Food Portions for Canine Athletes

"How much should I feed my dog?"  I am asked this question more frequently than any other. It is usually followed quickly by..."the back of the bag says I should feed between 4-6 cups".  I then scratch my head. No wonder why there are so many overweight dogs. Being an overweight gun dog as well as being one expected to perform in the field is not the dogs fault, but the owners. If you want your dog to hunt at it's optimum level then please don't feed it the same amount every day. Learn to read your dog and properly react to it's nutritional needs.

In blue collar terms(since I'm a blue collar type of guy) let's think of your trusty hunting partner as a coal burning stove. The hotter and longer you want it to burn, the more coal you need to shovel into it. Just like us humanoids, dogs need calories to convert into working energy. Some days we need to burn more, some days we need less. As humans we have the ability to make this type of cognitive judgement. But it is up to us as conscientious dogs owner to determine "how much" for them. The very worse thing we can do is feed our dogs the exact same amount every day. You would be overweight too if you ate the same amount of calories everyday without "rationing" your intake to meet your energy output!





Athletically fit dogs equal more game in the bag

 
  

There are all sorts of complex mathematical equations floating around for how much we are "supposed" to feed our dogs. E=MCWhatever. It just doesn't make sense in my world of hard charging gun dogs. No dog is alike, just like people and snowflakes. The only true way is to care for your hunting companion and that means not just during the season. Find your dogs "benchmark" of food portion size and them adjust up or down given the amount of work and environmental conditions. Work and Weather can play a huge factor in determining how many calories your dog will burn a day. During the hot summer months dogs metabolism slows making it necessary to ration back food portions.  Find the benchmark by set trialing measured feeding portions, not "free feeding". By free feeding I mean, just putting out heaps of food and your dog eats when it wants and how much it wants. Although some dogs can control their intake, many can not and need to be fed strict portion sizes. Investigate how many calories per cup the food you are supplying gives your dog. Find the average "day in the life" and feed accordingly. If food is left that can be a quick notifier of to much. Of course during days of higher than normal physical activity the caloric intake needs to be increased accordingly. Closely monitor slight weight fluctuations up or down. If your dog is experiencing drastic weight increases or decreases, contact your vet for a thorough check up. There are countless variables that can effect your dogs weight including internal parasites, poor quality nutrition, stress, infections, disease, and all of which need the immediate attention of a trained professional to diagnose

I recommend feeding twice a day. Some professionals will disagree with me. But rationality speaks volumes. Dog's digest and metabolize smaller portions more completely thus making for a cleaner burning digestive system. I.E. they get more out of small amounts and breaking their feed time in half makes for a cleaner burning engine. Once you have determined the overall rate of feed per day per caloric needs, I suggest split feeding that amount.  More during the A.M. feeding than I do the P.M. Day time metabolic rates are higher because of the obvious increase in activity than the slower evening time feeding...but that might not be the case if your feeding a kennel of Blue Tick Coon Hounds! So plan accordingly and use the best human quality available in your arsenal...common sense.

Nobody knows your canine athlete like you do. Don't let anybody tell you any differently. Rely on your own perception and due diligence. Stay on top of the game for the betterment of your dogs health and well being. This means a close watch and daily changes either up or down in the amount of food you feed your trusty four legged hunting partner given how much or how little they need the calories. Oh, and watch the treats for god's sake!

Best of Luck Out There,

Mark