Free: Contests & Raffles.
Your dog has..... hunting dog hypoglycemia. Get a product that comes in a tube called "Nutracal " start him with a squirt in his mouth ,it's a paste. Call him to you every so often and give him another dose, I used to do this with an English pointer I had who was affected. Keep the tube with you at all times. Massage into gums, fastest path.
I had a lab that needed to eat snacks throughout the day while hunting. Otherwise all his joints would lock up and he would be immobilized. The first time it happened I thought he was having a seizure. I switched that dog to a more quality food and fed him smaller amounts 3 times a day and never had another problem. I feed my dog Victor now and bring cooked liver as a little treat in the field. I bet you $10 your dog will eat a little liver in the field.
Don’t feed him the day of the hunt. Actually, I wouldn’t feed in the morning at all. Feed once a day and watch the dog. Too many people take an out of shape dog and throw it in the field on opening day, and expect it to hunt all day. There’s not a dog in the world that can do that, or hunt all day for that matter. I know I know, guys are going to come on here and say their dogs hunt all day no problem. NO they don’t! My field trial horseback dogs that are in incredible shape are good for a half a day, maybe a little more depending on the hunting. The biggest thing is to watch your dog, and learn what it’s doing. You can tell when they get tired and out of gas, yet they still won’t stop hunting. When that happens, pick them up. Don’t put your dog in the situation where they can hurt themselves. . Make no mistake about it, they will literally hunt themselves to death if YOU allow it.
What you want to do is front load your dog the night before you hunt with a high quality performance food. So if you normally feed two cups in the evening up it by a cup or two. Then give one cup in the morning 2-3 hours before running the dog.I’ve run a couple of my dogs for a full day hunt before with maybe an hour break total, it’s hard on them and they become far less effective after the 4 hour mark and really even after the first 2. But the one time I had one have a blood sugar imbalance was on a 2 hour hunt on a morning that the dog skipped his breakfast. I changed food and started front loading after that, no problems since.I might try this next year. I’d need to front load with something he likes, since he self regulates on kibble, and isn’t food motivated much at all. Maybe pour chicken grease on his kibble?
