We picked up a 2 year old female Golden Retriever as our "family" dog and she excells in that role. I was hoping she could do double duty in the field flushing some birds but she is deathly afraid of guns. If I even pick one up she is hiding under the nearest cover.

Any way to break them of this?

At 2 years old it's kinda tough. Gotta reinforce the "trust factor". Dog needs to learn that no harm or pain will come from anything that you do.

Can go "hunting" without a firearm. Lots of praise for good behavior. Stern verbal "bad dog" for poor habits. Need to become best friends. If the dog enjoys hunting, you will see it.

Cheezywan

Will the dog retrieve, though?
Have her retrieve a ball. A lot.
When she's used to that, get a gun and lean it nearby, and throw the ball.
Then, hold the gun while you throw the ball.
Hopefully, this will get her to associate the gun's presence with retrieving.
Then, throw the ball, and shoot the gun. Not every time at first, but increasingly. You can buy shotgun blanks for dog training.

Take the dog into the field w/o a gun, at first.
Then, take a gun along but don't shoot it.
After the dog is retrieving the ball, then shoot once in a while in the field.

This is the best I can think of - might work. In my experience, though, it's once skittish, always skittish.

:)

She gets bored real fast with - fetch the ball. I don't think she sees any sense in it. If I keep throwing it away I must not want it.

Good advice though. I've had her in the field/woods a few times and she is very obidient and never wanders far.

Cheezy, to your point, the trust factor is very high.

Sounds like you got a great family pet.

The "smell" of poultry might help? Some game scent on a favorite "toy" might help? Gotta make it fun!

Like gmd3006 says, some just don't make the cut.

Have seen some that take to hunting like sex. Don't need a firearm to get a limit of birds.

Dogs are good people.

Cheezywan

If she hides just from the presence of a firearm, then the cause is probably lost. You got a dog that was traumatized in a big way.
I doubt you will ever really be able to train over it. It's probably still a great pet though.
You can try slowly to help her overcome the fear but it will really be an uphill battle

Try only feeding her by the gun. Give her 15 min or so to eat and then put the food up until the next feeding and do it again until she eats. If that works do it until she is comfortable with the gun. Then get a noise maker and let her eat under the noise, same routine. You get the picture. I have cured a few dogs like this. Be consistent.

I think she had a bad experience and we'll probably never know what it was since we got her from a rescue shelter. It may never get corrected but she is a great family pet.

I 've only know one gunshy dog that was cured and it was a young shorthair that started great and had a great first season then all of a sudden got gun shy. My friend took her to a trainer who basically had her for 6 weeks and cured her by working her with live birds and getting her very birdy. When she really wanted those birds the trainer started reintroducing gunfire and got her over it. She is a terrific hunter and she's about 5 or 6 now.

Had a lab-border collie mutt that was an excellet retriever. Amazingly smart and great nose; very fast swimmer and gentle mouth. Easily learned hand signals, retrieved doubles, etc.

Terrified of noise and I finally gave up.

Big pure-blood lab doesn't even flinch when the gun goes off. Just looks for something to pick up and gives me a sorta-disgusted glance when birds don't fall to the ground!

I'd say you're in for a heck of a losing battle. Let it be a pet.

Had a lab-border collie mutt that was an excellet retriever. Amazingly smart and great nose; very fast swimmer and gentle mouth. Easily learned hand signals, retrieved doubles, etc.

Terrified of noise and I finally gave up.

Big pure-blood lab doesn't even flinch when the gun goes off. Just looks for something to pick up and gives me a sorta-disgusted glance when birds don't fall to the ground!

I'd say you're in for a heck of a losing battle. Let it be a pet.

Had a Rott/Lab cross who was very "birdy". Started out shooting blackbirds with a pellet gun, he'd bring 'em back and lay them at my feet when still a pup. When we started with a shotgun he was a little gun shy but quickly got over it after realizing there were birds to bring back.

The down side, he always associated guns with birds. A buddy and I went out to sight in a new rifle. Zeroing in the gun, Chopper went nuts in the truck carrying on and making all sorts of noise. Finally let him out so he'd shut up. After each shot he's run toward the target, sniff around and come back with a disgusted look, seeming to say " You missed again!"