gun shot

[maybe]

My dog is reacting to gun shots all of a sudden especially at the long down. He wants to get up and come to me.
When he got his SchH1 title, he did the same thing. He all of a sudden started to react in practice. On the real trial day he was ok and did not get up or reacted on the heeling. But it shows that he does have some issues there. He is noise sensitive in nature but I think because he is so alert and high drive. Can anyone tell me why he starts to react to gunshots before trials? How do you train to desensitize your dog? I tried to play with the ball during gunshots. He got scared and did not want to play with the balls for a while.

[cliffson1]

The issue is not drive or high energy, the issue is nervebase....that being said dogs can be conditioned to accept the shots unless the nerves are really bad, but its a slow process that involves going back to the beginning with small gun long distances from the gun and very strong foundation in the down. Many people don't have a strong enough foundation in down. By the time I am ready for Sch one or even BH my dog will easily be able to stay in a down for twenty to thirty minutes with me on the other side of the training field....with this kind of foundation it makes it easier for the dog to be comfortable so that the noise and resulting anxiety has less impact.