I'm going to introduce a dog to some firearm reports, little to big bangs, and am looking for some successful approaches that I might otherwise overlook.

I fully appreciate that some may have a jaundiced view of this training.

If I am successful, I may get involved with a resource group that assists hunters in recovering 'lost' game.

The dog has adapted to my amateurish tracking work, and that has encouraged me to think about this additional involvement.

So, any training thoughts about introducing a dog to the report of a firearm will be appreciated.

A couple of different takes;

http://www.sunshine-goldens.com/gunshot.html

http://www.topline.org/gunshots.html

Firearms training is part of our curriculm. Understand first, the correct response to a firearm being discharged is, no response. To achieve that, firearms are discharged, from a signficant distance, while the dog is engaged in another form of training or play. The firing continues, getting closer as the dog is displaying no particular response to the sound of the reports. in the end, both the handler and the "bad guy" will be firing guns. The response to the firing remains the same; no response.

DFrost

David's post is what I've done with one of my present dogs.
While my son and his buddy were shooting trap I started tossing the kong for a retrieve. He's always been obsessed with that and has a natural retrieve. I started about 1/4 mile away at the other end of the farm. I moved up closer as I tossed the kong and took about 10-15 mins to get right up behind the shooters. I kept a close eye on any reactions to the noise. None with THIS dog. He was a SAR dog when younger and a felt this was a good thing to work on.
All this will depend on how fast you move and of course the dog.
My second dog is much more reactive to gunfire so I didn't push the issue and I never shoot around him. It's just not something I needed with him.

our dogs need to be accustomed to the sound of explosives ( used for avalanche control ) .

back in the fall i was doing dud recovery so i put henry ( 7 months old at the time ) in his crate in the bomb prep shack which is probably half a mile away from where i was doing the work . the shack is tucked behind a small ridge which further reduced the shock wave / sound he would experience . in addition , i put hector in the shack because i know that he is totally neutral to the sound .

i put the go pro camera in there to see what his reaction would be , and while it was difficult to hear the blasts , my little plan worked . there was virtually no reaction to the sound of the explosives going off . i have since seen him outside moving around when avalanche control is being conducted and he is showing no reaction . i think the appropriate term is " habituation " , as the dogs are regularly hearing the noises , with no adverse experiences .

in case anyone is wondering : no , the dogs never accompany us while we are doing that work . we have crates in a separate building where the dogs typically spend their day , unless the handler is assigned to one of the other zones , in which case we have crates in those locations as well .

I did the same with my dogs. There was a gun club on the other side of the woods from the farm my horse was on. I started getting closer & closer while playing tug & doing some heeling etc. Then moved in toward the shooters. After a few times doing this we incorporated PP scenes with the decoy firing a gun with the dog coming into & on the bite. My dogs were far more interested in biting then being worried about the gun fire.

I trained my horse to be calm around gunfire also. Some of the x-country areas that we rode were on the edge of a trap shooting field used in the fall & winter. Crazy thing was the shot would rain down into the trees near us but it never bothered my horse. Some of his favorite stone walls to jump were on this trail...so he was far more focused on that then the noise. They would run some hunter paces in this area & many of the horses would refuse to go thru this area.

Duane, David, Bob, Ian, and Anne,

Thank you all for responding.

In the past I've taken similar approaches, and usually the outcomes have been very good.

I intend to take a very measured approach. Fortunately, I have the space to utilize distance and play, and a chum who can take the role of shooter with my confidence.

I appreciate your time and input.