English Setter Nutrition IV

ENGLISH SETTER NUTRITION IV

QUIK LINKS to the ENGLISH SETTER GALLERIES

OPTIMUM PERFORMANCE in the FIELD

THE GOAL IS A HEALTHY PET & A PREMIER HUNTING PARTNER!

Dr. Jocelynn Jacobs, DVM has given permission for excerpts from her much needed and timely book to be quoted on this website. My Sincere Thanks to Dr. "J."

Dr. Jocelynn Jacobs, DVM, is owner of "Countryside Animal Hospital," Freeland, Michigan and operator of one of the few Canine Semen Banks in Michigan. "Future Champions Cryogenics, LLC" she has written the first book on nutrition for performance dogs. She is the Breeder/Owner of CH Alaskan Malamutes, competing and winning in the show ring, competing in crosscountry skiing behind her dogs in harness (skijoring) as well as, competing and winning with her husband, Tom, in sled racing with their beautiful dogs.

"The goal of their breeding program and kennel has been to produce dogs with sound conformation and temperaments that excel on the trail and in the show ring."

"If you enjoy dog sports, and want your dog to reach their peak performance potential through nutrition, this book is for you! In these pages you will find important nutritional information that will help improve your dog's strength and endurance whether your dog is a hunting or tracking dog running in the field or marsh all day, herding dog gathering sheep during a herding trial, sled dog running long distance races, agility dog racing through obstacle courses, or conformation dog competing on the campaign trail."

APPLICATION TO PERFORMANCE DOGS

These guidelines reprinted with permission from the book "Performance Dog Nutrition by Dr. Jocelynn Jacobs, DVM

1. Look at the Ingredient Panel. Is animal meat the primary source of protein, or are their more plant sources of protein listed than animal sources?

2. Call your pet food company to ask about their protein digestibility. Do they use animal feeding trials to determine the quality and digestibility of their protein? Is their food's digestibility high (80 to 90%)?

Here are 4 things you should remember when determining which food to feed when considering protein:

3. Do a calculation to determine if 30-35% of the calories in your dog's diet are from protein. This is what most literature currently recommends for performance dogs [Note: You have to convert the "as fed" percentage to a "dry matter" percentage (see Chapter 3).].

4. Most importantly, monitor your dog's health and energy level. When fed a new diet, if your dog becomes sluggish, unwilling to work, becomes ill, or doesn't heal quickly from injuries, he may be suffering from a protein deficiency.

"Because dog food labels always report their nutrient levels on an "as fed" basis, to compare a dry and a canned food you need to compare the amounts of nutrients on a dry matter basis to even the playing field."

"An easy rule of thumb to estimate the percent of a given nutrient in canned food on a dry matter basis is to multiply the percentage of the nutrient by four."

However, because canned food also contains 75% water, the dog has to eat much more canned food than dry food to consume the same number of calories from fat, protein, and carbohydrates. Nutrients in canned food are diluted with water.

"Most research on performance dogs recommends 30-35% of the calories in a dog's diet come from protein (based on a "dry matter" basis, not an "as fed" basis in the guaranteed analysis of a dog food label).1

Page 88, Dr. Jocelynn Jacobs, DVM, "Performance Dog Nutrition"

"You also should keep your performance dog on a high quality protein diet even during the non-training/non-competition season. Some performance dog owners switch to poorer quality food during the off season to save money. However, if you feed a poor quality diet during the off-season, deficiencies may occur and can cause a set back in health and stamina during the next training season. If you think a performance diet is too rich during the off-season, just decrease the amount fed to your dog each day so they don't get overweight. If money is the concern, then at least switch to a high quality performance food two months prior to the training season to ensure strong, healthy tissues during competition. Remember - having high quality and highly digestible proteins available all year long will keep your dog in tip-top shape for training and competition season."

Page 87, 88, Dr. Jocelynn Jacobs, DVM, "Performance Dog Nutrition"

1 A. Reynolds, "The Importance of Protein," Mushing March/April 1993, pg 27-29

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