PREPARING YOUR HUNTING DOG FOR BIRD SEASON
by Tracy Breen 10/6/2024
The upland bird season is just getting going. Hopefully by now youhave been getting your bird dogs ready for the field. If you haven’t been getting your dogs physically and mentally ready for the season at hand, now is the time to kick things up a notch.
Brent Pike the owner of Pyke Gear, spends more time in the field than most in the fall and takes his late summer dog training and conditioning very seriously. “I spend several weeks in the late summer running my dogs multiple miles every day,” Pyke said. “I like to start early in the morning and take my dogs to the woods for an hour or two. I even drive up north so I can take advantage of the cool temperatures in the morning. These runs help the dogs build strength and stamina and toughens up their feet,” he added.
Pike says many hunters overlook foot care. “In the late summer, I will run my dogs on dirt roads to help get the pads on the bottoms of their feet toughened up and ready for long days on the field. ”When season finally arrives, Pike makes sure his dogs are hydrated. Dehydration kills many hunting dogs, especially in the early season when a dog is excited to run and the temperatures are super warm. “A few days before season opens, I make sure my dogs are taking in lots of water so when the season opens, they are extremely hydrated and ready to hunt,” Pike noted.One small thing that Pike does that makes a big difference in his dogs’ overall health is making sure his dogs have access to water even at night when they are in crates. “When I put my dogs in their crates at night while I am on the road, I have a water bowl in there that is tied to the grate on the door so they can drink any time they want to without spilling the water,” Pike explained. “Many times in the morning when I let them out of the crate, most of the water is gone which means the dog drank a lot of water, is hydrated, and ready to hunt.”
One reason many dogs get dehydrated in the field is because they don’t want to drink when they are hunting. One way to encourage dogs to drink is to put a hydration drink in their water that tastes good and helps give them the nutrients they need to keep going. “On a lot of my hunts, I use K9 Athlete Hydrate & Recover. Hydrate and Recover will give dogs the electrolytes they need to keep going. The product also contains l-glutamine for sustained mental energy and it delivers L-glutathione to support proper cellular respiration. The product was developed to encourage increased fluid intake to prevent dehydration and protect kidneys. In addition, the product contains Leucine which is a branch chain amino acid.”There are other great hydration products on the market including Revive from Canine Health Forward.”In 2003, over one hundred dogs died on opening day of pheasant season in South Dakota because of the hot weather when hunting during the early season. Keeping dogs hydrated is a must. Make sure dogs are rotated often. “When it is hot, I don’t hunt my dogs long. I will rotate them every couple hours. In many cases when it is really hot, we only hunt an hour or two in the morning and call it a day. A dog doesn’t know when to quit. As hunters, we need to be watching our dogs and taking care of them to ensure we don’t run into health problems,” Pike advised.
After reading this, many hunters may be asking themselves how they can exercise their dogs in the summer when it is really warm. For those who have a dog that enjoys the water, taking them to a lake or pond regularly and letting them swim is a great way to keep a dog in shape. For those who have dogs that don’t like to swim early morning or late evening, walks when temperatures are cool is best.If you want to have a high-quality hunting dog, spending time preparing them physically for the season ahead is a must. Keeping them hydrated is also a must. Very few hunters who go on extreme hunts do so without preparing themselves physically for the hunt. Many hunters lift weights, change their diet and hike regularly so when hunting season opens they are ready. Hunters should do the same thing for their dogs. The better shape a dog is in during hunting season, the better odds hunters have of filling their game bag and more importantly keeping their dog out of the veterinarian’s office.
