In earlier years.. some hunters I knew.. believed that feeding a dog.. morning before hunting.. reduced mouthing of birds.. and helped to slow them down big runners(pre beeper and GPS days)..

Few years ago read an article.. by someone with Purina.. I think.. on 12 hours out feeding.. and use of dog boost bars.. I now try to do so.. and look for discount human protein bars (non chocolate) to break up and feed during extended days of hunting.. Am I off base??

I don't feed before the hunt. Dogs are running off the sugar in their body, not the food in their stomach.

I do same..try to feed about 20 to 30 mins.. afer they are thru for day.. think the article said there was a window.. for max results.. but I tend to forget recent things.. and this was a few yrs ago..

The protein bars seem to help.. but maybe the idea.. of it help me more than the dogs.. I steal bites when dogs not looking..lol

I am more concerned with Torsion or Bloat caused by feeding immediately before a hunt. Do a google search for: canine gastric torsion and bloat. Should be lots of good vet articles on it. I seem to remember at least a couple of our forum members have lost a dog to gastric torsion before.

Well the hunters who were feeding morning of.. I refered to.. were from decades ago.. 1970s.. must have not work.. as all those dogs died.. come to think of it most of those old hunters are dead too..

Does anyone else give dogs protein snacks.. during hunt??

I try to feed a light meal before hand and a large meal the night before

I always fed mine a good meal several hours before a hunt.

A freind of mine that hunts his dogs at least every other day or more had problems with some of his having seizures. These animals are nothing but calluses and muscle. A vet in Abilene recommended he start feeding them a mixture of canned and dry dog food with honey squeezed over the top in the mornings before they hunt. It worked for him and he never had another dog go down.

When I got my gsp about 12 years ago I tried feeding before hunting. She always puked it up soon after the hunt started. Since then just give extra rations nite before and nite after hunting.

This is a serious problem in bigger dogs, especially retrievers, and I once even saw it happen to a 25 lb beagle. Since a big meal, followed by heavy exercise, seems to increase the chances of GDV, I personally would only feed a very light meal prior to the morning hunt. If you're quail hunting, you're gonna take a break yourself mid-morning, so this is a good time to feed a cup of kibble or a snack. Then after the day's hunt, allow your dog to cool down a bit and then feed the big meal of the day.

There are certainly exceptions to this rule. If your dog is prone to hypoglycemia, you may need to alter the feeding and hunting schedule. Small snacks given VERY frequently are a good idea here, and the dog's usual kibble will often work just fine. Some nutritionists believe honey and sugar is a bad idea because the dog will have a big "sugar surge" followed by a sharp drop in blood glucose.

What this all means is that dogs are individuals, metabolically speaking, just like humans, and what works for dog A may not be best for dog B. So there are no absolute rules. But generally, light meals and snacks prior to and during the hunt will cause fewer problems for your hunting buddy.

When running the Iditarod or Yukon Quest, the 40-50 pound sled dogs will consume 12,000-14,000 calories a day (that is around 6 times as much as a full grown man will eat). When arriving at a check point, the mushers always feed the dogs right away. Then they allow the dogs 4-8 hours of rest before starting out on the trail. Often, the mushers will stop on the trail, cook a small meal on their stoves for their dogs, then after a brief rest of 30-45 minutes, they'll hit the trail again. Since the arctic sled dog is considered the greatest athlete in the mammalian world, we can all benefit from what works nutritionally on these extreme competitors.

I really like this article about dog nutrition:

http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/documents/NutritionPerformance.pdf

I feed mine once a day at roughly the same time throughout the year. Which is normally around 6:30 p.m. unless something postpones that a bit.

Thanks for the interesting article, TXPride. I don't know that ANY mushers are adding glycerol to their dogs' water nowadays, but I could be wrong. But it's all about high-fat meals now, with carbs and protein being secondary.

I would caution the average dog owner to avoid glycerol in a hunting situation. You are treading a VERY fine line between risk and benefit here. It would be a bit like using Round Up to kill grass in your legume food plot. Properly mixed, it will do a great job. But if you happen to miscalculate and mix it a little bit too strong, then you've just killed the entire food plot.

I agree. The article was in 2002, so may be dated.

I don't have any knowledge or experience with that stuff, but I would assume with today's knowledge, and quality foods, adding chemicals should likely be avoided. Most folks would never need to supplement in hunting situations with a in shape quality dog anyways.

I did value the timing of feeding, hydration, and food information provided in the article.

Sometimes it depends on the dog. My older one gets fed once a day in the evening and does great. My younger dog gets fed 2x a day. Once at lunch, and again in the evening. He ends up a little bogged down and pooping a few times During a session if he gets a big dinner the night before and has to run in the morning. I never feed before hunting or training, and alwys wait for them to settle/cool down before feeding. In a all day training or hunting situation, even the young dog gets fed once a day in the evening when finished.

Timing of Feedings
The most startling finding is that the endurance of sled dogs that fast for 24 hours prior to a race is twice
that of dogs fed three, six, or nine hours before a race. This flies in the face of our intuition and calls into
question the habit many of us have or feeding our dogs in the morning before hunting or training.
Dr. Reynolds explained that two factors can explain these results. First, the dog with an empty digestive
tract has better biomechanics. Sled dog racers will monitor every dog the morning of the race to make
sure they have stooled out completely; the dog with an empty colon is better prepared for the run. This is
probably a smaller factor for retrievers than sled dogs, but every advantage may count on a day-long
upland hunt. Also, the colon is less likely to be irritated by the exercise that follows. Certainly, we have all
seen our hunting dogs have frequent and runny or even bloody stools after hours of hunting.
The second explanation has to do with biochemistry. Without explaining the details, Dr. Reynolds says,
“Suffice it to say that the insulin spike in the bloodstream that follows eating can turn off the fatmobilizing
pathways. Since fat is the primary source of energy, the dog is less able to get the energy it
needs.”