Training Tip...(keeping a dog cool)

[Flying T Retrievers]

Hey I want to talk about keeping a dog cool while you are doing your summer training.
We will discuss things you should keep in your training bag and ways to prevent your dog from over heating.

Training bag should include:
at least 4 bottles of rubbing alcohol, chamois cloth
and some insta ice paks (these are those ice paks you sqeeze and shake and it forms a cold material, towel or paper towels
You should also put a 2 liter bottle of frozen water in your dog(s) box

The signs of a over heated dog:
his eyes are red in the whites, heavy panting , a thick and long tounge, and exteme cases back legs wobbeling as if drunk
TREATMENT:
pour rubbing alcohol on the pads of the feet,
fresh water, add ice and water from your drink cooler put the dog in the shade with ventilation. take the insta ice pak and wrap in a towel and rub the dogs pads, and then his body. keep the dog calm!!

WHILE TRAINING:
keep sessions short!! run singles, if you are working on concept marking work on the concept distance should not be a factor for instance: if you are working on disapearing marks (falls behind a levee, terrace, bush) shoerten the mark so the concept is there but the added energy of running 300yds doesn't take away from the teaching.
Wouldn't it be a shame if you were doing this type of training and the dg ran 300yds only to give up and quit because he didn't have the energy to continue because of heat exhaustion?

do your hard stressful stuff EARLY in the morning and the easier stuff late in the afternoon (you can do OB work under a night light)

I try and do my OB and FF EARLY (under a night light) in the morning then go to the field for marks, swim by (if needed) come back do the dogs that are in force to pile. Then late in the evening I may take the dogs that are running blinds and either do simple line drills or 2 blinds a water blind and a land blind nothing EXTEMLY hard just work on the basics of running a blind (straight lines, correct cast, etc etc)

NEVER PUT A DOG UP WET!! especially in a metal dog box!
I always throw a fun bumper on land so thay can "shake" the water off THEN I wipe them down with a synthetic chamios cloth. (the heat build up in a box and with the dog being wet it creates a suna)

FANS!! I have my fans pulling hot air OUT!!! and bringing fresh air IN through the vents in the doors

If training mid day is a must keep the sessions short and direct if you are working on SIT then do SIT and put the dog up

I tell you this because I lost the best darn dog in the world 2yrs ago this summer he had EIC and I just got out of the hospital from neck/back surgery he was in his pen trying to escape the neighbor on a tractor (his only fear was a Kubota) the neighbor was grading our driveway when it happened and didn't know he was down , he had 2 FULL bowels of water and the top was covered, It doesn't take long I had just checked on him 30 minuets or less before I found him down!!

of course there wasn't much I could do as I was I wasn't even supposed to be out of the house even w/ my neck brace on
I miss Drifter to this day and everytime I walk to the line w/ a dog I wonder where he'd be in his training

Thanks for your time!!!

[NWMOhunter]

Flying T,

I read one time about using the rubbing alcohol in aid to cooling a dog and it said that you can also use the alcohol underneath the dogs hind quarters because that is a bigger area where the dogs hair is thin. Is this true?

I had my shorthair out one day running in a field and she got away from me. By the time I got her back she was pretty worn out and I was worried about her. Of course I didn't have a kit like you described, but luckily I found some water in a very small ravine and used that to cover her underside over and over. After some time in there and a few squirts of cool water in the mouth she was much better. This dog would litterally run herself to death if she could. She is a tried and true hunter!

Thanks for the tips!

[Woods and Water]

I think theres alot of guys out there that can use this info, you never want to see your dog be in jeopardy, especially while training.good advice, keep it coming!!

[cahoun]

Flying T Retrievers your thread hit home cause i allmost had that kind of an accident with a young chessie male i have. I was at a hunt test about 3 weeks ago it was hot and humid i ran the last test in water and thought it was allright to kennel my dog up in a wire cage in the back of my truck i had my female chessie there also but she was not running any tests. She was dry and stretch out in her cage no problem with the air blowing on her but my male was still abit wet I had been driving for about ten minutes and i was looking in my rearview mirror checking on the dogs the female was just fine all streched out lying there but my male was restless getting up turning around laying down tongue out and drooling i pulled of the hyway into a parking lot i had frozen bottled water that i was rubbing on his stomick and gave him a cold drink of water i had the truck running with the air conditioning on high i told him kennel and patted the passanger seat in the cab when he got in you could seen the difference in him after five or ten minutes sitting there he layed down with his head in my lap and stayed there till we got home. He is all right now i would sooner have a wet cab then a dead dog now my problem is he wants to learn how to drive and leave me at home

[cooter77]

Very good info thanks!

[SCoutdoorsman]

Great post, thanks.

[Flying T Retrievers]

I hope this helps everyone and you enjoyed it

[NestlesBigTime]

Great post tim...now...if we could just get rid of that ugly guy in your avatar ;)

[denduke]

New around here but gonna add some $.02. Some people think just by training in a pond for example in the hot summer is OK. Common sense should always prevail. The pond waters can be 85-90 degrees and the dog actually gets hotter from the water then from dry work. Never heard of the alchohol on the foot pads, thanks. Here's a tip for early dove hunts. Use the squirt water bottles and give him a little squirt between retrieves, helps with the hassling/feathers problem. Hard for them to use their noses when stressed in the heat. Taylor your dove hunt to your dog...you'll both enjoy it more.

That's Collins, M'sipi. fellars...How do you fix that in the profile?