At what age does your hunting dog start "slowing down"?
My Springer will be 8 this May and he shows no evidence of slowing down. He is still full of the same energy he had as a pup. Relentless is a word I often use to describe his hunting style.
Now that he is well into middle age, should I expect a decrease in his hunting as he gets older. Does it differ between breeds?
Thanks in advance.
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I’ve had Drahthaar’s mostly males that have hunted their hearts out up to 13 years of age. Also for short periods of time. I’ve had 1 that lived to 16 and I wouldn’t have dared not putting him in the truck to at least go.
I am also a springer guy, have had 5 (2 waiting for me on the other side, and 3 still with me). Its hard to say when they start to slow down. I suspect they start losing a step or two when they are 7 or 8 but you don't notice it because their brain makes up for the loss of speed. By 9 you may start seeing it in how tired they are after a day's hunt. By 10 or 11 its obvious but they are still good hunters. By 12 the hard days are behind them. I still take them out then, they are my girls. But the days of hard sustained hunts are past and the next generation has its day.
I am certain that it will vary across not only breeds but individually. My blood trailing Dachshund, Tex, sort of hit a wall at age 13. At age 12, I could see him tiring more easily, but he still wanted to and could go pretty well for hours on end. The next year he was not himself. He was up a superb deer blood trailer and as good a squirrel dog as I have ever been around. He just broke down physically. He was gone at age 15.
I've seen several deer dogs (walkers) that were 7-10 years old that could hold their own again a pack of younger dogs. I had a 7 year old dog that died last year that was leading the pack everytime he went and still acted like he was half his age. I would think it depends on the breeding and individual dog also. A older dog with alot of drive will still want to hunt, although you might want to cut down on his hunting time, even if he still wants to hunt everytime you go. I learned that the hard way....
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When "they" say a human year is like 7 for a dog, "they" aren't far off, IMO.
A 7 or 8 human-year old dog is going to have the endurance of a 50 to 55 year old man or woman. But just like with humans, their endurance is usually going to depend on their exercise program. Since I'm nearly 8 in dog years (or is it the other way around?), I can confirm that I can't do what I did when I was 5 or 6. I fully expect that by the time I'm 10, I'll still love to hunt but not in heavy cover. The duck blind is going to be colder. By noon, I'll need a nap.
My American Water Spaniel lived 14 years, plus. The last two years were a gift to me from him and from God. He wasn't sick, he was just old. He changed a lot between 10 and 12.
if you keep weight off a dog ,12 yrs old would be good guess from what i remember over 46 yrs.WEIGHT is the bigone........my black lab toby even with a bad toe hunted like he is 2 yrs old.i had beagles that were 14 yrs old and hunted well.........
At what age does your hunting dog start "slowing down"?
