Energy and the Canine Athlete

Understanding how your canine athlete uses energy is important when trying to improve performance. Fatigue can lead to a sluggish response  to commands and injury resulting in an overall diminished performance. Preventing or decreasing fatigue may be the difference between winning or merely finishing.

Canine athletes derive energy primarily from fats in the form of free fatty acids (FFA) and carbohydrates in the form of glycogen. FFA’s are the preferred source of energy for endurance activity. In addition, fat stores in the dog are generally large and easily replenished with a balanced diet.

Glycogen is necessary for the initial minutes of activity and for bursts of energy such as sprinting. Glycogen stores, however, are relatively small and not so easily replenished. Dogs have relatively small glycogen stores in their muscles that can be quickly depleted.  In general, a dog on a well balanced diet will replace, on average, only 40% of pre-exercise levels of glycogen in a 24-hour period. Consider the canine athlete working or competing on consecutive days. That dog will eventually deplete its glycogen stores leading to fatigue and diminished performance.

Fortunately, we can improve glycogen replacement by taking advantage of GLUT4 pathways on muscle cells that are active during exercise and for short periods after exercise. By providing a “good carbohydrate” within 30 minutes of exercise, glycogen stores can be refilled to approximately 85% of pre-exercise levels. That’s more than twice the glycogen restored!

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