Don’t just try to Muckle through

As soon as you own a dog it can seem like the world of logistics, especially when involving travel has increased in complexity tenfold. This is certainly how it seemed to me as a single army officer with a rambunctious and immediately enormous red setter puppy almost four years ago. Where once upon a time I could jet off at a moment’s notice to the pub, for a shoot, or even a civilised evening at the theatre, once gloriously encumbered with my hound Muckle this involved far more scheming. The dog changed the tempo of my life beyond recognition. While still serving, I developed a network of fellow caninophiles amongst my brother and sister officers and we all pitched in to cover the gaps and ease the looking after of each other’s dogs over temporally demanding jobs.

I once hitched a ride to Inverness from Cambridge for a sporting weekend in a friends new Tesla. I tentatively asked if I could bring my young setter to which he graciously assented. Cue four or so charging stops along the way and vivid memories of desperately trying to motivate my russet companion to drink from a spill proof bowl in a Scotch Corner service station while the Tesla imbibed enough alternating current to see us to the next charging station in Perth. This was the first time he had he had been presented with a spill proof bowl and he steadfastly refused to engage with it. I could certainly have eased this by introducing the travel bowl to him prior to the journey.

To start with when travelling in our own car, I had no specific dog friendly apparatus in the vehicle other than his bed in the boot. With no dog grill he would quickly become lonely or wish to seek the closer company of his master, and leap forward into the middle and then the front of my Audi estate, coming to sit bolt upright in the front passenger seat. Eventually after an extended period sitting up comically straight and surveying the way ahead, he would settle down, curling up like a ginger croissant.

Other than the leaping about in the car this arrangement worked satisfactorily until he hit about 30kg when he started to activate the seatbelt alert. The bonging was too much so I tried to plug in the seatbelt around him such that the increasingly insistent warning would cease. This occasionally worked but normally he became a bit tangled in the seatbelt and after a little while would relegate himself to the back seats where he could sprawl in isolation.

On another occasion my car was in the garage but I had to get to Galloway for a shoot from London, so I booked the train. I wasn’t going to ask Muckle to miss an outing just because of my automotive troubles and because he has grown up in London he is perfectly happy on the tube and train –escalators are a slightly different story. After a wonderful weekend we once again got the train from Dumfries to Carlisle and from there down to London Euston.

Inevitably at a shooting weekend there is an enormous opportunity to pinch other dogs food, perhaps have a bit of a chew of a slightly roughed up pheasant or even sample the delights of a cow pat. For Muckle it seemed that the stomach issues from this rural concoction were in the post. On the final train to London about half an hour from the terminus, young Muckle no longer lay supine with travellers and conductors stepping over his sleeping form, but instead, stood to attention making steady but insistent eye contact. I understood his plight but had no option, as below Warrington there are no further stops. I begged him to hold on and he dutifully did.

We arrived in London and raced out of the carriage. I implored my companion to run off the platform with me but he had held on long enough. Euston we have a problem. Amid much sniggering from those alighting the train, he produced an extremely untidy mess on the polished platform. Once again my fault and a lesson in travelling with gundogs.

With a bit of research we have smoothed the process of getting from A to B. Far more important than it being low stress for me, our travel plans now hopefully mean it is also strain free for him and ensures he is safe and happy. To round off this knowledge journey, I got in touch with a number of experts to pick their brains on how to avoid my early confusion when it comes equipping yourself for time away from home with your beloved gundog.

To start with, it is immensely useful to have your dog secured in the vehicle rather than them charging about and occupying the driver’s seat every time you come back from paying for petrol – Muckle liked the warmth of my seat when I left to settle up for fuel. A great way to do this is with a dog box like those made by Lintran. Isobel and Frank Hopkins, who have run Lintran for 35 years, offered up a number of pointers. Their range of light, cool, safe and washable dog boxes keep dogs contained and vehicles clean. Isobel passionately extols the benefits of their boxes over collapsible cages especially in the event of a crash. One customer reported that in a collision with an ambulance at 60mph their pickup was wrecked, but all five dogs in their boxes were fine.

In a post lockdown world were dogs still carry large price tags and dog theft is common, the locking boxes also provide a very sensible security measure if the dogs are to be left alone. Isobel and Frank also advise the installation of electric roof fans and even temperature monitors. They promote other useful measures like anti-slip flooring for tailgated vehicles, as this can ease a dogs ingress to the vehicle when jumping up and minimise injuries for dogs particularly as they get a little bit older. Lintran boxes are a revelation, and it is also worth checking the terms of your car insurance as companies may not pay out in the case of an accident if dogs were loose in the vehicle.

Luise Janniche founder of Tuffies Dog Beds was also kind enough to offer advice on travel with gundogs. She explained that as we enter Autumn, managing the temperature of your dogs after a long, cold day in the field becomes increasingly important. Whether in a Lintran box, the back of a pickup or the boot of a car, Luise says that “by far the best way of providing warmth, draught exclusion and good rest is to bring a dog bed with high sides. A tired dog needs to be
able to sleep all the way home without sliding about on a flat bed.” Deep beds with removable covers are Luise’s first choice as the outers can be separated, dried and cleaned between outings.

Luise also suggests keeping dog towels in the car for removing excess water and these can also be put in the dogs bed over lunch to help dry them and avoid getting the bed wet before everyone heads out again. I have often derided people who dress their dogs in fleecy coats but Luise suggests that if your dog has a coat finer than a Labradors then a wicking fleece cover is a great idea for getting your dog back to temperature once in from the cold. Luise tells me that it is an easy mistake to make after a hot early season day to open vents and windows on the way home. She says it is vital to remember to shut those windows as despite the warm conditions when stationary, while driving at 60mph in November, the back of a truck can be seriously chilling if the vents are still open. If you find that your dog’s ears are very cold, you know they were cold on the journey.

If you are staying overnight it is really important to take a bed along that gives your dog some smells of home and a sense of security, this in turn will help them settle faster, sleep better and recover more from the exertions of the day.

Nutrition officer at Skinners Dog Food, Zoe Russell, kindly offered some feeding tips for when you are away from home. Zoe recommends a complete and balanced dry food for when travelling as it is easy to store and doesn’t need refrigeration. All Skinners dry foods are complete and do not require supplementation but Zoe suggests as a treat that a wet ‘topper’ can be added as this makes a meal in a new place particularly appealing.

Zoe advises that wherever possible while away you keep a dogs diet as constant as you can, lots of dogs have sensitive digestions systems and a large change can create havoc. This does however still leave room Zoe tells me for getting them on a good mid-season diet that might have higher levels of key nutrients like protein to support muscle integrity, and fat for energy output. If you feel the energy requirements for your dog are not being met Zoe advises that owners increase their dogs intake in 10% increments – scales are useful to make sure you do not under or overfeed them – while keeping an eye on their weight, condition and stool quality.

The calorific demands of a day in the field can be vast for a dog so it is wise to also fuel them as you go. Rather than the odd sausage or crisp, you are better off feeding them something like Skinners Field and Trial Energy bar which provides a good source of fat which dogs preferentially use as a source of energy. Skinners also do a Recovery Bar for the end of the day to prevent fatigue creeping in if you are doing back-to-back days.

Including a few of these small but crucial suggestions should guarantee that your gundog travels well and remains at peak performance and happiness across the season and beyond.