Heres what happened, Hunting on sunday, she picked up 16 birds, knocked down 2 more, she would not go get them, I thought she was just being hard headed ( although she never was hard headed like that ), so we picked up the birds and started picking up decoys and I noticed she was acting a little strange. On the way in she laid down in the boat, she had never done that, then the started having small convulsions. At this point I was about 10 mins from ramp, I took my coat off and wrapped her up, she felt cold. Got to ramp, I put her in front of my truck with heater on, Im about 15 mins from home and about 1:20 to 1:30 from the nearest animal hospital. On my way home I raised her head and her eyes were rolled back and her breathing was very shallow. The vet i use is a friend on mine, but he is in Hammond, La. about 2+ hours away, I called him on phone, he said with the weather conditions and the fact that she is 48 pounds, her blood sugar may have dropped too low, he said to give her Karo Syrup in her mouth, I called my wife and she met me at my truck when I got home with a syringe with Karo, I this point the dog was completely out of it, she would not respond to my voice or anything, she was very cold and rigid. I gave her the Karo, put her in my wife's car, and we took off for the emergency vet, after about 5 mins, she opened her eyes, My vet told me to give her Karo every 5 to 10 mims. After about 4 shots of karo she began to lift her head. got to the emergency vet and she actually walked in, but her temp was 95, which is low. Got her warmed up, did some blood work, everything checked out O.K. What happened is she burned so much energy working birds and trying to stay warm, her blood sugar dropped and she went into Hyperthermia. I know there was a thread about dogs in cold weather, just wanted to let everybody know what can happen. I have a small frame, high energy dog and she don't eat a lot. Come to find out they call this Overexertion Hypoglycemia or Duck Dog Hypoglycemia. It was very frightening, Vet says I will have to keep Karo Syrup or some kind of high energy treat in the boat, just in case. Just wanted to pass this on.

Thanks for the advise. My male is about the same size but he is still growing.


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Sorry to hear what happened, but glad to hear she's ok. I have a big ol dog, but I'll remember to bring something with me now just in case. Thanks for the post.


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I'm glad to hear everything worked out. That's a great tip on Karo Syrup.

Scary for sure. Have hunted dogs in the Midwest for years in frigid temps(teens an ice). I don't buy into the fasting diet for performance in dogs. Mine always get their morning meal at home and an egg and a little dog food at breakfast on cold/busy days with a lot of work.
I have seen that borderline hypothermia a couple of times but was able to get dogs warmed up in blind. Glad yours is ok.