Energy intake and expenditure of improvised explosive device detection dogs

Abstract

Improvised explosive device detection (IDD) dogs explore up to 40 km of land daily and therefore have energetic demands that may be above the National Research Council’s requirement for working dogs. This study was designed to quantify metabolic energy intake (MEI) and total energy expenditure (TEE) in a group of IDD dogs. Two groups of dogs that had undergone different training protocols (CP1, n=8 and CP2, n=11) underwent a 5-day deployment simulation that consisted of combined road clearing, orbit and point-to-point activities and lasted approximately 9 h per day. The CP1 dogs were fed according to the IDD Marine Corps Manual, while CP2 dogs were offered additional calories based on pilot study data of energy expenditure. The MEI was calculated based on feed intake rates and chemical composition of the diets. TEE was quantified using the doubly-labelled water technique in 2 of the CP1 dogs and 7 of the CP2 dogs. During the 5-day deployment simulation the MEI ranged from 189-310 kcal/bodyweight (BW)0.75 per day, with the CP2 dogs at the higher end because they were offered more feed. The TEE ranged between 375-507 kcal/BW0.75 per day, above the MEI, suggesting the dogs were in negative energy balance and metabolic reserves within the body were combusted for energy production. These findings reveal that energy requirements of deployed military working dogs are higher than previously published metabolic energy requirements of working dogs.

Water requirements of canine athletes during multi‐day exercise

“…Unconditioned dogs had significantly lower TBW as a % of bodyweight using both methods (indicator dilution, P = .01; regression, P = .03). Highly conditioned dogs averaged 178.8 ± 4.7 km over 5 days of exercise in temperatures between 21°C and 29°C, with average daily water turnover of 4.88 ± 0.95 L/day (23.3% ± 4.4% TBW/day), whereas unconditioned dogs covered significantly less distance (155.8 ± 2.4 km) during the same period, but had a similar rate of water turnover (4.93 ± 0.33 L/day; 22.7% ± 2.5% TBW/day; P = .44). Bland‐Altman analysis showed low bias and good agreement between the 2 methods for calculating TBW.…”

“…For the sake of illustration, we will assume that 2 L of daily water turnover was lost through a nonevaporative route (ie, urination and fecal water loss), and that the balance of the daily water turnover was lost to evaporation, resulting in dissipation of metabolic heat. In Study #1, dogs expended approximately 3,446 kcal/day of energy, and assuming that 2.6 L of water were lost each day by evaporation, these dogs dissipated 1,404 kcal of metabolic heat by evaporative water loss, or approximately 41% of their daily production of metabolic heat. In Study #2, the unconditioned and conditioned dogs produced 5,271 and 6,298 kcal of metabolic heat each day, respectively .…”

“…In Study #1, dogs expended approximately 3,446 kcal/day of energy, and assuming that 2.6 L of water were lost each day by evaporation, these dogs dissipated 1,404 kcal of metabolic heat by evaporative water loss, or approximately 41% of their daily production of metabolic heat. In Study #2, the unconditioned and conditioned dogs produced 5,271 and 6,298 kcal of metabolic heat each day, respectively . Both groups of dogs had similar rates of daily water turnover, and based on the assumption of 2.9 L of water lost by evaporation (1,566 kcal of metabolic heat dissipated), unconditioned and conditioned dogs dissipated approximately 30% and 25% of their daily metabolic heat production through water evaporation.…”

“…Study #2 was conducted using 9 explosive detection dogs (2 unconditioned and 7 highly conditioned) from a single kennel while conducting a 5‐day simulated deployment exercise on the kennel premises as previously described . Unconditioned dogs (1 intact male, 1 intact female; 46 ± 3 months old) were 34.5 ± 3.3 kg body mass (BCS, 7/9) and highly conditioned dogs (3 intact males, 4 intact females; 44 ± 2 months old) were 28.5 ± 3.4 kg body mass (BCS, 4/9).…”

“…Exercising dogs can expend 6,000‐12,000 kcal of energy per day during prolonged submaximal exercise, potentially increasing daily water requirements depending on how much of this heat is dissipated by evaporation. Water consumption has been studied in resting dogs, hunting dogs in cold climates, working sled dogs, and ultramarathon distance sled dogs, with all exercise studies describing increased water requirements of dogs exercising under cold conditions (–6 to −20°C).…”