Dog Shutting Down

[Dakotazeb]

This has happened twice with my 2 year old female Brittany. After 2-3 hours in the field she just shuts down, quits hunting and wants to lay down. She is a big running, hard charging Brit. Only knows one speed in the field and that's "balls to the wall". But she is also in tremendous condition. 33 lbs. of muscle and bone. The food she is on is 31% protein and 18% fat and she gets more than the recommended amount for her weight. I also give her 1 tablespoon of Coconut Oil with her food. I haven't talked to my vet yet but probably will do so. I've had hunting dogs for 44 years and never seen this. Anyone out there experienced this and have any insight? Thanks.

[bobman]

Might want to have some blood work done at your vet just to be safe

If nothing unusual I would give her something small to eat like a half a cooked hotdog every hour or so when you hunt her.

Try to give her a Small amount of something like maple syrup when she shuts down and see if it perks her right back up

If so it would tell you she’s just burning up all her available glycogen.

I would get another pup so you can rotate them and I always feed a hotdog immediately after a hard run to aid in glycogen uptake/ replacement.

That is most effective if done immediately after exercise with the first 20 minutes or less ideally.

[A5 Sweet 16]

Has it been during dry stretches of no birds? I've seen them get bored & lose interest before. Also, I've seen them do that when thirsty.

[Dakotazeb]

Not boredom. I think it's physical. Could be not drinking enough water. Had to get them to drink enough in the snow and cold. Might try bringing some coconut water to add to her regular water. Works at field trials.

[BrownDogsCan2]

How cold. Hunted with a setter once who got cold and stopped and tried to dig into the snow. Single digits. I could see it happening on a dog not carrying any fat or losing calories on the truck ride.

[Dakotazeb]

The more I read, I believe I'm probably dealing with "Hunting Dog Hypoglycemia". It's where a dog is burning up all it's glucose reserves. Giving a little corn syrup, honey or some bites of a peanut butter & honey sandwich during the hunt might help. Anyway, I'm going to try that and see if it helps. The cold weather today (temp was about 7 degrees) and snow probably didn't help either.

[Jakeismydog2]

Zeb,

Sounds like HDH. My setter has it. You need to be really careful with it. It is worse when its really cold, as the dog has to burn more calories due to the cold, especially if the dog gets wet. This year I found some of these, Individual honey packets: "LINK". They work well, and are easy to carry. They are also less likely to end up eaten by you or your buddies than Oatmeal cream pies or other assorted prepacked cookies.

Its interesting to me. Ox wont eat the honey, unless he needs it. I can not give it to him before a field or even at home. But when he starts slowing down he craves the stuff. His body knows what it needs.

sorry to hear your pup has it. It can make for some stressful times in the field.

[A5 Sweet 16]

This is interesting stuff. Thanks for the info guys.

[Altillathedak]

The more I read, I believe I'm probably dealing with "Hunting Dog Hypoglycemia". It's where a dog is burning up all it's glucose reserves. Giving a little corn syrup, honey or some bites of a peanut butter & honey sandwich during the hunt might help. Anyway, I'm going to try that and see if it helps. The cold weather today (temp was about 7 degrees) and snow probably didn't help either.

I have had two dogs that have had “low blood sugar” issues. Our vet recommended peanut butter. A tablespoon or two in the middle of the day while hunting eliminates the issue. Make sure there is no xylitol in the peanut butter of course! There are also commercial products such as nutrical that are for this issue. They seem to be more of pain than peanut butter but work well too.

[jonnyB]

George: do you feed the dog in the morning, before the hunt?