Do you take your dog shooting?

[ddj8052]

I just got a new pup. He is now 5 months old and I have started taking him with me everywhere I can. He is 1/2 Black Lab and 1/2 Austalian Sheperd. Some places stink on the dog issue so sometimes he stays home. Anyway, the only place I am undecieded on are my weekly range trips. It is a private shooting club and when I shoot during the week it is usually just me. What are your thoughts on the issue. I would like to not have him be gun shy so I figure that will break him. At the same time I don't want him to be fraked out by larger volumes of fire. Please give me some info. Thanks Juan.

 

[Bruce333]

I was going to take our dog shooting but couldn't find any hearing protection that would stay on her. Who wants a deaf dog? Besides, her paw won't fit in the trigger guard of any of my guns that I was going to let her shoot.

 

[Ol` Joe]

I would start it around he trap & skeet range and go slow. Be sure to have the dog on a lead as loud noises can cause them to panic and the last thing you want is a scared dog running on a gun range. I once had a Airedale that was scared stiff of gunfire. She would just stiffen and shake when she was closer then 75-100 ft for the line. Needless to say she stayed home when I went. I would just stand until the dog got use to the noise at a good distance and not approach the stands. if the dog seems OK with the noise gradually move it closer over a few days.

Be sure to stay off any shooting/bench area with the dog while others are shooting. The other shooters may not be dog people, or feel comfortable watching the animal to be sure it is`nt running in the line of fire when they shoot. If you take it to a rifle or pistol range and are alone, start the dog with a 22 for a while until it gets use to the report and work up to larger cartridges.

I have always had dogs and some of them have went to the range with me. I normally leave them in the truck if others are present and check on occasion to insure they are OK. I do at times let let them out tied to the hitch when I shoot, and walk them down to change targets when I am alone on the range. They Never approch the benches when others are shooting and if they get any atttention from others it is because they went to the dog and I not because the dog approched them.

 

[TheArchDuke]

I've always wondered something. When people go hunting with their dogs or taken them to the range, does the dog's hearing get damaged? I know they have better hearing than us and it just seems that that would make them more sensitive and delicate in that area. I plan on getting dogs some day (two dobermann pinschers to be exact ) and I'd love to take them shooting or evenhunting when they grow up. Which brings up another question: are dobermanns good hunting dogs? It doesn't seem very common.

 

[TallPine]

I usually put the dogs in the house when I go out back to shoot, just for safety reasons. We used to have an old dog that hated gunfire and firecrackers, and would jump up on me to get me to stop - not exactly good for your aim

One of my daughters' dogs would run downrange to chase the flying cans and pine cones that we were shooting at.

We took our current dog out and tied him nearby when shooting a few times to get him used to it. He is jolly and doesn't care - whatever we are doing must be fine as long as he gets to be with us.

 

[JesseL]

Dog hearing protection

Congratualtions on the puppy! I've just gotten an aussie/lab puppy that about 4 months old as well. She's smart, energetic, loving, and a real handful!

These guys have hearing protectors for dogs that look pretty good. They're a little pricey but probably worth it if your dog is going to be around much shooting.

http://www.safeandsoundpets.com/index.html

 

[ddj8052]

She's smart, energetic, loving, and a real handful!

Yup, that pretty much sums up Tahoe (my dog). He is a great dog but deffinetly full of energy and a handfull.

Thanks for the response please keep them up. And thanks for the link I will look into it.


Also, the dog would be tied up to the reciever of my truck about 30 yards from where I would actually be shooting. So him running in front of the gunfire or jumping on me would be a non issue. Again thanks for the responses.

 

[Bwana John]

I start very slow with a .22 rifle @ 50 yards, and cookies every time the rifle goes off.
Every 2 or so times the weapon gets bigger, and closer, and the cookies change to "good dog!!"
They get to the point they know if we are going shooting or hunting- They prefer hunting.

I also train them that although gunfire is ok, they are NOT allowed to touch the guns (or knock them over, or chew on, ect...)

 

[Guns_and_Labs]

I've never taken mine. I've always been worried about damaging their ears, and about them getting loose.

Also, with the retrievers, they hear a shot, they retrieve! I'm not sure I want my targets retrieved after every shot.

 

[Roadkill]

I've got a two year old lab who thinks my old dodge truck can't go anywhere without him, I just hook his ass to the back bumper and fire away. First few times he got a little upset but he got used to it. Now he just crawls up under the truck and goes to sleep.

rk

 

[PlayboyPenguin]

My cats do not allow me to give my dogs firearms. Besides my dogs fall under the mentally handicapped restriction anyway. Plus, I think it is way to hard on their hearing. I have one completely deaf dog (a 16yr old pekingese) as it is and that is enough.

 

[Camp David]

I use to take my collie hunting but invariably he would always outshoot me, get his limit before I, then piss on his shotgun. I don't have any patience for that sort of behavior... I take my wife instead!

 

[PlayboyPenguin]

Does your wife pee on her shotgun?

