Gun Dog Forum

What speed is your dog avg? give the miles he did and the avg.

anyone know what those dogs at ames do in 3 hours?

I would really, really be interested in hearing about the stats at Ames, too. Especially in comparison to hunting dogs.

Under normal hunting conditions my GSP will run 16 miles while hunting chukar in two hours and find 6 covey. Running speed will be 10 mph. My distance from the truck will be no more than 2 miles when I turn and head back. Some points will be out 600 yards plus which will take me 10 - 20 minutes to cover. I hunt on foot..............

When hunting my setter usually does around 20 miles at an average of 6 mph, just running him during the week he usually does 7 miles at about 8 mph

Reba, thats some good ground cover!

My dogs ave. speed varies with the cover. In Michigan grouse cover they typically ave. 3-4 mph with miles covered up to 10-12, but typically 2-4. Distance does not seem to affect their ave. speed.
Out west in the grass, their ave speed increases to 6-8, and the distances also increased to 6-12 miles.

I'm working a young pointer that averages 10-11 mph in the grouse cover, and will has covered 20 miles plus at that speed. I expect that once she settles into a hunting pace that will drop substantially.

Took both shorthairs out this morning for our weekly Sunday hike...female with two replaced knees did 8 miles averaging 7 mph male did 11.5 miles and averaged just over 9 mph in same time we didn't stay out real long just a bit over an hr I guess.

your dogs really go a lot of miles.
i think my SMALL MUNSTERLANDER goes about 2 miles max hunting grouse,normally way under that in grouse woods here in pa.

My hounds average 7-10 mph hunting chuks. Sometimes push 11-12 in the flatter country. Usually on the ground for 2 hours or so.

I have two setters. Ace will average in the 9-11 mph range. Indy is always faster in the 12-16 mph range.
I will tell you that I had to staple Indy multiple times this season. Indy got cut up several times.

Chukar hunting.

My big running 8 month old pointer is getting stronger and ran faster today than usual. After 5 minutes he averaged over 21 mph. After 10 minutes he was averaging just over 19 mph. Shortly after that he went of the grid and was off the grid for 2 hours. After looking all over and waiting for him to come back I decided to find a high spot where I could climb up on the cab of my truck and get a signal. When I got the signal it said he was 4.7 miles away. When I got within 1.2 miles my signal came back and from then to when I picked him up he averaged 12.2 mph. That was in heavy sagebrush and in my experience that was outside normal behavior. I was happy to get him back, but was very impressed by his speed, especially at his age.

Usually after an hour with my female I see between 11 mph and 14 mph. Just depends on the conditions of the day.

Steve

Sct, sounds like a huge running dog! Hope you dont have a run off.

Mine will average about 8.5-9mph on the ground for 2hrs with me walking, and they will average closer to 11-12mph on the ground for 2hrs with me on horseback. and the distance traveled is on par with speed vs. time on the ground. On the break away I have seen High teens for the first 4-5mins, but I figure thats young dog energy right out of the box.

I have a buddy with a nice young setter that averages about 13mph and is the fastest working (hunting) dog Ive ever seen over a 2-3hr hunt.

Jim

Did 6 miles yesterday and average of 11mph.

you guys need horse to keep up with those dogs.my pup hunts 45 yds out in front of me in grouse woods and any farther out,i dont like.

JIM K wrote:you guys need horse to keep up with those dogs.my pup hunts 45 yds out in front of me in grouse woods and any farther out,i dont like.

I hunt off foot, there are many ridges my dogs bail off and search for birds. They dont run 12-15mph straight ahead till the fall off a cliff. They hunt.

I put much more faith in application than I do speed, a dog running at breakneck speeds does little good if they always running where there are no birds or to the rear. 8-12 MPh seems to be the norm depending on terrian and conditions. I have seen averages for the hr well above that but these dogs eventually learn to pace themselves. As for the speed of dogs at Ames, based on the braces that I have ridden and the application that is required I would doubt that they any faster and possibly to the lower end of the range that I have stated.

Allin13 wrote:Sct, sounds like a huge running dog! Hope you dont have a run off.

He is to some extent. the ecollar wasn't working that day. Also, I think he was extra fired up because he didn't get off the check cord two days prior. I thought I had the collar on tight enough. He does usually find his way back, but yesterday, I doubt he was thinking of me at all.

And yeah, this dog is a horseback prospect. My other two run big but nothing like this big boy.

Sct has he had birds yet? It sounds like a lot of run and not much hunt. Growing up my parents had dogs that if you opened the front door they were doing 20mph down the road and never look back.

Yeah, he's been in birds, wild and penned. He's got a pretty good nose too. He's just starting some handle training, but I'm not willing to fry him to get him to stop running so big. Through the spring and fall he will be handled off horseback, 4 wheeler, and truck. Once he understands what I want a little better I will require him to watch me on foot, like his brother does. He's young and I'll forgive this stuff for now, but not much longer. I actually believe the only thing on his mind is to go hunting. He's not running away, he just doesn't stop hunting. His time will come. One good thing came from his run yesterday, I found out my garmin will work past 4 miles. I just have to climb to the top of my truck to get a signal