question on scent hounds?

[jon cornett]

I recently read in our local newspaper a article on dogs and one sentence caught my eye. It said that scent hounds smell better when there hungry? any truth to this or does anyone know?

[Newt]

Does the aroma of fresh baked yeast bread smell better when you are hungry or after you just stuffedyourself on too much turkey, dressing, mashed paotatoes, and pumpkin pie?

[Triple_S]

i have read that befor.
and my uncle a old timer ,will not feed the night befor a hunt.
LOL... and i will never forget this protocall,..... becaulse he told me not to feed mine
every friday night for 6 months stright when i called him to setup a time to run
dogs on saturday mornin.
i finaly had to tell him .OK i got it now.

[Joeyman]

i feed mine everyday at 6pm. I don't believe in starving them the day before. the dog needs his energy. A person shouldn't have to starve his dogs so they hunt better thats just my opinion.

[foxxy]

i second that

i feed mine everyday at 6pm. I don't believe in starving them the day before. the dog needs his energy. A person shouldn't have to starve his dogs so they hunt better thats just my opinion.

[ebag33]

I agree with Joey and Foxxy except I feed mine twice a day I have never seen any negative. I would guess most doctors and nutritionists would recommend athletes to try and perform on an empty stomach. Remember what mom always said breakfast is the most important meal of the day...

[Anderson Upland Beagles]

I feed mine before hunting if they should get lost or something should happen god knows it can
i like to have food in them they need the to be fueled up. if you go food shoping hungry you spend more

[chapkosbeagles]

that is well said joey

i have a buddy that dose this. he cuts food back the day before. he says a dog has more than one stomach and if you dont feed them they will run to catch instead of just running the track.


i believe in this as his dogs will run a lot harder. i just cant practice it myself i over feed my hounds.

[Richard]

that is well said joey

i have a buddy that dose this. he cuts food back the day before. he says a dog has more than one stomach and if you dont feed them they will run to catch instead of just running the track.


i believe in this as his dogs will run a lot harder. i just cant practice it myself i over feed my hounds.

I have to disagree , a dog has only one stomach, just like you and me.

[steve688]

I was researching different dog foods and diets for sport dogs a few months ago. I came across a study done on bird dogs. There were several test groups, and several dogs in each test group. Each group was fed a different kind of food. The dogs' performance was rated by how many birds they pointed and actually flushed. To make along story short, the study found a diet that helped the dogs perform at their best, but also found that no matter what the dogs ate, all groups performed best after not eating for a full 24 hours. I wish I could remember were I read the study, because it was really interesting.

[just for fun beagler]

an old timer told me that a dogs sences is keaner when they are alittle hungry. i dont practice the starve method but i guess if i was hungry i would try a little harder to catch the game

[walleye101]

All of this talk assumes that the hound is pursuing the game intending to eat it. All the hounds I have owned generally run a coon or hare until it is killed then quickly loose interest and start hunting for the next. I don't think being hungry would make any difference at all.

[Newt]

I remember seeing a documentary on wild dogs several years ago. It indicated that dogs would kill an animal and then gorge themselves. Then they would lye around for a few days until they were hungry and then kill again. I don't know if their sense of smell was affected but they could run more efficiently with and empty stomach. It sounds reasonable that if survival depended an animal finding food, his senses would be more active when hungry.
I was taught early not to feed my dogs prior to running them.

[Panther Creek]

I feed them the night before. I never feed them the morning before a hunt. Unless its really cold & then I might give them a dog bisqit or something Just a little.

[mobeagle]

I feed mine before hunting if they should get lost or something should happen god knows it can
i like to have food in them they need the to be fueled up. if you go food shoping hungry you spend more

You feed your dogs before the hunt? Thats one thing I'd never do. They're always slower and lathargic after eating and will throw up the food from the running anyway if they're going hard.