Keeping him sweet

Has your gundog ever collapsed on a shoot in challenging conditions? It could be suffering hunting dog hypoglycaemia, says David Tomlinson

- David Tomlinson

IN A RECENT COLUMN I told the story of a spaniel of mine that collapsed during a bitterly cold and wet shooting day. I carried her back to the car, where she was revived in the heat of the passenger footwell.

My conclusion was that she had collapsed from hypothermia, but that was a very amateur diagnosis. A far more likely cause was hunting dog hypoglycaemia (HDH), a condition I admit to not having heard of until reader Geoff Blake emailed me about it.

Geoff is a keen rough shooter with several spaniels, and has considerable first-hand experience over the years of working them. He also lives in Northern Ireland, where they get a fair share of challenging weather conditions.

He told me that he had a frightening episode with his nine-year-old springer on a freezing day, towards the end of a long, hard, walked-up shoot. “My dog looked distressed and stopped,” he recalled. “When called, he took a few steps before falling on his side, quivering, almost like a fit. I carried him in a coat to the car and returned the short trip to my home rapidly.

Hefty feed

“A hefty feed was wolfed down as soon as I got him home, with instant revival,” Geoff said. “It was a close call. I don’t think it was hypothermia, as he never stopped exercising.”