Few outdoor pursuits fuel the desire for a road trip more than bird hunting. With an incredible diversity of species and habitat, there’s hardly a better way to sample all the wingshooting options this country offers than loading up the dogs and hitting the open road.

The canine athlete is a unique metabolic machine that is remarkably efficient in converting food into fuel for mind boggling feats of speed and endurance. However, the strategy for feeding hunting dogs is hotly debated, and there’s a mountain of anecdotal evidence supporting a variety of techniques to achieve this common goal.