Spoon River NAVHDA Chapter

Does anyone duck hunt their shorthair this time of year or later?  If so how do you keep him warm in the cold water and when he gets back to the blind?  

   Also, in cold weather such as 0 to -15F do you take any precautions to keep your pointer warm when upland hunting?   

The easiest way to keep from getting your GSP cold is to buy a drahthaar!  Ha.  Seriously though, my draht has a lot of bare areas under his pits and belly, but has some thick skin.  I duck hunt him in negative temps but he wears a vest.  I've never hunted with anyone who hunted their GSP late in the duck season.  I would imagine if you get him a vest and keep him out of the water between retrieves and/or perhaps run him between retrieves he would be okay, but I'd talk with some other GSP owners also.

I've gotten my dog really cold up in SD duck hunting and had to run him/rest him.  I honestly believe that because of this year's cold temps he has been hesitating a bit before entering the water here towards the later part of the season.  I have to give him an extra fetch command, whereas before I never did.  One things for certain, hypothermia is real for dogs and can easily occur during cold days.  I would suggest beefing your dog up as much as possible and providing them food 2 hours before the hunt.  Duck hunting is the opposite of upland in that they do a lot of sitting, especially on slow days.   

I've never seen a dog get cold upland hunting, as I imagine they keep warm as we do when we run, work, etc. . outside.  I'd again perhaps suggest keeping them in good physical shape and a bit beefed up in the winter.  

I knew that one was coming.  Maybe I need a pointing Lab.  ha ha.   I will have to get Duke a neoprene vest and then give it a try.

Another thing to possibly consider is keeping the dog outside during hunting season.  I have always had people tell me to keep the dog outside the night before a hunt.  My dd is an outdoor dog and she can handle the cold really well.  My weim is an indoor dog and doesn't do so well, obviously he has a lot shorter hair too.  I would second what Shae said about feeding.  The outdoor dog really started to lean down once it got cold and we were hunting a lot.  I increased her feed and she has bulked back up.  You could also have a blanket to wrap the dog up in between retrieves too.

Also in the -15 upland hunting i really don't do anything different to keep my dogs warm.  We hunted last Sunday in the storm the same as we do any other time.

Check out the latest NAVHDA magazine with a DK retrieving ducks in cold water.