I keep my firearm in a safe until I put on to carry. We have a rescue dog that we’ve had for 2 years and if he’s around within ear shot the sound of the safe beeping would send him behind the sofa. So I took the beep off and thought that would do the trick. The racking would do this also. Of course it stays loaded so no racking noise. Now it seems that when I put gun in the holster and it “clicks” he does the same thing. I have resorted to making sure he’s outside now when I do all of the above.
Now we also know that the previous owner was a elderly woman so not sure where he got his fear of these sounds? Just strange. Any thoughts?
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We had a Shelty who was afraid of the sight of a gun, any gun. He had never seen a gun fired or been around gunfire as far as I know. I would be cleaning my gun or just wiping it down and he would move away from me or go lay down behind the chair or couch. The more noise I made the less he liked it. 
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Like @BRUCE26 said … but this reminded me of a bird dog we had when I was growing up. We raised her from a puppy and when she was probably about a year old we took her out for her first hunt. She quickly found and instinctively pointed a covey of quail. We scared them up and shot quite a few of them. We didn’t see the dog again for 3 days. Somebody from a long ways away called and said they had our dog. I say a long ways because I don’t remember how many miles, but far enough away we didn’t know them.
Grateful to get our dog back, my Dad knew he had to break her from being gun shy. We didn’t have a dog kennel so Dad tied her to the bumper on our truck - a '55 Chevy Short-Bed, Series A. I don’t remember how many shots it took, but he emptied his shotgun multiple times until she calmed down. She turned out to be one of the best bird dogs we ever had, and not only didn’t run away, but retrieved birds for us the next time we took her out hunting.
Sorry I digressed, but sometimes that’s what us old folk do …
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I learned it’s an acquired trait and easier when they’re younger.
I used to have a dog who didn’t want to have anything to do with fireworks. He was my family’s first, and while we loved him, I admit, he was our guinea pig. We didn’t know any better at the time how to take care of a dog.
Fast forward to more than 12 years later, we received a second dog, a baby girl not even eight weeks old if I’m not mistaken. This one, I spent a lot of my free time. We would be in our front yard, sometimes oblivious to celebrations in the neighborhood that mostly ended in fireworks.
On Independence Day, I remembered to bring our older dog inside so he would be insulated from sounds of fireworks.
My baby girl, on the other hand, was with me in the front yard enjoying the City’s fireworks show. We’ve been doing this for five years now.
I don’t know of any other dog who’s out on the 4th.
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My dog is good with all firearm related noises, but, he’s afraid of bicycles, smoke alarms(we’re getting a lot of smoke from the Tamarack, Dixie, and Bootleg fires that gets inside the house), and the opening music to Law & Order: Criminal Intent(I’m not kidding, it sets him off)
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When I put my guns on the dog goes crazy, cause she knows she’s fixing to play outside.
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It could be just a similar noise to something that is a trigger. I had a rescue that had been abused, and I could not roll a newspaper or magazine or she would just pee herself with fear. That and move my hands fast.
Current dog does go to the range with us, but is terrified of fireworks and loud sounds in general. At the range, he will stay in his crate while we shoot, even a match, and then get out and be ok. Swatting flies in the house or sneezing can make him run. For the 4th, I take him and head to the woods for the 2 weeks as it is easier.
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It is unpredictable what can “set” a dog off, especially a rescue no one knows the history of. Been married over 30 years, but back when I was dating, my girlfriend had a rescue. Every time I would first arrive it would pee. It was fine after that until the next time I came over.
She brought the dog over to my house one day before I arrived. I was walking through my bedroom (on the way to the bathroom) and unbeknownst to me the dog was on my bed! I was not very happy, but knew better than to scold the dog as things would have gotten worse.
We finally figured out it was men with facial hair that set the dog off. I went clean shaven and the dog did not pee in the house, or my bed, anymore.
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My dog is a pit bull, he basically hangs out with me in my gun room/office while I am cleaning out my firearms. During this time I rack my slide and the sound does not affect him at all. I watch YouTube videos while they are testing guns at the range and raise up the volume and it does not affect him at all he just stays calm. I am not sure if the sound of a real gun shot would get a negative reaction from him but maybe one day I will find out. All dogs are different and what can set one off may not be the same for another dog. When he sees me put my gun on he gets excited because he knows it’s walk time.
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Used the Gun Dog book to train my shorthair from 7 weeks on until she hit the field. Used a callock with no 11 primers and moved up to 209 primers. Only fired them off when she ate.
This dog is bomb proof. Rifles, shotguns, Fourth of July. She attributes all of those noises to food and good things.
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OR you could have a dog like mine! He gets all excited when he knows I have a gun. He thinks we are going to go shooting.
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I had a German Shepard like this, Fritz. He was a great dog, but he was a pound rescue, so I have no idea what his background was. That said, I didn’t have to do any training, I quickly realized that I just needed to familiarize him with my word for what I wanted him to do, he already knew how to do it.
I would say that Fritz lacked a drop of aggression except that there was one time that someone came to me in a very aggressive manner and apparent intent. Fritz went full-on guard dog. He didn’t jump and bark. He just stood next to me, without making a sound, but tense and ready, displaying a quiet but high level of aggression, in a way I never saw in him before or after.
He knew what a gun was. I could hold a gun in a non-gun manner and he would still slink away. I, and everyone I knew, all figured that he failed out of some training program. However, it was great setting a superbly trained dog right out of the box.
However, he was terrified of guns.
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My Airedale hunted grouse with me and was ok but around the 4th I had to medicate her. I dreaded the 4th for 10 years, couldn’t figure out how to help her.
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