I've got a golden retriever that is about 7 months old now, and I'm wanting to look into training him for hunting. I've wondered if it would be possible to train him with how skittish he can be around large/noisy objects, but he's seemed to grow out of that fear a little as he ages.

Then, this past weekend, he was outside next to a friend while he fired off a shot. I tried to call him back before the shot was fired in fear it could ruin him forever around a gun, but he didn't respond in time. I expected him to tuck tail and run, but he surprisingly took it very well and basically just looked up to see where the noise came from, so I'm hopeful there may hope for him yet.

Do y'all have any recommendations on best way to train the pup, or perhaps a good trainer that could help me out?

Those Amazon package air bubbles. I used to pop those while eating or playing or anything positive where it wouldn't scare him. Also continue to use those when working bumpers around the house since it's an easy way to simulate gunfire in the city without having the cops called on me

Where are you located? I know 2 great trainers... One in Mongomery, Tx (Houston-ish) and One in Bonham (North of Dallas)

I'm out in Midland.

Here is what I did with my 1 year old golden 10 years ago.

- Bought a dove decoy and started fetch with that.
- Bought dove scent online
- took her out to the field and had my son hold her on a leash far away, shot the gun, progressively got closer
- used the decoy and started throwing it out for her to fetch when I shot the gun.
- worked with her at home on "bird" command. Would hold her and make her stay, after throwing, then said "bird" and released for the fetch.
- worked on blind fetches by covering her eyes.

She was a natural so really she did all the work. What I did above is very amateurish but it worked for me. I never worked on other commands because wasn't really needed but would be nice to be able to direct her, instead I just walk to an area and say "bird" to get her to work. She goes crazy even when she hears a pellet gun and runs out looking for a bird.

If you don't have the time, but do have the money - send him off to a trainer. Money well spent if you really want to hunt him for the next decade plus.

If you don't have the time or the money, there are a lot of books aimed directly at that segment. The 10 Min Retriever is a great read, built around the little at a time concept.

My biggest bit of advice is this: obedience training is the foundation of any training protocol. If your dog won't sit when told, come when told, etc - it's a long, damn near impossible road. This is why so many house dogs fail at being bird dogs. At home, they get to do whatever they want. Then owners expect a flip to switch in the field. It doesn't work that way.

We sent our golden to Steve Biggers and am happy with the results. She doesn't get to hunt enough but that is my fault.

If you use a professional trainer, do your homework. There are plenty of absolute hacks out there charging a lot of money to churn out poorly trained or ruined dogs.

Also, a good trainer will insist on making sure you're trained, too. There's a good reason for that, so pay attention. Good training is a waste of time with an owner who doesn't do his part.

My dad used to slap 2x4s together when he fed our dogs......they never were skiddish around guns. I have a 4 month old lab right now and I started out shooting a 22 around him while he was playing and he didnt seem to mind. Last weekend he was around his first shotgun and did very well.

OP you should really get retriever training advice somewhere other than this thread.

PANHANDLE10 said:

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OP you should really get retriever training advice somewhere other than this thread.

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Nice, so you are saying advice of using a trainer is wrong? Or, you have a problem with what I did? If so speak up, otherwise you offered nothing to this thread.

I trained my golden up last year pretty easy. The current problem I have is no birds anywhere when we go hunt. I've never seen a dog get so excited just watching a buzzard fly overhead.

In all honesty, train them like any other breed. Get a real bird and freeze it and let him play with it occasional and chase it while you drag it.

The book Water Dog is commonly thought of as a very good starting point for training. It gets more advanced than you may even want, but spend time daily working on basic obedience and getting them excited with real birds.

I LOVE Goldens. I have two. Wonderful dogs.

About 4 years ago I bought Golden #2 as a puppy to hunt. Golden #1 was basically turned into a large house cat by my wife and kids so he was too far gone... Anyway, I found a great trainer/boarder in the Waller area as I didn't trust myself to train him properly. After visiting his facilities with my dog we agreed to go forward. This was in August. About two weeks into the training, I got a video text message from the trainer. It just said "Watch this." Thinking I bought a badass gun dog and was about to be very impressed, I pressed play. The trainer shot his gun, launched the decoy, and my dog sprinted past it to the nearest shade tree and sat his butt down. Wouldn't get up. This process was repeated 3 more times. His closing message was "There's nothing more I can do. Please come get your dog."

Now I have another house cat.