Closing weekend brag-board

Unfortunately after having all that great luck on Saturday, we had a very bad turn of events Saturday night. One of the dogs a big very beautiful Black Lab had stomach torsion in the middle of the night. We were able to get him to a vet quickly. The vet worked very hard but was not able to save him. He was the only non pointy dog we hunted over. He was a very good dog, and he is going to be missed for a long time.

Very strange how things in life can change so quickly.
 
Thats terrible to hear about the Lab. I lost a good dog last summer at 6 years old and still am not over it. I guess at least he was on a hunt when he died.
 
Jake...

So sorry to hear that news.

I know how you feel as I lost my setter Chief in the same manner in October after a fine hunt in the UP.

It made for a very long trip home.

Cherish every hunt guys. Our dogs are true athletes.

I will never forget Chief. He gave me all he had.
 
I hunted today with a buddy. We got into some quail, and saw a couple of roosters.

Here are a few pics of the action with the dogs. That shooting was not the best :)

This is my buddy Brice, walking in on a single pointed by Ace my 3 yo
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Ace pointed a covey down in the bottom of this draw
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My 8 month old pup Indy came up behind, not sure if this was a back or a point.
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I walked in.
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The birds came up well down in the bottom to the right of the picture. And yes I flipping missed!
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Thats the end of the season for me and the dogs.
Didn't shoot near as many birds as normal, but still had a ton of fun with friends and dogs.
 
Sorry to hear of such a tragic loss. Cherish the memories my friend.
 
So I just talked to my hunting buddy a few minutes ago.... This story is really hard to believe, but it is true. We found out this evening we were millimeters from losing 2 dogs on Saturday.

We were hunting a corn field, when one of the GSP's caught a cornstalk in the mouth. One of the guys saw it happen, otherwise we probably never would have known what happened. The force of taking a cornstalk in the roof of her mouth brought her front legs completely off the ground. She whimpered and whined pretty good for about 10 seconds. We gave her a little check, but there was hardly any blood. She went right back to hunting.

This morning there was a little blood by her mouth when she woke up. Her owner took her to the vet. He originally thought she had got into some poison as her stomach was full of blood. After a more thorough examination they discovered the cornstalk had gone through the roof of her mouth, into her head, missing her brain by 1/4" and hitting her skull! The swelling was probably so immediate it that we did not see much blood, as the swelling resided the bleeding increased but it was just running right down her throat so it was not very noticeable.

Crazy... Crazy... Crazy day.

The vet says she is going to be fine.
 
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WOW, that is awful! Makes me sick to my stomach just thinking about it. Glad the dog is going to be okay, but DANG!!!:eek: Just goes to show how determined a hunting dog can be. Imagine if that happened to a person, I highly doubt we would continue hunting after something like that!

I'm sorry also to hear about your friend's Lab. My condolences. That's what got ol' Rusty in September.

@ the rest of you- Well Done! The dogs and I are going out for a "fun run" in the morning. I am undecided whether or not I will take the gun or the camera, not that it probably matters a whole lot...:eek: If there is nothing to shoot with the gun, then there isn't much to shoot with the camera either...:laugh: Hopefully I will have a good story to share. Might have to take a pic of the dogs anyway since they like the extra attention.
 
So sorry to hear about the lab. Most people love their pets, but for hunters that bond seems to go beyond. Those dogs work so hard to please us, it becomes a partnership. So hard to lose one. I lost two in one year, a 3 yr old setter and 15 1/2 yr old golden, but both bitter hard to deal with.

Condolences to the owner.
 
Jakeismydog2 said:
Unfortunately after having all that great luck on Saturday, we had a very bad turn of events Saturday night. One of the dogs a big very beautiful Black Lab had stomach torsion in the middle of the night. We were able to get him to a vet quickly. The vet worked very hard but was not able to save him. He was the only non pointy dog we hunted over. He was a very good dog, and he is going to be missed for a long time.

Very strange how things in life can change so quickly.
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How old was this dog and what sex was it? Curious as my 6 yr old yellow male lab went through it last September and we managed to save him. Based on research I have done since it happened it seems to happen mainly to broad chested male dogs over 6 years old and usually in the evenings when it occurs mostly. I am wondering if feeding in the evening may be a bad idea possibly after hearing numerous similar stories on this subject.
 
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Bird Buster said:
How old was this dog and what sex was it? Curious as my 6 yr old yellow male lab went through it last September and we managed to save him. Based on research I have done since it happened it seems to happen mainly to broad chested male dogs over 6 years old and usually in the evenings when it occurs mostly. I am wondering if feeding in the evening may be a bad idea possibly after hearing numerous similar stories on this subject.
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I believe it is more closely related to working out with a full stomach. Either overeating or combinining dry food with too much water. Causing the dry food to swell. It is a volume thing. I believe that the bloat is just so severe by the overnight hours that it becomes critical.

I think the safest thing to do is feed reduced rations twice a day, beginning the evening before the hunt, and ending the morning after the hunt is finished.

Jake I was sorry to here about your friends loss.
 
It is yes related to eating mainly dry dog food in the evening and then running excessively or rolling on the ground. Dry dog food has a fermentation effect in the stomach after it is eaten and dogs sometimes eat it too fastly which can worsen the effect. I strongly caution everyone out there with Male Labs especially that are large to be very cautious on evening feeding routines in conjunction with any type of hunting or exercise. It is a deadly and unsuspecting tragedy. It cost me over $4K to save my lab last fall and he did make a full recovery.
 
BB,
I'm glad everything turned out well with your lab. Sorry it was so hard on your pocketbook.

This happened to a friends Golden a few years back. All my dogs are deep chested, and since then I feed about 30% evening 50% morning(normally feed once a day) when they are working hard. I also limit the late afternoon water. I had been feeding them off of an elevated platform in the evening. I'm going to change that because it appears that it is now recommended that they eat off the ground.

After reading this series of events, I revisited the subject. There was mention of using a gas relief product such as gasX to relieve bloat before the stomach has a chance to flip. That is something I am going to check with my vet on, and if he recommends it, I will be adding it to my trip check list.

I'm with you on the subject. If you are running a high risk dog; read up on it, do everything you can to prevent it, and recognize the symptoms. You have very little time to get them to the vet, so be prepared.
 
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