If I had a choice I would take a hit from a pistol any day before a shot gun. Joe made a comment on TTD dogs missing articles on a track because of the speed. Article training is something that needs to be done correctly. If the training is done poorly a dog is going to miss articles in either style of training. I always laugh at this because a gun is the easiest article in the world to find.
Guns stink like hell to a dog.
Article training is a very big part of the RCMP program. It goes way beyond just article indication on a track. In small article training the dog must indicate on items the size of buttons and bullets in a given area. In alley searches they have to indicate on articles laying next to garbage cans and up against back yard fences. They must learn to ignore dogs that are barking on the other side of the fence.