Feeding during a keep?

NUTRITION: RENDERING SENSE INTO FEEDING FAT | Mushing.com

Great article on feeding the canine athlete. Youtube search the author. He has great videos on feeding the canine competitor.

Search Results for “feed” – www.sportsvet.com

Another good set of articles.

The science in working and feeding dogs is golden. Tons of different methods. What gets lost most often and is usually the factor in a dog not taking the keep or blowing hot in 15-20 minutes is water content. Most dogs that are lean and somewhat fit can go 30+ minutes at any given time. Then we work them and change their hydration level and the dog blows out before he really gets going. Why? Water content not correct.

A dog's total body weight is bones, muscle, fat, organs, hide and water. The first thing we do is start work and adjust feed. The first thing to fall is water, then fat then muscle. The hide/ski (coat), the bone and the organs will not change. Water should not be a factor in the dog's weight and using it to dial to a number is a slippery slope. A dog with normal functioning kidneys will piss himself to a proper hydration level. If he is a 40lb dog and he weight 40lbs if his fat and muscle are drawn down and water makes up the different he will run hot. If he is carrying a bit much of fat and muscles and his weight is drawn down with water removal he will run hot as well.

Water is never mentioned as most want to know about using million dollar slatmills and using supplements and the juice/gas and how ol' Joe from down the road did it.

Don't dehydrate the dog and don't overhydrate the dog while allowing the dog to dictate his state of hydration and all the tricks mentioned above (coupled with a good dog) will make a dumb ass look like a brain surgeon. Miss on the water and that analogy gets flipped.

S

 

Creatine sucess is also based on hydration.

S

 

Yes, water content affects weight. A dog can be a a true 40, can be called at 40 and show up at 40 and still be 'off-weight'.

Most of the time it can be attributed to water.

When worked a dog's organs, his coat and his bones will not change in weight hardly at all. Negligible at most.

What changes first is water content, then a loss of fat, followed by a shift in muscle weight. If that 40lb dog is pulled two tight, stripped of too much fat, and then the difference is made up from water the dog will more than likely blow hot from being 'wet'.

If the dog is heavy due to muscle mass or excess fat and the needed weight is removed via water, the dog will more than likely 'tie-up'.

Both pretty much look the same just the 'wet' affect usually shows up a bit quicker than the 'dry' affect. But the results are the same.

A not so scientific study can be done by watching dogs straight off the chain, that are fairly lean and fit, but have not been fed or watered via a 'keep'. That dog can come off the chain a do 30+ minutes of 'work' and just be tired and worn out at the end. Odds are he does not 'blow' or 'tie-up'. The reason is a dog with healthy kidneys will piss himself to his correct water weight.

The second part of the study will be that same dog can come off the chain and do 30 minutes of work gets to the show and after 10-12 minutes of standing in front of the confirmation judge 'blows out or ties-up'. The difference being is that his natural water weight was missed when we put ourselves in control.

And then late one Saturday night someone says he took to the keep good, was on weight and never did that in that 30 minute work off the chain.

Then, "it must have been the carpet mill". "It must have been the B vitamins". "it must have been the gas/juice". "they must have rubbed me".

But hardly ever, almost never, is it, "damn, I had a good dog and fucked him up".

Almost never. LOL

S

 

That is true but it goes a bit deeper. One of the old 'truths' was pick your dog's best weight and then add 1.

A person can miss that ideal weight by one, but have the water weight correct for the weight they chose and still have a shot (and from there-the better the dog the better the shot)

I was never a big fan of California Jack but he put out one of (if not) the best bulldog books going. It was such a good book that if he changed the name and took away the "Pitbull" and the pit bull stigma, it would have sold millions of copies as the information is super. He was really good at compiling information and putting it out to the masses.

He did a study once and found the average show length is :50-:55 minutes. I didn't believe it so I pulled out some old 'journals and times' and did the math. He was on point.

What I found that threw me a bit (and to get back to the original topic) was that a ton of multi winning dogs did so at different weights. So I dug deeper into that rabbit hole and found that dog's do have a true weight, but a lot also have a true operating window and the common denominator in those differing weights is water content.

I do believe a dog has a true 'ideal weight' but I also believe a lot of these dogs have that operating window. That 40lb dog that gets called at 39 and his three body weights of water, fat and muscle that are manipulated by man are correct, he can be a good dog at 39, maybe a better dog at 40 and a good dog at 41. But if that even better 40lb dog's water content is missed at 40lbs. both the history and the odds says he is out of there in less than :15-20.

And based on the dog, his composition, his natural cardio-pulmonary system (before kept or worked) and the abilities of the conditioner can have sometimes have a pretty big window. CH Charlie was worked 4 times. Twice at 46, once a 45 and once at 46.5. On his first it was called at 46 and he came in at 45.5 (missed the weight but he was correct for 45.5). He did well. In his second he went at 46, again correct, but I thought he was a better dog at 46 that 45.5. His third was at 45 but the other group was notorious for coming in a pound over, paying the forfeit and using that to buy an advantage, so we came in a pound over which sort of nullified both forfeits. (Always a part of the game). His fourth gathering was called at 47 and he showed at 46.5. Again, he was correct and performed as expected. Same dog but called from 45 to 47, with true weight being 46 but his operating window was 45-47.

Then as we travel down the rabbit hole of weight it is the ":30 minutes in factor". When the dog is a true 40 and after 30 or so minutes, he is now performing at 39 and dependent upon liquid loss could be a bit less. Miss the water content on this dog low at 40 when he gets down to 39, he may as well be 35 as he will fade quickly. Miss high and if gets thru the first ten minutes he will more than likely hide your shortcomings. (and not to speak ill of my fellow dog men, this happens way more often than we would like to think) This has always been alleviated by choosing his weight and then adding a pound, especially on a young dog. There is more room for error on a big dog than a small dog, mostly based on basic math.

As always, babbling. I am working a shit load of hours and the dayshifts and nightshifts are all sort of running together. Most days I do not know whether I am coming or going. It is near 3AM and I am wide awake knowing damn well I have a 12 hour shift staring me right in the face in just a handful of hours. But here I sit. LOL

S