Get Your Dog Ready for the Season

By Jake Theron

Getting all hopped-up over the next hunting season? Your spouse is beginning to complain that you're spending more time with your well-oiled weapon of choice than you are with the kids. Notice the use of the kids as an excuse and not themselves. God only knows, your significant other has seen enough of your mug during the hot weather months.

Have you forgotten something? Look over to that lump of meat in the corner that used to be your retriever. Now's the moment to snap ol' Blue into shape for the hunt.

A Little Dog Time

Of course you regularly take the mutt for a short walk, but that's not enough conditioning to get the dog into a grueling day in the marshes. One mistake that owners make is to put their buddy through the paces about a week before the hunt. That's pretty useless. Do you think Arnold Schwarzenegger threw some iron for just a few days before he posed for the 1968 cover of Muscle Builder magazine?

Hell no. Like your animal, he bulked-up by eating a good diet and engaged in a daily dose of pumping-up. Same holds true for your dog. Starting during the summer days, you should be pulling back on the proteins. Then around two months before the season starts, load 'em with fats and high amounts of proteins. Regulate the diet with exercise. While it's always a good practice to follow the directions on the can or bag, monitor the dog. No two canines are birthed from the same mold.

Get Out There

Head for the hills, take the pup and a decoy along with you. Go to the lake while the weather is still good, swim around with the dog. Two purposes are served with both practices: The dog gets some exercise and so do you.

Take the cur into the woods for a few practice runs. No need to bring any heavy artillery. This is primarily to give you guys the lay of the land. Begin with an hour. Next time, shoot for two. By the time you get-up to three hours, that's should be your work-out limit.

Make this a weekend thing until the start of the season and vary the location. No need to leave your scent fowling-up the hunting grounds.

Take them to the dog spa and vet to get a trim, check-up, grooming and once-over for any sores that need some TLC.

Jake Theron is an avid dog trainer and hunter who loves to give people his wisdom. He tends to spend most of his time nowadays either training his companions or fulfilling his need to spread his knowledge by writing for [http://www.versatiledogsupply.com/dog-tracking-collars.html]dog tracking collars.

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