nice dog!

guess to an extent its instinct. In the field id imagine the dogs learnt that the bangs associated with shotguns etc is just part of hunting and not a threat.

us humans are the same really, i was in the nuthouse over the period of fireworks night back in 2006 and being quite ill i was running on instinct and most of fireworks night i thought i was going to get blown up So it is survival instinct in a way be it natural or learned instinct.

I was afraid of dogs most my childhood as i got bitten twice.

animals are more similar to us psychologically than many of us think, they can feel trauma and fear in the same way and even suffer PTSD IMO! My friends labrador got shit kicked out of it when quite young by some cunt man and ever since every new male it meets, he is scared of and reacts just like a traumatised victim of domestic abuse suffering from PTSD. Its taken me 3 years to earn his trust to the point where he will now come up for hugs and cuddles. Although he still from time to time reacts instinctively and lays on the floor legs up whimpering just like we would cower from someone about to hit us.