re: 3 years ago today....... lost a dog on a hunt.

still feel your pain on this, I lost my boykin about 10 days before you in same area, although I had closure (but with the discomfort it was my fault). Actually skipped that day last week when it was windy and snowing because it was lingering in my mind

"This happened on Christmas Eve this year. In hindsight, I'm not really sure that absolute temp is primary factor. Feeding habits, wind exposure (mainly this, think of how/why/when you get cold), and retrieving load all play a factor. I will tell you from private conversations with a few breeders/trainers/and just regular old guys that have lost them, it appears to be MUCH more common than what you actually here about. I wish someone had told me or posted something, or I had taken time to research. Hit me with hard questions if you need to, I think I can handle it. I dug a cold wet deep hole for 4 hours in the rain on Saturday in low temps, clearly to bury the dog, but partially to do some penance for what I did to her. Story below cut and pasted from somewhere else so may read as being partially out of context. IMPORTANT PLEASE READ THE BOLD GLUCOSE PART, the specialist said it would have saved her.
I felt the need to post this up, in hopes that maybe someone would take the time to read, and maybe it would help someone. If you feel the need to post a comment about how ignorant I am, or the fact that I murdered my dog, that is fine as well, I'm coming to grips with both of those. Some of you might know that I ran a well conditioned almost 4 year old boykin spaniel. She was in what I would consider top shape, but definitely not carrying any extra fat. In a typical week, it was not uncommon for her to log 10 road miles at well under a 10 min pace, plus two to three hunts either upland or retrieving. A number of factors in the following story, may not seem relevant, however, in hindsight for me several things contributed to the perfect storm that led to the loss of my dog, Sarcelle. On Christmas eve, Alex and I made a decision to hunt a large lease I have that is a long boat ride from the house. It was cold, but not frigid, far from the coldest conditions on an absolute temperature basis that the dog had ever hunted, but the 20-25 mph N wind definitely put quite the sting in the air. There was ice in the pirogue, so I'd put the temps somewhere around 32 early but probably 35-40 during the hunt. We generally hunt a different lease which is closer to the ramp, and generally I feed the dog a biscuit or something a couple hours before the hunt on the way down the road. Well, going to this ramp on Christmas eve, nothing was open, and the dog did not get a breakfast. I had dog food in the car, but didn't think to give her any. The 30 minute or so boat ride was uneventful but cold, and the shooting started out relatively slow. We picked at birds till 8, when we had planned to leave, probably having only 4 or 5 in the bag. Around 8 the birds began moving, both of us discussed how miserable the boat ride would be in the wind, and we moved the deadline to 9 am. The dog logged a couple more retrieves, and around 845 we dropped a couple birds. One was a wounded grey for a pretty long retrieve across a mud flat. The other was a dead bird in the decoys. She was sent on the grey making a good retrieve. Second was a dead shoveler in the decoys. She could see the bird, but would not enter the water. In hindsight this was probably the first sign. She generally had a fairly vigorous entry when able to mark. She eventually made entry and passed the bird 6-8 ft downwind and continued on. We stopped her called her back, she missed the bird again and returned to us. I got her downwind of the bird and sent her, she went but not vigorously, fetched the bird, but began to not listen. We began to pick up and placed the dog in the boat. Shortly thereafter she began to shake vigorously, her vest was removed and she was placed in my dry jacket. Not long after she lost control of her rear legs and shaking became more violent along with painful audible whining. As stated before we had a long cold boat ride. I placed the dog inside of my jacket inside of my waders with me. At some point during that ride, she died for all intents and purposes, giving the death throws that we as hunters are fairly familiar with. We returned to the ramp, and I rushed her to the vet, all the while assuming she had passed. At the vet, she did have a heartbeat and was breathing, but was severely hypothermic. They warmed her, but she remained unresponsive and I transferred her to a 24 hr er vet for Christmas. At that vet she was treated by a trauma specialist, who's recommendation was to treat and do blood work. After 24 hrs she worsened and is now gone. The trauma specialist was at least able to tell me why this happened. The hypothermia was a condition caused by what is called "hunting dog hypoglycemia". I am not sure of its prevalence in labs, but the more I read online, the more common it seems in the thinner sporting breeds, especially in conjunction with wet cold conditions. I am now surprised I had not previously heard of this. I am attaching a relatively lengthy article on the subject LINK ... cemia.html . If you don't feel like reading the whole thing, the key points I would like to convey are in bold below:

Hunting Dog Hypoglcemia is often linked to strenuous conditions often associated with cold and wet. Signs:
Stage 1: Whenever hypoglycemia develops while a dog is being hunted, the first physical or behavioral evidence of it will be a gradual onset of fatigue. However, it should be emphasized that, in the vast majority of instances in which fatigue becomes evident during hunting, hypoglycemia will NOT be the cause. In most cases, the dog is simply becoming physically exhausted and/or overheated, or is experiencing intestinal or stomach cramping. Nevertheless, any dog that appears to become fatigued while hunting should be carefully observed for the possible appearance of stage 2 symptoms.

Stage 2: In addition to fatigue, the dog begins to evidence incoordination and/or staggering. At this point, it is urgent that all physical activity immediately cease, and that either the dog be fed (its regular dog food) or a concentrated glucose source, such as:

(1) 50% glucose solution in water or,

(2) corn syrup, be administered by mouth.

Stage 3: In addition to stage 1 and 2 signs, muscular tremors and spasms may occur, which may result in abnormal postures.
Stage 4: In addition to stage 1, 2 and 3 signs, the dog may begin having seizures/convulsions.

Stage 5: The dog is completely unconscious and unresponsive, a condition which is referred to as coma.

Stage 6: This stage is death, which may occur in untreated animals as a result of exposure (and hypothermia) or, in either treated or untreated animals, as a result of severe damage to the brain and/or other vital organs from hypoglycemia and/or anoxia. "