I love to read everyone's post and I normally don't comment but I have a question of my own.

So my weimaraner is 7 now and she started to struggle this year. She was great and active on the hunts, but it really put her out of commission for about 3 days afterwards. One time during a really hot dove hunt she vomited in the car on the way home. It was from her gulping too much water and munching on grass, but I can tell that her body isn't handling it like it use to.

So, how old is too old? Should I start backing her off? Only bring her when it is just a couple people (instead of 4-5)? Honestly bird hunting without a dog is no hunting at all...

Sounds to me like your weim may be out of shape. Not knowing any more about weimaraners than I do, I would think that she should be able to hunt for many years to come. My old pointer Tess was almost twice that age before she really began to slow down enough that anyone other than myself would notice.

I agree with Pointer on this. At 7, she should just be hitting her prime. My 8 y/o runs like a cheetah and will hunt all day, but i keep him in pretty good shape during the off season and start conditioning a month or so before the season starts.

And to get around the "inhaling so much water they puke" thing... teach her to drink out of a squirt top water bottle and give her a squirt or two throughout the hunt to keep her hydrated. They are easy to carry and mine get so used to the bottle thing that they will cast back to me and let me know they want a drink when they get gassed.

Okay good... We had a new baby this year so offseason for her was definitely not as active. I have a small squirt bottle that I do use, but when we are hunting she has a one track mind and drinking water is not a part of that.

Heat and humidity can really take it out of a dog. I'd consider the weather conditions as well as her fitness before jumping to her age.

She perk up on any colder weather hunts?

She definitely did better on colder hunts, but we had fewer birds for her to retrieve. Thanks for everyone's advice.

That dog is out of shape.The first dog in my sig treed coons until he was 14 yrs old then i buried him at the last tree he had a coon in 14 days before he died.