Washington State Bird Dog Challenge

[Wayne1]

it was in the 90's......trust me..   during normal condition's...   my dog's can run for quite awhile...  but in that heat..  thats pushing the envelope...  anyone who run's thier dog's longer than the 20 minute's...  is a fool...  I've seen dog's go down that were in great shape..  in alittle cooler weather.. and in shorter period's of time.....  All the game's we play...  ain't worth loosing my dog's for...  hell.. Last summer I remember pulling Tank out after 15 minute's..   again it was in the 90's...  Tank did'nt want to quit...  but I made the decision.

[jetjockey]

THanks.  I was just curious...................

Do they put water tubs in the fields so the dogs can cool off?  Down here in Georgia we run dogs in NSTRA during some pretty warm weather.  But, most fields have water tubs for the dogs to cool off in.  We also don't see any labs that hunt upland because of the heat.  Hell, my lab doesn't like to go outside once it hits about 85. When it gets really hot in July and August we have to keep him inside in the AC. But hes kind of a sissy.      I was asking because I wasn't sure how much guys "conditioned" their dogs back home.  Here in GA its a must or your dog will go down.  In S. Dakota last weekend we were running dogs for 1 hour+ in temps that were around 85-89 degrees.  The dogs had no problem with the heat.  The collars said they were covering anywhere from 8-10 miles in a 1 hour session.  BUT, the dogs get roaded at least three times a week for about 10 miles.......  Your quote about the temps is what sparked my interest.   Just for grins, here is a picture of the roading setup my trainer uses.  Ive seen a bunch of other styles, but this one can do 12 dogs at once.  Pretty cool.

[Wayne1]

That one kewl set-up. I leave for work early in the morning's...  so have no time for roading... it's been hot here during the summer..  and never really cools down in the evening to do any roading either. We train for short period's of time during the week..   but on the week-end we spend about 4-5 hour's training..  we do all land work early..   then later we do all of our water work. my main pointing lab weight's around 78-80 lb's...  so he does much better during the cooler weather come Oct. I have a 1 year old pointing lab female that turned 1 year last week...   she weight's in at 58 lb's so she should have more indurence than my male. Even all the GSP's and pointer's last week-end were having a tought time in the heat.

[jetjockey]

Not to get off subject, but how do you like pointing labs (a stupid question I know ).  Can you get them to point as staunch as an EP or ES?   How broke can you train them to be?  My uncle has one, and my wife loves labs (the reason we have one).  But Im a hard core Brittany guy.  Our lab is geting up there in age.  Hes almost 10 now but hes still doing really well.  I know the inevitable will happen someday though and its going to be devistating since hes such and awesome dog.  My wife says she might want another lab and I was thinking a pointing lab might be the way to go, but I'm still worried about one in the Georgia heat.  THis is ES and EP country here in the south.  Even though Buddy set all kinds of NSTRA records people still look at Brits kinda funny, and the only labs you see are waterfowl dogs.   Id like more brits, but I could "settle" with another lab.

[Wayne1]

LOL...   of course owning a couple of pointing lab's..  I'm kinda partial..   Since I enjoy both upland, and waterfowl...  I don't need several differend breed's..  And yes..  They are very staunch pointer's. Mine never had to be taught to point..  it all came natural from thier breeding...  I just had to teach the "Whoo" command...  very steady to shot and wing. There are so many fine breed's of hunting dog's out there.. I guess a hunter just need's to find which one fit's thier need's...  and the pointing lab wasy choice.

Side note:   A German Wirehaired Pointer, won the challange