Exercise Induced Collapse (EIC) episode with my Boykin

Glad she is ok. One of my friends lost one of his dogs to that last October. I retired my old dog.

I’ve seen 2 Boykins go down on dove hunts. One was really bad, and the dog only made it because our local vet was hunting with us. He recognized what was going on and put the dog in an ice chest full of ice water

Last summer, my then-7 yo old Boykin was playing at the farm. Running and bouncing nonstop after being cooped up in the house for a while. Next thing we noticed him wobbling as he walked and acting funny. Put him inside in the AC to cool down and he was fine.

I’m going to a dove shoot in two weeks and have been debating whether or not to take him, and this post may have just decided it for me. Especially for mine. He’s now 8.5, and gotten used to easy living inside. I’m afraid he’d go too hard in the heat and end up with an issue

Another factor involved is that many take there dogs out for the dove opener without any pre hunt work out. Dog has been in the A/C all summer and suddenly it’s time to hunt in 90 degree plus heat. Imagine playing high school football , but not having any summer conditioning, two a days, or any practices to acclimate your body systems to the heat. Dog is no different. If you are determined to work the dog in Sept, you have to start with morning workouts in May. Those should progress to late afternoon workouts in August. I decided several months ago to just not hunt my lab until Nov.

Glad your dog is ok


Reason #eleventyfivethousand why Black Mouth Curs are awesome. 10 year old Porter walked 4 miles with me in 95 degree heat and humidity without incident. But we do this every day.

2 years ago this month my then 3 year old Lab, over a 6 day period, retrieved 20 5 bird limits of teal and 30 15 bird dove limits......by the end of the 6th day she had trouble making blind retrieves due to dehydration.....she had plenty of water available but was so busy and so tuned into doing that much work she wouldn’t take time to drink.....way too amped up. Between morning teal and afternoon dove she’d sleep in the AC, only drinking a little, and she almost never drinks in the field because she is so amped up she can’t be bothered. You gotta make em drink and need to find a way for them to drop body temp this time of year. They are way too in tune to the work at hand to pay attention to what their bodies need to work that hard. If she had been 7 and not 3 I’m not sure she’d have made the 5th and 6th day.....put em in the truck with the ac on if necessary, dump water on them.....drop their body temp because they will kill themselves doing what you ask.....

There are 3 parts to the EIC test. They can either be clear, carriers or affected. The only one that will have episodes is the affected. The carriers just carry the gene when bred to another carrier at least one will be affected and all will be carriers. If they breed to affected dog higher % will be affected. My lab is affected.

I’ve never heard of a dog throw up due to an episode of EIC. I’m not saying it can’t happen but I’m leaning more to what yours had is a best stroke. I’ve been on the phone with Katie and she is extremely knowledgeable about EIC.

The key to maintaining a normal life for the “affected” dogs is figuring out what triggers them. My lab hasn’t had an episode in 10 years and is about to turn 12. I just retired him last year but he been highly successful and has hunted every year. His triggers are long hunts looking for a bird. He will go down every time if I don’t pull him off soon enough. Of course, temperatures have a lot to do with it.

If people continue to breed these dogs without doing a simple test to know what gene they have the future of these breeds will suffer. I highly recommend anyone looking for a pup or breeding a dog get this test done.

EIC won’t kill a dog they actually feel no pain when they have an episode. The only thing that happens is they lose control of their back legs.