Summer training

[Lamboicon]

What is your plans for your dogs with the heat coming. I would like some ideas or tips. Also do you feed different with the heat.

[jarbo03]

Trainibg for NAVHDA utility test this fall. Training will moce to early morning and late evening.

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[assateague]

Wait- I thought Taz already did his utlility test?

[jarbo03]

No, he did NA when he was 9 mos., wanted to do it last year but didn't get around to it. After meeting with the trainer/breeder ob Sat, he thinks we can get a prize 1 utility this fall and run for a VC next year.

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[Rick]

Right now we're mostly doing physically challenging things to get him in the best possible shape to come out of a virtual layoff during Summer's real heat in condition to handle 16 days of September teal. Here in Southwest Louisiana, we have just a few more weeks before all of the alligator safe (read mostly shallow) water is soupy hot and more dangerous to work in than the air. When that happens, exercise will be greatly restricted, and ten or fifteen minutes of walking baseball or some such quick and easy refresher drill may be it for the day.

I do change to a lower calorie "maintenance" type diet when the dogs aren't working hard, so that I don't have to cut portions drastically, but if your situation is such that you can work them through the Summer, there's evidence that a high fat diet benefits hydration.

[assateague]

No, he did NA when he was 9 mos., wanted to do it last year but didn't get around to it. After meeting with the trainer/breeder ob Sat, he thinks we can get a prize 1 utility this fall and run for a VC next year.

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I thought the UT had to be done by the time they were 16 months old or something? Or is that the NA I'm thinking of?

[jarbo03]

You're thinking of the NA

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[Flightstopper]

Still working on lining with my dog but its already getting warm enough where I don't want to send him enough to really make it worth it. Problem is we feed around six so it kills my time after for work. Think I could feed at 4 or 5 and still get a solid session in around 7 or 8?

[assateague]

MAke that dog wait. He eats when you have time.

[Redbeard]

Still working on lining with my dog but its already getting warm enough where I don't want to send him enough to really make it worth it. Problem is we feed around six so it kills my time after for work. Think I could feed at 4 or 5 and still get a solid session in around 7 or 8?

makes me realize how fortunate I am with our weather and climate. Can train year round without having to worry bout the heat. Granted the humidity picks up round late August, early September and I watch him alittle more closely

[jarbo03]

It makes it tough, yesterday was 96 wirh a severe weather alert for high humidity.
Flighr, yoyr dog will adjust to whenever you feed him, don't skip out ob work for a feed schedule

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[assateague]

My summer training is going to consist of "that little fucker shit on the carpet again".

[jarbo03]

My summer training is going to consist of "that little fucker shit on the carpet again".

Ha! Taz was house broke by the time he was 8 weeks, peed inside 1 and a half times. Hope you're as lucky

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[Redbeard]

My summer training is going to consist of "that little fucker shit on the carpet again".

Cadee shit on my new living rooms floors the day I put em in. Cleaned up nice and easy

[Redbeard]

My summer training is going to consist of "that little fucker shit on the carpet again".

Ha! Taz was house broke by the time he was 8 weeks, peed inside 1 and a half times. Hope you're as lucky

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I'm not

[Flightstopper]

It makes it tough, yesterday was 96 wirh a severe weather alert for high humidity.
Flighr, yoyr dog will adjust to whenever you feed him, don't skip out ob work for a feed schedule

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My concern is with his gut. I always hear wait two hours before any activity. Can I push him that hard with lining even after two hours you figure?

[jarbo03]

I would feed him after. Guarantee he won't think about eating if he's chasin a dummy.

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[jarbo03]

My summer training is going to consist of "that little fucker shit on the carpet again".

Ha! Taz was house broke by the time he was 8 weeks, peed inside 1 and a half times. Hope you're as lucky

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I'm not

When my lab shit as a pup, it was a mountain, so big it didn't look real. Took him a couple months, I've been there buddy. The worst was waking up with a wicked hangover and stepping in a 2 ft. deep pile of shit on my way to a morning piss.

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[assateague]

Truth. I've told the story of stepping in The Dingo's shit on the stairs, almost causing me to fall to my death. Nothing will make you fuck up your stride quicker than shit oozing between toes.

[Redbeard]

My summer training is going to consist of "that little fucker shit on the carpet again".

Ha! Taz was house broke by the time he was 8 weeks, peed inside 1 and a half times. Hope you're as lucky

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I'm not

When my lab shit as a pup, it was a mountain, so big it didn't look real. Took him a couple months, I've been there buddy. The worst was waking up with a wicked hangover and stepping in a 2 ft. deep pile of shit on my way to a morning piss.

