Konnie Hein

I was just reading a paper that was presented at the North American Veterinary Conference in 2006 titled "Role of Fat in Athletic Dogs: Endurance, Olfaction and Intelligence." Its very interesting reading! Anybody who is interested in reading the whole article can PM me with their email address and I can email it to you. I have it as a .pdf file.

Summary of conclusions from the article:
1. Conditioning improves the dog's olfactory acuity (less panting = better scenting). I know we all are aware of this.

2. A canine athlete fed a high-fat diet with an appropriate level of omega-3 fatty acids is more likely to be in better physical condition, breathe more air through the nose, and be better equipped to detect low concentrations of odor particles during intense exercise

3. Findings from an Iams study demonstrated that puppies fed diets high in DHA consistently outperformed puppies fed diets low in DHA (as measured by "trainability"). According to this study, the high DHA group was more than twice as successful as the lowest DHA group (68% vs 30%).

4. It was previously thought that a high-carb diet would enhance performance of working dogs (as it does in humans). However, findings from another Iams study indicate that a diet high in fatty acids (particularly Omega 6 and Omega 3 fatty acids in specific ratios) significantly improved the performance of bird hunting dogs. Additionally, the dogs fed the diet high in fatty acids maintained this performance even while working in intense heat conditions and had lower rectal temperatures following this strenuous exercise.

5. Recommendations in diet for working/performance dogs include:
1. Energy density of 4000 kcal ME/kg or greater
2. Fat content: 50-65% of calories or greater; 20% (as-fed basis)
3. Fatty Acid Profile: omega-6mega3 ratio between 5:1 to 10:1
4. DHA concentration at least 0.01% (as-fed basis)

6. The benefits of such a diet to working/performance dogs includes:
1. High palatability of food
2. Increased aerobic capacity
3. Increased utilization of fatty acids to provide energy for muscle contraction
4. Decreased level of inflammatory reactions in the body
5. Reduced feeding volumes
6. Increase DHA concentration in functional tissues to enhance trainability for young puppies

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