How long to work a bird dog in the field?

[mikeSF]

I'll be hunting a 5 year old Vizsla this year. She is in great shape as I exercise her often. The winters here average in the mid 40s. I have had her out for 2 hours working planted birds with no problem. Will be hunting wild birds this year. Am wondering how many hours per day I can work her without over extending her abilities? I'm sure there are a lot of variables such as weather conditions, diet etc that are considered in this answer. I have hunted with other dog owners who rotate their dogs every couple of hours. Unfortunately I only have one. She is my first bird dog so the learning curve for me is steep but loads of fun. I would like to have a dog that can work for 4 hours. Can a Vizsla handle 4 hours? What other breeds should I be looking at for my next dog? Thanks for your experiences.

[Chief Paduke]

Lots of variables there. I have multiple English Setters so I rotate mine. I’ve not owned a Viszla, although I have owned other continental breeds. If you are hunting consecutive days, quit as soon as it quits hustling. If you’re only hunting for a day, hunt until you’re no longer enjoying the dog work. Best bird finder I’ve had was a French Brittany. She was the easiest to train too. Back then I was hunting small farms and she was perfect. Most of my hunting now is big country, thus I have big running Setters, and my hunting partner owns Setters and English Pointers. Of course within each breed there are closer working and wider ranging dogs.

[SSComanche]

As Chief has said, pay attention to the dog and she will tell you when you need make her back off. My experience has been that bird dogs have a big heart and want to please you. Don't let the dog over extend because of the desire to please. Terrain can be a stamina killer, just pay attention to her. If it's tough for you, it's just as tough for her. Give the dog and yourself a timely water break for a few minutes, it will rejuvenate both of you. I'm not and never have been a Vizsla owner and certainly not familiar with how your dog hunts. In looking for another breed to pair with yours, decide what you would like. If your Vizsla is a close range hunter, would you prefer to compliment that with a big running dog that covers more area (ie; a English Pointer or Setter), or would you prefer to have one that hunts close. Consider those kinds of things when making your decision. Chief is again correct in that dogs within the same breed do not all hunt alike. I have always been a fan of the English Pointer and in my younger years wanted those big running dogs. As I've gotten older, I still prefer the Pointer but want (and need) a dog that hunts closer. Lastly, you can take an average dog and make an excellent bird dog by killing lots of birds over them. That dog needs to know she is to hunt dead after the gun goes off.

[Roddy]

I had a big English pointer back when I was in my late teens and access to thousands of acres. He could hunt longer than I could. No telling how many miles we would log in a year as we usually hunted 4 days a week in 1977-78. ( I got out of school at 12:00 my senior year of high school). My friend had a smaller female setter that was a year older and wore down much sooner. I am not familiar with a Vizsla but if you pay attention to your dog you will see the signs of fatigue to let you know when its time to quit for the day much better than our guesses.

[EJmagnum186-NH]

Take your level of fatigue and X2 for your dog and that should give you an idea with all the variables understood for heat,terrain interest etc. 2 hours is about right for most dogs. I always figure that I want my dog to hunt harder first and foremost, not necessarily longer. If they are interested they will hunt harder and look forward to going to "work" the next time that you roll them out. I have a 3 y/o 85# lab that is mostly used for upland....not the most nimble critter like a Vizula but he will run himself into the ground if I let him. A few weeks ago I put 40 birds under him in a day and he spent the next 24 hours in a lump on the couch then rolled out the following day for some more work. I hear you though about having only 1 dog....which is why I just ordered my 2nd dog....a Boykin Spaniel.

[grayline]

We has a Vizsla we trained to run coons and we would run him with 2 blue ticks 4 to 6 hours a night easily just keep them watered..we would give ours pnut butter gram crackers right before we would turn them out ..

[MacIntosh]

Saw your post about cool temps...cooler weather they'll go much longer. It's not cool here until daytime highs are below freezing, your weather sounds perfect to me.

As far as time on thr ground, my impression is that some dogs will go longer than others, but to a large degree its a question of what you condition them for. If you train them to run for an hour and then put them up, they'll give it hell for an hour and be exhausted. If you condition them to run all day, most of the dogs Ive had will figure out that its not a sprint and will pace themselves a better...not perfectly, but they'll settle in and hunt for a long time. Not at full-on race pace, but at a steady lope. Some guys I hunt with just dont like this aesthetically, but for a guy with only 1 or 2 dogs who likes to hunt it's always been a no-brainer for me, Im not going to hang itup after a couple hours. I hunt flushing dogs in northern new england for partridge, we frequently put 15 miles on the hunter through very thick alders and growing up clear cuts and swamps, the dogs do a lot more and sometimes are on th ground for 6 hours or more every day for a long weekend. They are slower in the PM by a long shot but they'll hunt until they die. As long as its cool and they are watered that wont happen. Just watch ou if its warm and watch the dog for injury, etc, because they wont tell you they are hurt.

[mikeSF]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply. I hunted Maci last Friday. Temps in the mid 20s with sunshine. A prefect day to bird hunt. I like to go easy and watch her work vs pushing her out further than about 100 yards. A friend went along who has Elhews. Those dogs run big along the edges of the fields. Most of the time they were 150 plus yards away. They were easy to watch as they had white hair. Im glad that Maci hunts close so I don't have to run when she goes on point. We hunted for 2.5 hours then loaded up the dogs and moved to another field. Took about a 30 minute break with lots of water. Spend another hour with no luck finding birds. Bird hunting with Maci and not finding birds is still better than staying home dusting furniture. Merry Christmas!