Be VERY careful! If your dog becomes gunshy it's usually extremely difficult to rid them of their fear of loud noises. When I trained my labs I started off with a cap gun and went to a starter pisol as the grew accustomed to the noise. I made sure they were doing something enjoyable when I fired the gun.That way they associate the noise with pleasure. The easiest way I found was to do it during their feeding time. I would set out their dish,when they got to eating I would go across the yard and fire a shot. I started with the gun down near the ground to kind of muffle the shot. As they grew more confident I got closer and closer until I could touch it off above their heads. Then I went to the starter pistol and repeated the steps.

Luckily, my neighbor is a bird hunter also so he was very tolerant of all the noise coming from my backyard. Good luck...there's alot of satisfaction hunting over a dog thats listens well and that you trained.