I started my pup off with all the suggestions for conditioning him to gunfire, and he was doing really well. At about 4 1/2 months I came home(I drive a truck so I'm only home on the weekends), and when I started to feed him, he ran to his kennel and hid out. I asked my wife when he started doing that and she told me that he'd been freaking out since the fourth of July. I had to start over.
What I did was only make sharp noises when we were doing retrieving work. This dog lives to carry stuff, so he was always happy then. At first, I would just clap softly as he was bringing the bumper back. Gradually, he would tolerate louder and louder noises, but he was always a little nervous.
But, over time, he was getting better. Yesterday out hunting, he was doing well enough that when other groups shot, he would stop and look in that direction to look for a bird to fall so he could retrieve it.
That's a long background to get to explaining last night. When the neighbors started the fireworks at midnight, he jumped up in my lap and was obviously scared. So, I took him to the staircase where we first started his training, and I tossed the dummy down the stairs. The first few times he balked, and I had to give him a little shove. But after a bit, his desire to retrieve overcame his nervousness, and he seems to be doing all right. He's laying on the floor at my feet right now but we'll have to see how he does next time I can get him on birds. I think he'll be okay.
