Q. I know it can be tricky to provide advice on feeding because it’s inherently subjective, but what sort of changes would you recommend I make to the feeding regime for my three labs during the season, when they might be out four times a week? Should I change the type of food, or the amount, or the frequency?
How much and when you feed your dog during the season will depend to a certain extent on the amount of work the dog gets through.
Jayne Coley: Yes, you are right. Ask several people what they feed their dogs and you are likely to receive a different answer from all of them. During the close season, your dogs should be kept in good physical condition, carrying the correct amount of weight. If you are just walking your dogs daily, they don’t need to be on a high protein diet and the amounts they receive will be less than when they are working. Should you feed dry kibble, each brand has its own selection of different protein levels.
Exercise and feeding go hand in hand. Your dogs should enter the shooting season with a good level of fitness and be in good shape. Overweight, unfit dogs are more likely to pick up injuries. Every dog is different, some are good doers, and others struggle to keep weight on, so you must feed each one accordingly. Most dogs benefit from being fed twice a day. However, some dogs get worked up and can’t eat their breakfast on a shoot day, which isn’t ideal when you know they have got a busy day ahead.
Always feed a good two hours before your dogs start to work. After shooting, don’t be in a hurry to feed them. Wait an hour to allow them to relax and their body temperature to return back to normal. How much work your dogs do out in the shooting field will determine how much you give them. If they are picking-up on demanding ground, using a lot of energy, they will require food with a higher protein and fat content, especially during cold weather. After a busy morning’s work, you might like to give your dogs a small snack at lunchtime in the field, particularly if any of them have not eaten their breakfast. Skinners have brought out an excellent Field and Trial energy bar and Kronch Pemmikan energy bars are hugely popular to name a couple, but you will need to find what works best for you and your dogs.
Keeping dogs hydrated out shooting is imperative, and even more so during warm early season days, which we have seen a lot of in recent years. Ensure you always have plenty of clean water with you in your vehicle, and it’s a good idea to keep a litre bottle on you in the field, together with a small collapsible bowl, for any emergency. If there is no natural water on the moor or farmland you are on then this is even more important.
When you have a particularly hard-going dog in your picking-up team, who puts its heart and soul into the job, keep an eye on it during exceptionally warm days. You are better to let this dog work for so long after each drive, then put it on a lead when you feel it’s done enough.