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yea I was even talking to her breeder the other day, who's been training many years also. His only advice was good luck and be patient. Said he has yet to come up with a fool proof way of potty training and that all pups are different. My problem was that Charlie was so damned easy. Picked it up in no time. Spoiled me

[Redbeard]

Truth. I've told the story of stepping in The Dingo's shit on the stairs, almost causing me to fall to my death. Nothing will make you fuck up your stride quicker than shit oozing between toes.

Aint that the truth

[Matt Duncan]

Still working on lining with my dog but its already getting warm enough where I don't want to send him enough to really make it worth it. Problem is we feed around six so it kills my time after for work. Think I could feed at 4 or 5 and still get a solid session in around 7 or 8?

Feed after training.. My schedule now that is warming up is at daylight we air dogs and do our most demanding training (pile work). Give dogs a rest and then feed them. In the evening last couple hours of daylight we're throwing marks. Still have OB to do with a couple dogs and we do that in the shade or after dark when we really cant do anything else. You can train all year long just have to be careful about it.. Short and sweet sessions and give frequent breaks and have plenty of water on hand. Where you are in training even if you only get 2-3 quality reps in you are better off than when you started. Just gotta do what you can with the weather your given. Learning to train with time and weather limitations kinda forces a guy to go for more "quality over quantity". When life gives you lemons..

[Flightstopper]

Still working on lining with my dog but its already getting warm enough where I don't want to send him enough to really make it worth it. Problem is we feed around six so it kills my time after for work. Think I could feed at 4 or 5 and still get a solid session in around 7 or 8?

Feed after training.. My schedule now that is warming up is at daylight we air dogs and do our most demanding training (pile work). Give dogs a rest and then feed them. In the evening last couple hours of daylight we're throwing marks. Still have OB to do with a couple dogs and we do that in the shade or after dark when we really cant do anything else. You can train all year long just have to be careful about it.. Short and sweet sessions and give frequent breaks and have plenty of water on hand. Where you are in training even if you only get 2-3 quality reps in you are better off than when you started. Just gotta do what you can with the weather your given. Learning to train with time and weather limitations kinda forces a guy to go for more "quality over quantity". When life gives you lemons..

Sounds good. Will start hitting it better

[Lamboicon]

What I started to do is use my big bonus room for ob training and do my work in the morning at the sun is coming up. I also do a few marks before I go to work. On the weeks I try and make a run to the water on sat and on Sunday. Hard to keep her out of the water. My wife hates that I leave a patch of grass in the backyard about 8 inches high.

[Matt Duncan]

Here are a few things I really consider just as much as the temp.
Humidity- I think the humidity is harder on the dogs than the high temps. The way a dog cools itself is very restricted by humid environments. I'd rather have 90 degrees and low humidity than 80 degrees with high humidity.

Water temps- once the water warms up its tough to do real water work without heading to big water. These small stock ponds are almost boiling in the summer. Even if the dogs are in there very little, wet dogs are nearly impossible to cool down. Here in the Midwest that warm water also brings blue green algae which kills several dogs a year.

Heavy cover- The field may not look like much to people but dogs driving through cover will burn up. It may be a breezy day for us but the dogs see very little of that in the cover. Go lay in a 2' tall hay field on a warm day all that heat tends to just hold there in the cover.

I keep these few things in mind when it warms up. Most importantly is pay attention to your dogs they will tell you when they're getting to hot. I always keep a couple bottles of rubbing alcohol on the truck (if your dog is overheating or you can't get them cooled down, apply the alcohol to their belly, feet, and ears), I like those shamwow towels for drying them off so they can cool down (knock offs are $5 at Walmart), and never go anywhere with out a thermometer it stays in the trailer and never comes out. Feed a high fat food like a 30/20 as the high fat content helps dogs run a little cooler. There's lots of things we do to keep moving in the heat but we also don't push it, it's not worth it! Seeing a dog go down is not a pretty sight to see and scary as hell when you are in the sticks with no e. vet around for several miles..

[Rick]

Most importantly is pay attention to your dogs they will tell you when they're getting to hot.

One of the easiest signs to spot, if you are aware of it, is when an otherwise obedient dog gets balky. Odds are the heat's got his attention and the problem isn't something you want to push through.


Might also want to be aware that Summer's morning dew can be much cooler than water, per se, thanks to evaporation. The trick to using morning dew as a coolant is to work where the dew covered grass is just belly deep and will cool Pup's belly and inner legs where there's little hair to retard heat transfer without smothering pup. (Much of my Summer work is done in high marsh grass, and I've no idea how deer and other creatures can live in it. But it's a safe bet they're moving around as little as need be. Absolutely stifling.)

[goodkarmarising]

Another way to look at it....Put a coat on and try running around in the heat of the day, swimming, etc and see how drenched you are in sweat. No different than for a dog. They don't have the option of taking their fur coat off.