lenny7

My lab loves running when I bike as well. I don't have him run all out, but he goes at a pretty good trot, and we'll go for 3 miles at a time, on our paved road. I just asked our vet the same question. He said that as long as the dog isn't overweight, and you're not running the dog when the pavement will burn his pads, 3 miles is fine but he wouldn't recommend going any further. Our vet is a hunter, runs and judges hunt tests, and breeds labs, so I feel pretty confident he knows his stuff.

Yep. It's crazy what they get for dog treats. You can easily spend $10 or more a pound. That's nuts! What I use for a "treat" is simply a quality brand of dog food with a large kibble size. I buy it in a small bag and keep a plastic jar full of it. The only other thing he gets is the large Kirkland dog biscuits from Costco. I think they get $15 for 10#. He gets one when I put him up for the night, and when he sees me reaching for them, he races for the crate.

I used that when our lab was a puppy and now use the regular NutriSource forumla. If you have a Pet Supplies Plus in your area, check it out. I believe they get $33 for a 30# bag, and every 10th or 12th bag is free. They also sell 2# bags for $2, and they have a $2 coupon in them. Those are great to take along on hunting trips, or to bring to a kennel if you have to drop him off for a while.

Look for both parents to be tested for EIC (Exercised Induced Collapse). It's a recessive gene so a lab can not be affected by it but still be a carrier.

The problem with using a knee to the chest (which I do use myself) is that most people coming to your house probably don't know to do that, and if they do they are reluctant to do so. Another method is to put he dog on a leash, then step on the leash, giving him just enough slack so that when he jumps up, he comes to a sudden, uncomfortable stop before he can get on the person. That way you are controlling the dog and are not dependent on someone else to give him a knee.

I searched youtube and if you go there and search for "Conibear 220, 280 and 330 Set with Basic Setters" you can see how they set them. If you search on "setting a conibear trap with rope method" there's a guy using a rope but I can't really see it well enough to tell what he's doing. I never thought this risk until this year when I found out my cousin was trapping near a shelterbelt where we pheasant hunt.

walleyes12, thanks for the great info. how long are the setters?

Funny stuff! If these folks truly cared for our environment they would stop procreating.

I wish you luck in finding one. Does it have to be a puppy? This might not be the best time to deal with a puppy if they just lost their house. I sent you an email regarding a 1 year old black lab that's looking for a new home.

ESmith gives a good description. Here is AAFCO's definitions for "Meal" and "By-Products": Meat Meal - the rendered product from mammal tissues, exclusive of blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices. Meat By-Products - the non rendered, clean parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals. It includes, but is not limited to, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, partially defatted low-temperature fatty tissue and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. It does not include hair, horns, teeth and hooves.

Bad sentence phrasing on my part. I meant that comment to only apply to the wheat middlings. I've edited my post to make that clear. The only time I've seen it listed is in food that sells for 50¢ per pound or less.

I agree with the two posts above me. I understand your desire to let him sniff around though. What I do on walks or bike rides is to demand that my dog heel when we're on pavement, but when we get to the park, I release him and let him sniff, run around, and do whatever he wants as long as he's not bothering other folks. I do call him back every so often to reinforce that he WILL listen and will obey. When we walk back home, he's at a strict heel when before we get to pavement.

You'll find almost as many suggestions as their are posters. You have to find what works best for your dog. I've tried 5 different foods and have found that NutriSource Adult works best for my lab. Taste of the Wild has a fantastic ingredient list but after 2 bags my dog was still dealing with loose stools. Others I've tried were Diamond, Nutro, and Instinct. I finally quit screwing around and setting on NutriSource, which you can find at Pet Supplies Plus, Gander Mtn, Chuck & Don's and maybe other places. But what works for my dog or other folk's dogs may not work for yours. Check the ingredient lists and make sure meat is in the top spot for sure, and preferably the first two. I also try to avoid "wheat middlings" (which, near as I can tell, are just a hair better than sawdust in nutritional value) and corn. If grains are in the top spot on the list, I'd avoid it.

My cousins, who farm in southern Hand County (East central SoDak), thinks there more birds this year than last but the corn is making it tough to get to them. He's had nearly 400 birds taken from his farm so far this year. We normally limit out each day, probably averaging getting our limit by 2 to 3pm, but from 11/8 to 11/11, we only got a half limit over all. Some of that was due to corn, some due to poor shooting. We'll be back out in early December. Even a bad year out there is still a great time.

I was in south Hand County/north Buffalo county last week for 4 days. They were working on sunflowers and just starting on the corn. Most fields we saw weren't too sloppy but my Dad did get stuck driving along one corn field. Just east of that area we saw lots of standing water. Birds were tough to get at and we went home with a half limit. Part of that was due to our poor shooting. With decent shooting we would have come pretty close to limiting out. We'll be back out there in early December.

I just read this in a PF magazine and have NOT tried it, but one tip in there mentioned holding the uncooked meat up to a 200W bulb to find the pellets. When I eat pheasant I don't bite down all the way so I don't chomp down on a pellet.

He probably got into something that bit or stung him. Kody got stung by a bee once and where he was stung on his lower jaw swelled to the size of a golfball. I gave him a benadryl capsule and an hour later the swelling had been reduced significantly. I think puppies are the most curious creatures out there. If they find something moving, they're going to go investigate. As the vet said, keep some benadryl (and baby aspirin) in your doggy first aid kid. I doubt this will have any effect on him long term. Other than that, how's the little guy doing?

What I found ironic last year as I assembled a first aid kit for my dog is that we never assembled a first aid kit for ourselves! This year I'm expanding Kody's first aid kit to one that will cover all of us.

At least he's got it right. Last year my male lab found another male lab that he became rather fond of. He was much more interested in humping that dog than hunting...at least until the birds started getting up.

This is very similar to what I did. On walks we'd go to a big field where I'd tell him, "Hunt 'em up!" and with the check cord I'd run back & forth, saying "Hunt 'em up", followed with a short jerk on the check cord when wanted him to change directions. Eventually I didnt' need to run so far to the left and right myself, and didn't need to jerk the cord. I took that to the game farm, placing birds myself at the edges of the strip. I used a check cord to get him quartering while my friend carried the shotgun to shoot the birds (or try to anyway...). Later on I'd place the birds in the small pockets of obvious heavy cover to teach him that these are spots you definitely want to hit.

Why would you have to mix canned food with other dry dog food? I've never done that or heard of doing that.

It'd be nice to be able to try a box or two before committing to 10 of them. They're a bit slower too...1330 fps vs. 1500fps for the WingShoks

I bought my first couple of rolls online but Fleet Farm carries them for under $2 a roll, and they're often on sale.

That's what I use. I bought 10 boxes last Sunday.