5 Training Tips to Beat the Summer Heat

Keeping a hunting dog in shape during the off-season will give it the best chance to perform at peak levels once the hunting season opens in the autumn. The continued workouts will maintain tough paw pads, loose joints, proper weight, and preserve endurance and stamina.

To achieve this, training must continue throughout the year, which means months of hot-weather training. SportDOG® ProStaff members and professional trainers Lynne Frady, of Super Dog Obedience & Gun Dog Training, and Billy Mosley, of Avery Creek Retrievers, offer their best tips for dog owners to keep hunting dogs safe and cool during hot summer workouts.

Train Early and Late

One of the simplest ways to beat the heat is to train early in the morning or late in the evening when the sun and temperatures are at their lowest.

“Don’t train in the middle of the day. Another method is to try and do as much water work as possible. It’s a bit easier on them swimming than doing long land retrieves,” said Mosley.

Utilise Water Drills

Frady agrees with using hydrotherapy but does caution dog owners who think water will always cool their dogs.

“You have to be as careful in water as you are on land when it’s hot,” said Frady. “If you’re working a dog in a pond, they can easily overheat just as they would on land. Unless it’s a deep and vast body of water, the water won’t be that much cooler than the air.”

Mosley echoed this sentiment and says the key is to get them in and out of the water frequently.

“You don’t want to do 300-yard swims across a stagnant pond,” said Mosley. “Throw retrieves 80 to 90 yards, up on the other bank, so they get about a 50- to 60-yard swim and are getting out of the water and swim back. You shouldn’t do marathon sessions of just swimming.”

Increase Water Intake

High summer temperatures will necessitate more frequent watering. This is easy to accomplish during water work, but owners will need to provide a great deal more water for dogs training in the field.

“Dogs can get really dehydrated,” said Frady. “Take plenty of water with you. I’ll even take some Gatorade with me to get their electrolytes back up.

Keep It Short and Shaded

Both SportDOG pros suggest training in shorter sessions and to keep the dogs in the shade as much as possible.

“Try to keep them in the shade when you are working them,” said Frady. “Keep them in the shade and let them cool down again before going back to do something else. You don’t have to go out and run them for 30 minutes. Do a 5-minute section and let them rest or, as I call it, ‘let their tongue roll back up.’”

Go Indoors

Most people think of gundog training as outdoor work – marking, scent work, retrieving, and long runs. However, much of what is learnt in the fields begins with basic obedience. These fundamental lessons can be learnt or honed whilst indoors.

“Any kind of work you can do indoors, such as obedience and whistle work, try to do as much of that indoors as possible,” said Frady. “I do a whole lot of my training in my living room. You can teach just about all the concepts of retrieving training indoors.”

Monitoring a dog for signs of overheating is critical to maintaining a dog’s health and safety.

“If they get long in the tongue, you need to slow down or stop,” said Frady. “Make sure they have plenty of water and bring lots of water along if you aren’t doing water work.”

“When they start to lose colour in the gums, that’s pretty dangerous,” said Mosley. “That is a sign of heat stroke. They will get wobbly-legged and disorientated. Everybody that trains dogs should keep a thermometer handy to check the dog’s temperature too.”

If your dog does overheat, both Frady and Mosley say to douse the dog’s entire underside with surgical spirit, as it evaporates quickly and helps dissipate the heat.

“Lay them on their side and pour it on their chest and belly so it will come in contact with their skin,” said Frady. “It will bring their body temperature down quickly. I’ve seen many dogs’ lives saved with this. A couple of bottles of surgical spirit aren’t hard to carry.”

After cooling down the dog, both Frady and Mosley suggest visiting the vet to be sure the dog is healthy and safe.