nutrition when conditioning

I feel like they peak just fine. The issue is more the window in which to work within. A weight the window is much smaller, less room for error.

The process is tedious because every minute may be the minute that is enough for today.

I also know people who stay a pound under the entire keep and feed up the last two weeks. One theory, on show night he will be as strong as all get out and will work his weight down to where he has been for the last six weeks. Most matches last app. 50 minutes. At 50 minutes he will be in a good spot not in unchartered waters.

Good series of posts.

S

 

Are there certain foods and nutes that are bad? I read somewhere that certain foods should be avoided at times as they can cause the body temp to rise from the body trying to digest and convert?

 

I'm not a fan a feeding fish when working hard. It is a great maintenance type protein. In my experience when feeding fish the dogs tend to heat the following day. I am not a nutritionist nor a scientist just some personal experiences.

I tried it on a couple different dogs and the results the same.

It breaks down slow and it takes the dogs some time to digest/assimilate in comparison to chicken or beef. I like it in the colder months when not working.

S

 

I feed fish in the winter/colder months if not working. If the dog is working really hard I avoid the fish.

I feed a lot of fat in comparison to most.

Go to mushing.com It is a sled dog magazine. Scroll down to feeding the sledding dog. Great articles.

I have fed pork at times. I use to get a box of meat scraps from a local butcher. I fed whatever was in the box. Lots of pork at times. Never had an issue.

S

 

Sportsvet.com

This site has some good articles as well. Optimum feeding the Canine is the title of one I think. Pretty good site.

Lots of plans work. When I am feeding dogs price factors is a lot. The box of scraps from the butcher has any and everything meat related inside. The dog gets whatever I grab as I go by his/her spot.

When the dog is on a set work schedule his feed pan is a lot different. When I know he will need to be ready 8 weeks from now his feed pan changed 8 weeks ago. It takes a dog at least 8 weeks to acclimate to a change in feed in order for that feed to be his fuel source.

I feed a lot of fat when working the dog. No pork or fish when working. Chicken fat and beef fat are the staples as fat sources. Chicken and beef as protein sources.

S

 

In the winter I feed a lot of deer meat as well. (It is free, LOL) I am not sure about the creatine levels. I would have to look that up. It is not like I'm a hundred years old, and it is not like the last 30 years has had great strides in evolution, but deer meat is a lot different now than 30 years ago. When I was a kid in rural NC the only people that hunted were hunters. It was not nearly as popular as it is now. Deer ate what they could find, bean fields early in the fall, acorns a little later. They had to be hunted in these areas. Fast forward, more people are hunting now than ever. More people hunting horns than meat. Deer are afforded hundreds upon hundreds of pounds of corn around here. Deer meat is a much fattier cut that it was when I was a kid. Now being corn fed I am a bigger fan of deer meat now more than ever. It is still a lean cut but the fat layer between the skin and meat is more present now than I ever remember.

I feed greens as well. The key to using foliage/ruffage is adding something to help break it down. There is not a lot of nutritional value per se, but add some raw beef tripe as a probiotic and the greens have a benefit, more so than greens alone.

A lot has changed since the days of Tudor. Back then and into the 70's and 80's dogs were fed a lot like humans. So when human athletes went high carb/low protein for energy in a distance event the dog population tended to do the same. Over time the trends moved to carnivore type feeding with more protein. As more study was put into it was found dogs need more fat to perform, more protein to recover and less to no carbs for performance. Things change with time.

I am not doubting Mr. Tudor but if a dog was fed a high protein/high carb/low fat diet I could imagine the cardio would suffer as it takes a lot of heat to assimilate that type of feeding. Lower either of the first two and increase the fat and it is a different dog.

Great series of post.

S

 

Yes. It takes 8-10 weeks for a dog to acclimate to a different energy source. If a dog is fed a high protein/low fat diet and switched he will continue to look for the protein as both his energy source and a means of recovery. I will look for the artice/scientific data. One is the Sportsvet.com "feeding the canine athlete' and the other is from the mushing dog magazine.

The body will get use to it rather quickly as far as the stool is concerned. If it is a relly crappy normal diet and switched to a good keep diet there will be some short term coat improvements too. But the dog's body will look for what he has been fed.
It takes 8 weeks or so to acclimate and switch energy sources.

Brood dogs get fed one way and up and comers fed another way. And yes as soon as the hot weather breaks the fat content for all the up and comers starts a gradual increase, the protein a slight fade and the carb portion becomes a distant 3rd.