Hunting with indoor dogs

**belmont0182** · 12-05-2007, 08:57 PM

My wife and I live in northern IN and have been thinking about getting a Lab next spring. I hunt deer and have been getting into waterfowl hunting. I have never hunted with a dog before, but I am interested in learning to train a dog and eventually hunt with it. My wife and I both desire to have an indoor dog. I have talked to people who have experience with dogs and have received different reports as to whether an indoor dog can be used for waterfowl hunting. So my question is...is it ok to have an indoor dog and use it for hunting in the winter?

Thank you for humoring my newbie question!

**GulfCoast** · 12-05-2007, 09:45 PM

The short answer is "yes." Mine are indoor dogs, and they are huntin' and test running fools. I know many MH's/HRCH dogs that sleep on the foot of a bed every night. Whether they stay indoors or out in a kennel is not nearly as important as whether or not they are consistently trained via a structured program like Lardy, Graham or the new Farmer stuff, and then regularly worked on those concepts. Where they "live" is not nearly as important as "what they do" if that makes sense.

**gundog** · 12-06-2007, 07:48 AM

Indoors is better.

Take your dog everywhere with you.

**imported_Belles mom** · 12-06-2007, 11:59 AM

Indoors in my opinion!

**belmont0182** · 12-06-2007, 04:40 PM

Thanks for all of your replies, the people I talked to were woried that an indoor dog would not be able to weather the icy waters of Indiana without having the coat that an outdoor dog has.

**georgie** · 12-06-2007, 04:50 PM

Both of our labs are indoors & it has not hurt their hunting or hunt test abilities one bit. Abby was in Canada duck hunting for 2 weeks & did great.

Oh & both are girls have neoprene vests they wear when hunting & neither has ever shivered or had any trouble.

**belmont0182** · 12-06-2007, 04:55 PM

I actually looked at some of those today at Gander Mountain, I will be sure to pick one up when we get further along in the process...

**olducker** · 12-07-2007, 05:54 AM

Sorry ,but indoor /outdoor is the Best for your lab. Indoor is great my Ginger is 11 and is an indoor lab ,BUT she gets cold when the temp gets to 30 :P .

your lab needs to be outdoors for 1/2 a day to have a good coat,a neoprene vest will help some.

Zeke is a in and outdoor lab and has a great coat

Ginger

**UrbanDuckMan** · 12-07-2007, 09:50 AM

The Lab is one of the top breeds that can be brought into the house , the car, the pickup , go to kids ball games ....YOU NAME IT and then when it's time take to the Duck Blind!

BUT, there are some things you need to consider and plan for...especially in a bit " colder " climate like where you reside and will be hunt'n dem Ducks!

I have Indoor/Outdoor Lab Duck Dogs and have had for years....especially since the kids grew up and blew the coop! Here in Oklahoma the winters are not as severe as they are in Indiana and in fact it has been quite a few years since we had a REALLY COLD WINTER. Last year came as close to being one of those than we've had in a long time. The jury is still out on this year but it has been unseasonabley warm up to this point. All this brings me to a point that IMO is very important for you and your dog.

From what I have seen and there may be some sort of if not Scientific Study results being done and if not folks that have lived with Labs and especially Duck Dogs in colder regions of the country can attest to the colder the climate the THICKER and LONGER a Labs coat becomes. The warmer it is the for lack of a better term " thinner " and " shorter " it grows. I guess simply stating .....the dog's coat responds in such a manner so as to provide for the prevailing temperatures. For sure I have seen this take place and it usually starts during the late summer when the Winter Coat replaces the Summer Coat.

Where you keep your dog during this time can have an effect on the end result. That being, if the dog is kept INSIDE ALL THE TIME during this time the coat most times will not fill out to where it needs to be IF it gets really cold. In your area I THINK as I have never hunted in Indiana in late December or January this is something that one would not want to take place?

Hypothermia in a Working Gun Dog on the job happens pretty much like HEAT'N UP! By that I mean it can " sneak up on you " and when it happens if you don't catch it and react properly....YOU and THE DOG ARE IN DEEP STUFF!

I will start housing my dogs outside in thier runs in late August or early September and this cuts down on thier time INSIDE. It allows for the resulting Winter Coat to be more atuned to the pressures placed on the dog during a long and hard Hunting Season. I go EVERYDAY and REGARDLESS of the weather. I hunt with a lot of people and at times the dogs are required to make a " LOT " of Retrieves on each hunt. 80 plus hunts a year can work to wear my and the dog's stamina down a bit over time. The " proper " Coat for this is to me a very important item.

Simply CONDITION or PRECONDITION the dog and the resulting coat for what it will be called on to endure and work in. Same for you! Spend more time outdoors as the temps start to cool down. If done as a habit by the time the REAL WEATHER ARRIVES you and the dog will be more inclined to BE READY than if you simply walk out the door one day and there's ICE on the water and you need a buch of LAYERS to keep yourself warm and comfortable.

Good Luck! Hope this helps?

Oh yeah, as far as Training the pup goes you CAN train the dog yourself. BUT start PLANNING NOW! Do plenty of research as there are a LOT of differing opinions on just how to do this. MOST of them will end up getting the job done BUT figuring out what YOU REQUIRE and EXPECT of the dog and how to get there is YOUR CHOICE.

I'm not gonna on a rant here and I will simply end this thing by advising you that when you start that search for the right dog....LOOK WITH YOUR HEAD and NOT YOUR HEART! By this I mean that SHOPPING PEDIGREES FIRST based on the FIELD LINES in that pedigree will serve you much better than picking a Bench " type " of dog. And believe me there are PLENTY of folks out there that will GO NUTS over that one.

I don't think this is SPAM as the site I'm going to give you is NOT a FOR PROFIT type of thing. It's more of Hobby related and it's FREE. You might take some time to pull up my personal Duck Hunt'n and Dog Train'n web site www.UrbanDuckMan.Com. You will find under the Gun Dog Forum information placed there as " Diaries " or " Blogs " or whatever you want to call them by guys that not too long ago were right at the same point as you are now. Keep in mind that these are written and placed there by NON PRO'S, whether that be writers , breeders or trainers. I THINK you will get a good idea on how some chose to TRAIN THIER PUPPIES! It's just ONE WAY but it does contain most of the " common threads " or techniques.

Good Luck! YOU CAN DO THIS!

**olducker** · 12-07-2007, 11:37 AM

THAT Was a GREAT Post UrbanDuckMan ;D

Ginger's 24 duck day an indoor lab can do the job But -------

[ QUOTE of UrbanDuckMan ]
BUT, there are some things you need to consider and plan for...especially in a bit " colder " climate like where you reside and will be hunt'n dem Ducks! I love this