 Preparing Your Dog For the Season
Dying to Hunt or Hunting to Die: Your Best Friend and Heat Stress
 If yours is like the vast majority of hunting dogs, it's a family dog always, a hunting dog seldom. Think about what your dog has been doing since last season ended. Your answer probably includes a lot of laying around in the comfort of an air conditioned house, not exactly the hard-core training regimen a dog needs as it prepares to be running for miles through thick weeds and brush. Just think what it would be like if you spent all your time curled up in front of a TV and then woke up one morning and decided to run a 10K marathon. I'd at least hope your doctor follows along in a nice air-conditioned car.
While Labs, Retrievers, Pointers, Spaniels and such are born and bred to hunt, that drive can cause major problems, even death.
Harsh? Maybe. Reality? Definitely.
A case in point; in October 2003, unseasonably warm weather greeted dogs and hunters to South Dakota's pheasant opener. Down in the weeds where the dogs work, temperatures shot into the 90's with little or no breeze. To make matters worse (at least for the dogs) was the fact that the bird population was quite high. The combination of high energy and high temperatures killed uncounted numbers of dogs. There's no way to know exactly how many dogs died during on the opener, but some believe that number could have been in the hundreds.
When you're out there working your way through brush and it's 90, 70, or even 50 degrees out, you get hot. You sweat. You take off your coat or unbutton your shirt. You can do that. Your dog can't. He can't even sweat. His most effective way to dump heat is to pant. Imagine how much that would cool you down.
No matter how many birds are flying, never forget that you as a dog owner are the brains of the team. Your dog is wired to work. That's what he's trained to do, especially if it makes you happy. If there are birds to find, your dog will likely go after them with no regard to its health. It's up to you to make sure your dog stays safe.
Tips to keep your dog from over-heating:
- How hot is it? 90 degrees? Stay home. If your dog's going stir-crazy, go out and practice fetching for 5 or 10 minutes in the field nearby. Then take a break, give him a big bowl of water, and go home.
- Be smart about heat stress; during the heat of the day work for 20-30 minutes or even less, then rest for 20-30 minutes.
- Wet down your dog before and right after the hunt. Have an ice chest? Put a bag of ice in it and bring it along, just in case. Toss some cold bottled water in there for yourself as well.
- Bring plenty of water in the field and stop for water breaks
- Take advantage of ponds, streams or stock dams for a quick cool down
- Remember, when heat stress hits, it can hit fast. Take a water break long before your dog hits its breaking point
Heat Stress Warning Signs:
- Excessively heavy panting
- Excessive salivation, big streamers of drool
- Sudden lack of coordination
- Glassy eyes
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Erratic behavior
- Disorientation
- Extreme symptoms such as falling down or passing out require immediate medical attention (even if the dog comes around)
What To Do If Your Dog Is In Trouble:
- Cool him down!
- Get him into cool water if possible
- If going into standing water, whether it's a lake or a stream, stay close and hold him so he doesn't collapse or exhaust himself and drown
- If you have ice, ice him down, especially on the underbelly where blood vessels are larger.
- Get him into air conditioning
- Don't let him exert himself
- Get him to a vet ASAP and keep an eye on him on the way
If he's had a fairly severe episode, get him to a vet even if he looks like he's had a full recovery. A single experience can cause your dog to be a lot less tolerant of both heat and cold, and may make him more susceptible to respiratory distress.
Other factors can contribute to heat exhaustion, such as low blood sugar. This is often caused by the same general problem: being out of condition and going out into the field full-bore. It's a good idea to have a small container of syrup in your field kit. If you think there's a possibility that your dog's heat exhaustion was caused by a blood sugar problem, then rub some of the syrup into his gums; dogs absorb sugar right through their gums and they don't have to swallow it.
Prepare In Advance:
Put together a kit for your dog with some general wound supplies such as gauze, Vaseline, ointment, scissors, and hemostats. Add some syrup. Ask your vet about other things to include, and how and why you might need to use them. Write those things down and put the instructions in your kit. In an emergency it can be hard to remember critical details.
Remember, your dog is your friend and he's literally ready to kill himself to win your approval. It's your job to make sure that doesn't happen.
Have a great and safe hunt!
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