The American Beagler Forum

Hes 9 Months old rabbit season is in 4 weeks what do you guy think the best way to gun break a dog i have done the clapping and loud noises while hes eating and the 4th of july fireworks didnt scare him

Cutemloose wrote:Hes 9 Months old rabbit season is in 4 weeks what do you guy think the best way to gun break a dog i have done the clapping and loud noises while hes eating and the 4th of july fireworks didnt scare him

the best thing to do is wait until the hound is running a rabbit at full cry and circle him and then when you see the bunnie kill him and let the dog track all the way to the kill and give him praises and do this until you feel happy about it.

We took mine out to a frog pond with .22's and shot the crap out of it. They were 6 months old and had no problems. Educational (them) and fun (me and my brother)!

Edit to add: per the following comments, don't follow my lead!

i take mine out in the summer before season comes in after they are running rreal good wait till they are running a rabbit wide open screaming like they are looking at the rabbit and they are 75 to 100 yards from me then ill fire a couple pistol shots i do this a few times they get use to the gun going off on the first time be shure they arent right on top of you you can gradually let them move in a lil closer but make shure they are really driving that bunny i never bang no pans or do any clapping why they would lock me up for being crazy jb

Since the fireworks didn't bother the dog I wouldn't worry about it. He shouldn't be gun shy if those loud noises and things blowing up didn't bother him

i always make sure they are running good. for several weeks and then take them hunting. try to kill the rabbit way out in front of them. never spent any special time trying to break one. just do it.

Fireworks are really bad for a hunting dog. Also, never shoot around or over a pup.

As others have advised, get him started running a rabbit and when he is running good with the pack mates real good, shoot the rabbit or just shoot your shotgun in the air.

Never jump shoot a rabbit over him and be careful shooting too close to him until he is ok with the gunfire.

Good luck!

I agree with everything these guys are telling you except I don't know about shooting your shotgun up in the air.........at least not unless your out in an open area which isn't usually the case when you're running rabbits. I would recommend shooting into some kind of a backstop if you're not actually shooting at the bunny.

yeah i think we are just gonna wait til he is at full cry and a ways out then shoot a .22 blank

I use a 6mm starters pistol. I shoot over them when they are running at a distance with a few other dogs, that way if the noise spooks them the first time the older broke dogs will not miss a beat and get them back into running immediately. Then I shoot more than once while they are running but still at a distance and gradually shorten it as the weeks progress. I move closer each week and by gun season they are so used to shooting that they don't pay any mind. I have done it twice this year on 2 different pups. One of them I just shot a 410 shotgun while they were running and they paid no mind to it. I have one more to do next week with the 410 and then they should be ready for gunseason. I will continue to shoot the starters pistol while we run so nothing changes. I have also be told to run bells on them as this will create noise with every step and close to their ears so a gunshot is technically muffled anyway. This seems to work well.