I start all my dogs with a pellet rifle. And use food rewards. Then 22 shorts. The shotgun at 50 plus yards


I’ll introduce live birds in conjunction with gun fire once conditioned. Starting first with pellet rifle. Off season frozen birds if can’t get live ones with a pellet rifle or 22


As mentioned wild birds as much as possible

I have a lot of quail , grouse Huns and sometimes a pheasant on property so they get exposed to wild birds at least a few times a week


Originally Posted by firstcoueswas80
I never posted it, but my Redline Airedale passed in April. Terrible circumstances, he was only 15 months old, got out while I was at work and got hit by a car. The guilt still is lingering.

Thanks to a buddy of mine, I am getting a awesome female Airedale here in a few weeks. With my last one, I waited too long to train/condition him to the sound of gunfire. When I did, he did ok but I would like to start younger with this one.

This brought me to the idea of using blanks from a .22 revolver, but I have 0 experience in this field. I would like to start from the lowest noise level and work up. A little research has shown most to be unpredictable and flat out unreliable.

Does anyone have any pointers or suggestions on where to start?

Last edited by ribka; 08/12/22.