Gun Dog Forum

To ensure maximum performance and decrease the risk of injury. What should I be doing now to prepare the dog for the upcoming season? I have been increasing the trips off leash to the park, and have had the dog running off leash as I ride my bicycle in the evenings. I know any conditioning I can provide him will help this fall. Specifically I am interested in feeding habits. Should I increase the amount he is fed? He currently eats about 1.5 cups of dry food in the morning and about 2.5 to 3 cups in the evening. We have 2 weeks until his first hunt which will be grouse for a few hrs a day in Michigan. Then he will have a day off for travel, then another day off for scouting and the he will be hunted hard for the 1st five days of the SD season. I don't feed him in the morning on hunt days, just heavily in the evening. I have read that some people start using the new sport dog pain relief products a week before the season and one fellow swears he seen an increase in 20% of dog performance. Typically the only thing I have done different in the past is added honey to the evening feedings. I have never had any problems with fatigue or muscle soreness stiffness in the past when just grouse hunting. However last year the 1st year that I hunted SD, my GSP was reluctant to hunt on about the 3rd day so we took the day off and visitd Mt Rushmore and wall drug. Those roosters in SD ran the "bleep" out of the dog. This year I will have only 1 dog and I will need him to be able to last all 5 days in SD.

you are starting a bit late it sounds like. We usually start gearing my pup up around June. His biggest issue is his feet, so we started running him 5 miles a day on the road, trying to toughen them up. Last year he hunted ten days straight in SD without much of an issue. We fed him a can of chicken noodle soup for breakfast, and then a can and as much dog food as he could handle for dinner, usually between eight to ten cups. The biggest thing I have noticed is how they sleep. If they are crammed in a crate all night they usually wake up sore and stiff. We let our dog lay out on the carpet all night and he usually woke up bouncing around the room ready to get moving.

I start to spray the feet with Tough Foot 2 weeks before the season every day and every day during my hunting trip.
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I don't give them much of a break year round- maybe not hunting- but thru the summer they are back packing and every other day conditioning runs.
I try not to crate my dogs long but I do like them to sleep undisturbed so it's a good sound sleep where ever it may be . I do make energy bars for 1/2 time of the hunt which I can see the difference . Good feeding that night - nada the morning of the hunt.

Thanks guys. I probably need to run the dog more, I get scared in the heat of the summer. I live in SC and the humidity and heat scare me. Yeah he sleeps well in SD, he usually gets a bed in the hotel room.

I take a few 3-5 day hunts per season....3-5 days is just as much my limit as the dogs. My dog is usually to hyped-up to eat in the a.m. on hunt day. I will let him eat as much as he wants, after getting back from the hunt....he's not much of a overeater though. I do give him a couple squirts of nutri-cal during the hunt to keep his energy up. Anyway that's my dogs feeding schedule. My 2 cents on conditioning...if you keep your dog in reasonable shape year around it doesn't take much time to get them in hunting condition, if your going to take your "potbelly pig" hunting your going to need to start....well I don't know, but I'd want to see the showing of a little ribcage from exercise. Endurance is needed for multi day hunts and a dogs drive is real important. I'm in awe when my dog gets up on hunt day 4 with feet swollen and walking on grass like its needles, but when I turn him loose in the field he's all run. I'd like to know more about sport dog pain relief?

I've never understood "getting them ready for hunting season".
If you keep your dog trained and conditioned all year, you don't need to do anything to 'get them ready".

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Doc E wrote:I've never understood "getting them ready for hunting season".
If you keep your dog trained and conditioned all year, you don't need to do anything to 'get them ready".

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If I lived up north and ran labs there wouldn't be an off season but living in S.E.Texas and running FT Pointers, there really has to be an off season. Their diet changes, I go from 2 feedings per day to 1 and I actually usually have to decrease their food when we can start roading hard until I see the weight that I want and then start increasing the amount to keep it their.

Never feed a dog the morning of heavy activity as this increases the chance of Bloat and Torsion. Plus a dog cant digest the food in time for them to benefit during that days hunt anyway so feed at night only.

Dogs just cant be pushed hard enough in this heat to get them in the condition they need to be in for max performance. IMO

Brazosvalleyvizslas wrote:

Doc E wrote:I've never understood "getting them ready for hunting season".
If you keep your dog trained and conditioned all year, you don't need to do anything to 'get them ready".

.

If I lived up north and ran labs there wouldn't be an off season but living in S.E.Texas and running FT Pointers, there really has to be an off season. Their diet changes, I go from 2 feedings per day to 1 and I actually usually have to decrease their food when we can start roading hard until I see the weight that I want and then start increasing the amount to keep it their.

Never feed a dog the morning of heavy activity as this increases the chance of Bloat and Torsion. Plus a dog cant digest the food in time for them to benefit during that days hunt anyway so feed at night only.

Dogs just cant be pushed hard enough in this heat to get them in the condition they need to be in for max performance. IMO