bullmastiff guyshy

[janfree]

My 6 and 7 year old nephews were over and in the basement playing with nerf guns. One year old Hitch seemed unconcerned until they came upstairs carrying their "guns". Hitch, fast as a speeding bullet ran over and stood about 5 ft from the kids and gave one loud bark. I told them to drop the guns and then Hitch sniffed them and lay down. He didn't make any physical contact with them but was definitely bothered by the weapons. He seemed almost to recognize them as something bad. The kids went downstairs again but every time Hitch heard the triggers he barked. Should I have been worried about the kids.

 

[musicdeb]

Do the guns make a loud noise when they are fired? He could be afraid of the noise since he can hear the guns upstairs while they are in the basement. He barked at them because of the sound? Barking is a warning that I'm either concerned by your presence or I'm kinda afraid and I'm going to defend myself against you.

I would slowly introduce him to the guns, lay them down beside him so he can smell them and see they are not evil monsters.

Once he's used to their presence, then fire one of them while he's in the room and watch what he does. If he starts to bark, it's the sound. Sorta like the vacuum cleaner monster. You can desensitize to the gun sound but it will require a lot of patience and consistency in training.