The American Beagler Forum

I have a buddy that will not feed his dogs before he hunts. He claims they will hunt better. I know a lot of older guys that also do the same. In my opinion a dog needs to fed before going out. On long hunts I will even give my dogs some lunch meat or a bite of candy bar. It seems to really help toward the end of a long day. I was wondering what you guys think. EMPTY OR FULL?

my vote is for empty. I feed the night before. I was always told that running them on a full stomach could cause the stomach to flip. There may be a term for that but im not sure what it is. The way I look at is when i try and run a five mile race on a full stomach I probably couldnt do it without throwing up. I figure its not much different with dogs. thats my $0.02

feed the night before.

I have always refered to the saying-------A Hungry Lion Hunts His Hardest. ......... I never feed before entering the field.

Feed the night before,when you feed them after they have hunted for you.

All research shows that for a dog to best use its energy it should be at least 12 hours after it has been feed. Some companies will even give longer times.

I always feed the night before,they can get a twisted stomach if there full and run hard.

Night before...I was reading an article just this morning on feeding dogs in a Better Beagling mag from a couple months ago that said studies showed a dog has 2x the endurance with a empty colon...not sure if its accurate or not but I was taught not to feed them before running.

I feed every other day on the raw diet I feed and don't feed them the day I run them until after I'm done running. They seem to hold weight very well and have plunty of energy for the entire days hunt. My $0.02
Elliott Peters

I like to feed the night before i have always heard that if you feed right before you run and dogs get really streched out there stomach can twist never seen or had this happen but not worth the risk iv'e heard the twisted stomach thing from more than one older houndsman so figure there's a little bit of truth to it
Donald

I feed everyday around 8pm

i had a dog that fliped his stomach, its not a good thing to see. they are in alot of pain, so i always feed the night before and just feed when you are done. jmo

I feed as much raw as possible, I try to feed the morning the day before a hunt. So usually bout 20 hours before a hunt. I want them to be cleaned out before a hard run. Atleast 12 hours ahead for running at home.

Night before. Never seemed to have any problems with energy.

green river wrote:Night before. Never seemed to have any problems with energy.

Same