I run with my trusted partner Abbey. She is a lab/pit mix and I take her for runs up to about 2 hours long. She at times gets a bit sluggish towards the end. I know I need my nutrition so should I bring something for Abbey besides water? Maybe something like Sharkies or Powerbar Gel Blasts?
Ask a vet as a dog’s metabolism may be very different from our own.
aside from water I usually bring a cut up apple, some carrots and maybe a piece of freeze dried chicken for my Vizsla. Under an hour she just needs an apple.
edit… I wouldn’t give gels or powerbar… the sugar/caffeine isn’t good for them
Great question.
x2 on the ask a vet. Dogs digest much differently than humans do. They can: not chew things (swollow them whole or in big pieces), run a good distance, then vomit the thing up, chew it, and digest it. I know I can’t do that.
I don’t run with my dogs more than an 1:15 to 1:30. They are a GSD and GSD-Lab mix. Water is a must and cooling them by pouring water on their tongue and foot pads seems to help too. I’ve never given them anything to eat while running.
Dogs use fat the way humans use carbs - if I get the chance, I’ll pull a study for you.
I don’t know the bloat risk of labs, so whether that’s something you want to think about with respect to exercise and feeding. Deep-chested breeds are higher risk.
I feed my dogs a high-protein, grain-free (i.e. no filler) diet, and up their fat in line with their exercise.
I don’t feed any dogs except my hypoglycemic dog for exercise under 4 hrs, but for longer workouts, I feed them either dehydrated chicken or I bait their water with bits of raw fatty pork.
My farm dog runs all day long…no problem. Eats like a pig at night.
My bird dogs work their asses off in the field…no problem. Eat like pigs at night.
Water is important.
Perhaps you could get a little doggie fuel belt and stock it with doggie gels and a flask of custom nutrition.
MMMMM, Hammer Liver with Turkey Giblets.
Probably a question for a vet but I’m curious to know. I’ve run my dog Frito up to 17 miles and only stopped because I was sluggish and tired. He had water to drink but that was it. Not to say he wouldn’t have enjoyed a snack. I do know that dogs don’t necessarily need to eat as often as humans. I wouldn’t recommend giving a dog any sort of gummi treat. Just like their food is different than ours, if they were to eat snacks during a run, I would think that would be different as well.
Dogs use fat the way humans use carbs - if I get the chance, I’ll pull a study for you.
Please do, I think the statement is crap until I see otherwise.
Perhaps my wording wasn’t exact, but here’s what I’m talking about:
http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/128/12/2686S
The nutrient requirements of canine athletes are unique. Dogs have a greater capacity for fat oxidation than humans both at rest and during exercise. In dogs undertaking endurance exercise, such as sled dogs, high fat (>50% of energy) diets increase stamina and maximize energy production, and high protein (>30% of energy) diets prevent training-induced anemia.
Dog muscle is, therefore, more adapted to use fat than human muscle and conclusions derived from human experiments may not be valid in dogs.
In humans, high carbohydrate diets increase stamina because they increase muscle glycogen (Hultman et al. 1994
). In dogs, however, high fat/low carbohydrate diets increase stamina. Beagles ran for 20 miles (140 min) when fed high fat (53-67% of energy) diets but became exhausted after only 15 miles (100 min) when fed a moderate fat (29% of energy) diet (Downey et al. 1980). A high fat/high protein diet containing no carbohydrate resulted in better performance and less evidence of exertional rhabdomyolysis when fed to sled dogs (Kronfeld 1973). A high carbohydrate (59% of energy) low fat (16% of energy) diet fed to sled dogs resulted in higher resting muscle glycogen concentrations compared with a high fat (62% of energy), low carbohydrate (14% of energy) diet, but glycogen was used more rapidly during a race; thus the final muscle glycogen concentration was unchanged (Reynolds et al. 1996).
Two vets told me NOT to do feed my dog while running or right before. Dogs are programmed to go lie down and digest after eating. Feeding them does no good except make them throw up or lead to severe stomach problems.
If you do feed them make sure if its human food it does not contain Sorbitol or birch sugar. Any alcohol sugar like that causes liver failure and death in dogs and is a common ingredient in many sports foods and diabetic foods eg ALL hammer products, NUUN etc.
I’ve run 35 miles with my dog with no problems, just water from creeks.
Interesting, Teags…
I haven’t read any research, but like the guys before me for years, have always added fat to working dogs’ diets.
They never fail to amaze me.
Now somebody explain why the best gun dog in the world shits himself during thunderstorms. Poor Murphy hides in the closet and shakes ‘till its over - yet he’ll stand firm on point with shotguns going off 6’ from his head.
Now somebody explain why the best gun dog in the world shits himself during thunderstorms. Poor Murphy hides in the closet and shakes ‘till its over - yet he’ll stand firm on point with shotguns going off 6’ from his head.
Because he can tell the difference. It is not because it is loud, it is because he is afraid of storms and not afraid of guns.
Great question about the nutrition.
I haven’t started running long with any of my dogs yet because I am unsure of the impact of running 15km-30km will have on their paws. I keep thinking I’m wearing comfy sneaks while they have nothing to cushion their paws.
Something I can ask my vet next time we are in but anyone care to comment or have insight on that?
Thanks
With respect to their feet, I have found that as you train them up in distance not only does their fitness adapt, but so do their feet. I get a lot of ‘on their feet’ time for my dogs to help harden their paws up. Concrete is great for that.
My one dog has done distances of 39.5k running and 61k hiking with no booties (he’s got a thing about his feet in any case) and been absolutely fine - he can hike on hard ice and through soft water in the same day with no problems with his feet. They’ve toughened and adapted.
That said, dog booties do help stop tears/cuts on paws.
A suggestion - try to contact folks who do Iditarod or other dog endurance event to see what they do.
get the dog one of those vests to carry stuff, that way you could put a bottle and some gu in it, that way you wont have to look like a fool wearing a fuelbelt
the dogs probaby wont notice a difference
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My german short-hair pointer gets 2 of the 4 bottles on the FB and if we’re over 90’, she gets a dog biscuit (Costco special) starting at 60’. This is a GREAT question!
Interesting, Teags…
I haven’t read any research, but like the guys before me for years, have always added fat to working dogs’ diets.
They never fail to amaze me.
Now somebody explain why the best gun dog in the world shits himself during thunderstorms. Poor Murphy hides in the closet and shakes ‘till its over - yet he’ll stand firm on point with shotguns going off 6’ from his head.
b/c, unlike humans, that dog knows guns dont kill, thunderstorms do.
I never feed my dog until well after exercise. I offer her water periodically, sometimes she takes it, sometimes not.
There is a distinct risk of bloat and other stomach problems.
For the record her longest day was 60 km. 40km behind the montain bike, and 20 km brick run. In the parking lot afterward she grabbed her ball and insisted I throw it for her.