How did you introduce your dog to the gun?

I shot a 44 magnum at the gate of the litter pen and picked the one which came to me.

I let mine chase a bird going away from me and fire a 209 primer pistol behind me the opposite way. Get the dog focused on the bird and not the blast.Make sure the dog is a good ways away before you start shooting. Over time, gradually work the dog closer to you

The litter Bill is talking about produced 7 gunshy dogs and the one pup that Bill chose, which was already deaf.

Seriously, I start when they are pups at feeding time and try to make some noise around them, clapping hands, setting a pot down hard on the stove, slamming a door just to try and get them used to noise in general. As they get a little older and the training starts, if we are playing fetch with a ball or bird or whenever I throw the object, I immediately clap my hands real loud two to three times and I vary how many times I clap. Once I get the pup on birds, I’ll get them as amped up as I can chasing them and then start to introduce guns, starter pistol at distance all the way up to larger bores and closer proximity.

if at any point I see an adverse reaction to the noise, I either stay at that point for a while or step back to a previous level where I didn’t get a reaction at all. Even though you are paying attention to see if the dog reacts, never show a reaction to the dog if they do react. you want to always ignore a reaction, but take note of it and step back in the training. I never rush and even if I have a pup that shows no reaction whatsoever to noise no matter what t is, I still never shortcut. Gun shyness is probably the most difficult thing to repair that there is with a dog and at only a 40-50% success rate.

I just go sit out at the gun range and let them get familiar. Worked for me.

I like that idea seems pretty simple.

You might want to be a good distance from the gun range.
Exposing a young pup to the sound of high powered rifles might not get the results you want.

I usually toss a wing tied pigeon and let em get engrossed with mauling that and shoot off in the opposite direction a ways from the pup. Then move in on him with a couple more shots. I'll use a 410 then a 12 ga.

Taught the dog how to reliably retrieve marks thrown without a gun.

Bought a few pigeons. You can also catch them.

Had 3 friends go out 100 yards with the pigeons and shotguns and they threw one that I had pulled the primary flight feathers out of one wing first and shot away from the bird.

Let the dog go after the shot.

Moved closer and repeated, actually shooting the pigeons 70, 50, 20 yards.

Last time did it with the dog sitting right next to gunners.

Watch the dog for signs of fear the whole time. If they are focused on the birds then you shouldn't have a problem, if they are worried about the guns, pack up and come back a week or two later.

My dog had also experienced training with a club where they fire off a popper round when they throw the duck, usually at 100 yards so she knew that the gun meant there was a bird.

The bolded part is the desired outcome, not just a dog that doesn't mind the gunshot, but a dog that associates it with getting to retrieve a bird; which should be fun.

This is by far the best method. Forget going to the gun range, it's a gamble at best. You want the dog to associate gunfire with fun(retrieves). You can't control that at a range. Some have been lucky going that route; others have a very gun shy dog as a result. I haven't heard of anyone following the method above result in a gun shy dog.

I will use your method TexasED, this is what i hear as well on RTF