg, NC. There the background range noise is 24/7 heavy artillery to smaller arms fire. No problem at all.. Have tried to desensitize with background noise online at home in calm settings, no reaction. Only reacts to live nearby gunfire. Any suggestions on how to help her? She is not storm reactive either. So far, I just crate her or sit with her. Other dogs in the home are non reactive. 1 Malinois, 1 mutt. 
Cindy's Answer:
This is a tough issue to figure out with an adult dog with an unknown history. Is she toy and/or food motivated?
User Response:
She is both food & toy motivated but extremely toy motivated...both for ball & tug.. very intense prey/working drive
Cindy's Answer:
I might use the toy and play with her and set up gunfire VERY far away so she doesn't notice it all. I realize this is not easy to work through but if it were my dog I would try to change her reaction so she anticipates her highest value motivator if she hears gunfire.
If you have a nearby working dog club or know hunting dog trainers that can shoot a blank pistol from a long distance and work on successive approximations to get it closer, that would be what I would try. You want to make sure you're far enough from the sound that she'll still play.
it may not be possible to change it at this point but it's worth a try. Once you have a pattern in place then hopefully it will transfer to your home and neighborhood.
If you have a nearby working dog club or know hunting dog trainers that can shoot a blank pistol from a long distance and work on successive approximations to get it closer, that would be what I would try. You want to make sure you're far enough from the sound that she'll still play.
it may not be possible to change it at this point but it's worth a try. Once you have a pattern in place then hopefully it will transfer to your home and neighborhood.
User Response:
Thank you so much. We've been working on this! Hopefully we'll be successful, thank you for your time and effort in answering my questions!
Cindy's Answer:
Good luck!
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