With so many dog foods, supplements and energy products on the market, there is a lot of confusion from dog owners about what foods and products they should be using in their hunting dogs. The scenario is further confused when you throw into the equation the fact that we do so many different activities with our dogs: the dog chasing western prairie birds will have different needs than a dog hunting timber mallards down south, the grouse dog of the northeast or the pheasant hunting dogs of the Midwest. The truth of the matter is that there isn’t one formula that works for all dogs. Instead it is important to be able to understand your dog’s needs, what is available for your dog and how the products may work in your situation.

For the purpose of discussing sporting dogs, there are three major categories of nutrition to evaluate: overall nutrition or the food you feed every day, in-the-field supplements and replenishment products. Each category needs to be examined individually and in the context of what you will be asking from your dog.

By far and away the most important category is the overall nutrition you give your dog every day. If you are feeding a low-quality food, the other two categories are not going to matter at all. Pet foods are a source of great confusion for veterinarians, people in the industry, and especially pet owners. Too often we fall victim to slick marketing techniques or strict labeling regulations. Many times two products will have similar ingredient labels, while the products in the bag couldn’t be further apart on the quality spectrum. Unfortunately you can’t just look at the bag and make this distinction. You will need to understand ingredients and the companies behind them when deciding what food to feed your hunting partner.

When six-time Champion Hard Driving Bev started missing birds, professional trainer Joe McCarl attributed the changes to an aging dog starting to loose her senses. “She became really unsure around birds,” McCarl recalled. “This was a dog that always just stuck her birds and now she either wasn’t finding birds or was really unsure of where they were when on point.” While McCarl wasn’t going to turn back the hands of time it was possible that Bev’s scenting loss was related to a very treatable condition…advanced dental disease.

Dog owners and handlers are a superstitious lot, and for all of the technology and advanced knowledge of canine health and behavior that we have been given over the years, a reliance on old wives tales and a mentality of “that’s how we’ve always done it” still exists.   For years trialers thought removing the tonsils on their favorite field trial dog would help increase scenting ability and performance in the field. When this procedure was looked at to determine how it worked, researchers discovered that at the time of the tonsillectomy most veterinarians were also cleaning the teeth. It was this teeth cleaning that was actually causing the increase in scenting ability not the removal of the tonsils. Yet even with the research out there to show dental care can impact scenting, many dog owners are reluctant to spend the money to have their dog’s teeth cleaned.

For a better understanding of how dental disease can impact scenting ability, it is important to take a look at canine anatomy and how closely associated the teeth and sinuses are in relation to each other. The following picture shows a side profile of a setter with important structures drawn on the photo. To qualify the drawing: I am neither an artist nor an anatomist, so bear with me. In the accompanying picture, I’ve outlined in white where this setter’s teeth and roots lie and in yellow where the sinus cavities are. For point of reference, the red line represents the gum line, and the blue area is the vomeronasal organ. It is easy to see that inflammation and infection of the teeth and surrounding tissues directly impacts the sinuses, the respiratory tissue and the scenting ability. With very severe dental disease, tracts can develop, forming an opening between the mouth and sinuses. Those foul-smelling, atrocious teeth are not just causing problems at the gum line–often the issues extend much deeper.