The Art of Dog Work

The original plan was never for us to hunt him. At the time, I did not even know how to hunt but the day we picked up Benny, our one-year-old German Shorthair Pointer, from training and he delivered a bird that had just been shot over him to my hand something in me changed. I had never seen him so happy or seen anything flow as naturally and instinctually as the performance he had just given. I wanted to learn how to train and handle him so we could do it together. 

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Great Athletes

My two favorite activities, football and bird hunting are just a month away from their 2015 season. Like most hunters during this part of the year, I begin to plan and daydream for what is coming for both activities. Timing key dates for both has always been a struggle for me as I plan and try to do it all.

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Behind the Scenes of the Prestigious Continental Field Trails

With a total of 38 years between them working on Livingston Place, Randy Floyd and Clay Sisson have taken charge of preparing one of the few remaining field trials in America that still boasts wild quail. With the 84th consecutive Continental Field Trails slated for the third Monday in January at Livingston Place in Greenville, Florida, Randy and Clay are hard at work sweating the details on this prestigious competition.

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Final Preseason Training Tips from the Pros

It won’t be long before field training, conditioning and obedience work give way to the true satisfaction of being back in the woods and fields enjoying the hunt with our canine companions. Here are a few final steps that some Eukanuba™ pro trainers take to get their dogs ready for the season opener.

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Help Unleash Your Sporting Dog’s Potential

Hard charging sporting dogs—like English pointers and setters, Labrador and Golden retrievers, English field cockers and Boykins, the dozens of versatile breeds among others — are wired to work. Their work requires fuel appropriate to their exercise level. Some dogs need fuel for quick, intense bursts of activity while others need endurance to help them along their half or full day’s work. 

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How to Feed Your Sporting Dog

Canine nutritionists have long known that nutrition is key to performance, but how much and when we feed our dogs is just as important as what we feed. These factors can impact your dog’s energy levels, physical fitness, and post-hunt recovery. Here is what you need to know to help keep your sporting dog in top form throughout the year.

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Know Your Sporting Dog’s Individual Nutritional Requirements

The fascinating part of sporting dogs is that they’re all so different. Never mind the fact that you can find a setter that casts at 40 yards, one that runs inside of bell range, or wins AA as the late Shadow Oak Bo did (twice in fact). That’s a wide range of performance in just one breed. Start to include other pointing, flushing and retriever breeds and the view expands. The icing on the cake comes when you add in 30 breeds of versatile hunting dogs acknowledged by The North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association (NAVHDA).

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