Easy question....I think.

W

wlffmnnn

New member
Real short question here. I am heading on a trip to SD next week and am concerned about energy recovery for my dogs. Should I feed a portion of wet food along with the dry? I will use a high in protien food to help, but want to make sure that they get replenished. I have a 2 GSP's tha are 2 and 4, 2yo being male and 4yo being female. thanks for the help.
 
Na, don't change your dogs diet, that can give them the runs and dehidrate them if you switch food cold turkey. And just put some water in the food. You can try the energy things posted here in other discutions, but my feeling is that you need to run the dog enough before you go to just get them in decent shape. Without the heat you should not have to big of a recovery issue, as long as they have been well excercised. Have fun:thumbsup:
 
I'm not sure who said this but this is what I do now and it seems to be working: go to your local Sams and purchase the Nature Valley Peanut Butter (sweet & salty) bars. Two, 2 hours before a hunt and a couple at the end of the hunt. My GSP's love them and seem to be fine. We hunted several days straight a few weeks ago in KS and this past weekend in TX and they hunted all day. Here's a word of caution; don't let your buddies try them or they will eat all the bars and the dogs will go without.
Jim
 
When traveling and hunting my dogs on multiple back-to-back days I don't do anything different than I would at home. Keep the feeding schedule the same. Maybe give them some extra with each feeding. I would feed more dog food rather than giving them non-dog food treats. Just make sure you are feeding a good quality food with adequate protein and fat content. I feed early morning and evening. If you do feed in the morning make sure the dogs have a couple of hours after eating before hitting the field.
 
Dog Food Routine During Hunt

Non-hunt feeding routine is a ration of dry twice daily. The evening before a day in the field, I let the dog eat all it wants; in the morning it gets nothing, nothing during the day, and all it wants that evening. No changes in type or brand of food due to possiblity of diarrhea or other side effects.
 
There has been a lot of talk on here about this subject. One thing that stands out is Peanut Butter. I have seen on here, where a lot of hunters feed a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich to help their dogs recoup. I like Jim's idea of the Nature Valley Bars, that sounds very feasible to me........Bob
 
Dakotazeb said:
When traveling and hunting my dogs on multiple back-to-back days I don't do anything different than I would at home. Keep the feeding schedule the same. Maybe give them some extra with each feeding. I would feed more dog food rather than giving them non-dog food treats. Just make sure you are feeding a good quality food with adequate protein and fat content. I feed early morning and evening. If you do feed in the morning make sure the dogs have a couple of hours after eating before hitting the field.
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That is my thought as well. Durning the season my dogs probably hunt 4 days a week every week from mid-November to the first week in January. I have never had an issue with loss of energy.
 
I switch foods as fall training ramps up to a ration within the same line that has more fat and protein. Currently Kent level two switching to level three.

That is fed liberally the night before the hunt and nothing in the morning of the hunt. On a hunting trip they get fed at night only.

I will supplement the food with National's Energy Pak, a very high fat content powder designed for supplementing very hard working dogs diets. Serves as an extra energy boost plus it works great as a food bait--they will always eat their food with that on it, love the taste. Otherwise once in awhile one of the dogs won't eat much if at all on occasion.

This is for ground-eating hard working GSP's. We cover a lot of ground, they work their tails off for me. Your mileage may vary...
 
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