How Long Will He Be Able to Hunt

[Cashiers]

I have a 7 year old male GSP that is in excellent condition and loves to hunt. We mostly hunt pheasants. How long can I reasonably expect him to be able to hunt?

[3Britts]

If you keep him in good condition, a good long time.

[BigShooter]

Not trying to be glib but ... as long as he feels good. Some GSPs will live to 14 or 15 and hunt well past age 10. However it seems like 10 or 11 might be a number by which a lot of them are beginning to slow down noticeably. You might want to find out how long the sire and dam lived & hunted to give you an idea about the longevity of your dog.

Mark

[PntrRookie]

Ditto the above comments. From personal experience, my GSP has seem to hit the wall now at ten. Even as of last fall we were running trials and placing. Now it seems it has caught up to him. He is acting as if he has stiff joints, loosing a little weight, just moving a bit slower overall. Hunt them till they tell you they are done...not vice versa...BUT enjoy them NOW because you never know. My GSP's father died early (6-7) from heart failure

[vzkennels]

I think it depends on the dog & their condition,of course they will slow down some just like we do but some will hunt untill they drop over in the field.I had to have my first put down at 12 because of mastisized breast tumors & rear end paralysis but she was hunting the wk before.

[3Britts]

All dogs will slow down when they get older. But, they still have that hunting drive. If the dog is in good shape and wants to hunt, do it. It will still out hunt you without a dog and the dog will have fun. I've seen gsps hunt close to 14 years.
We're talking hunting, not trialing.

[RayGubernat]

A lot of the answer of course depends on the physical health and conditioning level of the dog. However, a lot depends on how you yourself hunt and what you expect of the dog. It will take longer and longer to get the dog into peak shape because you want to go at it slow enough to build the dog up without injury.

If, for example, you typically hunt several days in a row, both morning and afternoon, an older dog will likely not hold up, especially if the terrain is challenging. If, on the other hand, you hunt every couple or three days and typically hunt a half day in realitvely flat, open cover, an older dog would have time to rest, recharge and work out the kinks in between hunts.

I had two different pointers that hunted hard on multiple days until the age of ten. One hunted occasionally, for half days until the age of twelve and was then essentially retired except for the very occasional hour or two long outing. The other hunted on a reduced schedule until she died of heart failure at age 11. Both hunted hard whenever they were down because that was the only way they knew how.

If you are willing to scale back you hunts as the dog's physical abilities diminish, you could hunt productively with your partner for a long time to come. Often, getting another dog to take a part of the load makes a great deal of sense as you r number one dog ages.

RayG

[Cashiers]

Thank you all for the replies to my question. It sounds like I can look forward to 3 or 4 more good hunting years with him if I keep him in shape and don't hunt him too hard. Our typical hunting day is a couple of hours in the morning and then another couple of hours in the late afternoon with a good break in the middle, so the dog gets some recovery time.

I have a Wirehair pup that I am beginning to train now, so I will also be able to spell the dog when he gets tired.

[romeo212000]

You can hunt him hard for another 3 years or so. Then possibly look at slowing it down a bit.