 

[dhoomonyou]

Yes.

but the gun slips from his paws.

 

[ArmedBear]

How do you keep the hearing protection on the dog?

I've tried to improvise, but she's got some serious neck muscles and she just spins her head back and forth so that the centrifugal force removes anything I ever put on it.

 

[Mikee Loxxer]

I go pheasant, grouse, and waterfowl hunting with a buddy of mine who has two good hunting dogs, a Brittany a and Wirehaired Pointing Griffon. The report of the shotguns must certainly hurt their hearing as it would a human's. However these dogs rely more on their sense of smell than anything else when it comes to doing what they are bred to do, pointing and retrieving.

The way my buddy (who is more of a dog guy than I will ever be) puts it, these dogs have shorter harder lives as they are dedicated hunting dogs (for the record the Brittany is probably about ten now and seems to be doing fine). They don't seem like unhappy dogs at all. It seems they live for the hunt.

 

[kngflp]

My dog is anti...not only does she not like the sounds guns make she gets nervous everytime I take them out, mostly just long guns. She also hates the smell of gun cleaner. Try rationalizing gun saftey to a 3 y.o. pit bull. She is also a jealous little bitch and has been known to chew on gun accessories just to spite me.

I once fostered a chesapeke bay retriever that almost peed himself the first time I took out a shotgun around him, he was so excited, I guess he was a trained bird dog before he found me.

 

[Dr.Rob]

start with a bb-gun, then .22's JUST like any young shooter. Eventually they'll get used to it.

I've had dogs get MAD at me when I put a long gun in the truck and they didn't get to go.

Same dogs would sit with us while we launched all manner of illegal fireworks.

A good gun dog is trained.

You wait too long to train them and any loud noise can scare them.

 

[bakert]

my spouse goes but the border collie mix is gunshy.

 

[scout26]

Do you take your dog shooting.

Yes, the wife is okay at pointing birds, but refused to do any retrieves. The kids are okay on the retrieves, although they aren't good at getting their noses in the dirt to sniff out the birds and don't/can't/won't hold or honor points.

The dog, on the other doesn't give me any cr@p when I miss, although if I miss a few in row he does give me that LOOK as if to say: "If you're going to miss 'em, after I find 'em, give me the darn gun and I'll show you how to do it."

 

[shooting time]

I have 2 dobermans and they try and kill everything that runs around here on the farm.Yet they are gentle dogs and They don't care for gunfire .when i shoot they go about a 100 yds away and lay down.they know when i pick up a rifle that a loud noise comes from it and they usually stay clear of me but do follow.I had a lab once that used to go chase the bullets and dig in the dirt where they landed.I had another lab who would come over and try to push me away from the shooting bench because he didn't like the noise .

 

[Kim]

I have a brown lab who is now 11. I got the book Water Dog and trained her exacltly as they recommended. I had never trained a dog before. It was easy. As far as shooting goes I started the 1st day I got her at 6 weeks old. Guns going off do not bother her one bit except she looks to me to see if I give her to command to HUNT. Wonderful dog. She goes eveywhere with me. I started out with the shotgun. She never flinced once.

 

[Ryder]

I wouldn't take a dog to a practice shoot but I've hunted with them. Kim's experience reflects mine. Even though I have landed shots very close in defending them from other critters they don't flinch from gunfire. Single minded pursuit of the game.

 

[Mark in California]

Tried to, but the dog would just go back to the car when the shooting started. If we were hunting or hiking fine, but not any extended shooting.

 

[sm]

Err... dogs have made me go shooting...

I currently do not have any dogs of my own. Like Dr. Rob , I have had dogs that if I had a gun, gun case, box of ammo or anything gun related - dogs went bonkers " oh goody, Daddy has something gun related and lets go shooting!

House dogs mind you, a Lab-Collie mix, one a Golden Retreiver and something, and the most surprising of all...a Cocker Spaniel with Pure Pedigree. That one was really bonkers over guns, walking the property, going to the range...
It attached itself when I married the lady, bought for her to assist in getting past divorce and his dad's "behavior".

Walking the property with a shotgun the Cocker Just Froze, I walk up and by golly the quail flushed, I took one quail. Dang Dog just had in in him. Surprised the wife and stepson...the "pet" was a hunting dog, all he needed was some guy with a shotgun to understand his needs.

He liked the skeet ranges too. Besides all the attention he got...boy could he work a crowd...he enjoyed watching folks shoot.

He actually confiscated a 28 ga box , and would not give it back. In his stash of toys. Not a empty box, silly thing had to have full box of new AAs. I gave up, taped it shut with clear tape and he snuggled with it in his spot, or would drag it out to show company when over with guns...or in the reloading room.

One of his tennis balls got really ratty. He runs out and sets in down, comes back and tell me to shoot it. I shot it, he was so happy...So anytime a tennis ball or some chew toy got ratty, that was our deal.

"Honey, the dog really wants to go shoot skeet, go plink, walk the property...etc., see you later".
"You boys have fun, bye".