When we first moved into our house I brought with us a coon hound pup, 8 weeks old the night we moved in.

He was basically our baby, and I had lots of time to hunt him. We coon and rabbit hunted all the time and I often took him to work with me.

Fast forward 6 years and we have a toddler, I work harder, and time isn't available like it used to be anymore.

I bought a lab pup this year too and we did a ton of duck hunting. I can't take my hound out after ducks because he ranges a few hundred yards and will be after rabbits or treeing denned up coon. So he only really got any field time a few times this spring. He has a full run of the house and yard and plays with the lab until they are both tired, but I just feel bad that he isn't getting any field time.

We went to town the other day and when we got back to our road I let him out to run the 1/2 mile to our house in front of the car and he was doing the happy dance the whole way.

I know the feeling. I have a english pointer i got in 08 that i had gun trained in early 09. We went hunting as much as possible but now with working 60+ hours per week, a 20 month old, and fixing up the house, she has not got to do her thing and you can see it in her eyes. She paces constantly and it hurts to see her like that but i dont have any other option. I let her run as much as possible but its not enough for the spaz dog i have. She has to run every day to just be manageable so when she doesnt burn energy, its hell on earth.