Sled dog sports today include a wide variety of dogs and activities and are practiced in almost every kind of climate. There is no one perfect diet that will meet the requirements of every sled dog under every condition because the right diet for a dog depends upon its genetic makeup, environment, age, physical state, training regimen, and the food sources that are available.
Sled dog diets usually consist of commercial dry food, meat-based food, or a combination of the two. Dry foods are convenient to store and feed and, if formulated for working dogs, may not require supplementation except when the dogs are working several hours a day. Fresh meat products are usually more difficult to store because they require freezing, and they contain a lot of water (most contain around 75 percent water) and therefore take up more space per calorie fed than dry food.
Meat feeds are, however, extremely palatable to dogs, and they may help maintain hydration because they contain so much water. Dry foods may experience some nutrient loss due to processing, although manufacturers usually compensate for this, while meat products are more susceptible to spoilage. High-quality feeds from both categories are readily available in all but the most remote locations.
Meat-based products should be dried, canned, or kept frozen until they are used. Commercial dry foods should be used within six months of the milling date and should contain adequate preservatives so that their fats and vitamins do not spoil in storage. Keeping dry products in cool, dry, pest-free environments will help keep them fresh, and once a bag has been opened, it should be kept away from heat, light, and air. Cleanliness in food preparation is also very important. Clean food and water containers help to reduce the risk of diarrheas caused by bacteria.
When choosing a product or combination of products to feed your sled dogs, remember that a sled dog's nutrient requirements change significantly depending on its age, environment, and physiological state. You may wish to choose one product that will meet your dogs' requirements for all of these situations, or you may choose a feed that will act as a base that you can supplement as the need arises. In either event, choose a product that is relatively high in fat (15 percent minimum), relatively high in protein (25 percent minimum), fresh, and of the highest quality available. (Note that low-quality commercial foods will not maintain a working sled dog.)
The very best way to monitor your dog's nutritional status is to run your hands over it. Perform this examination at least every two or three days. (In extreme conditions, it is important to keep an even closer watch on a sled dog's weight.) The ribs, spine, and hip bones should not be buried under an inch of fat, nor should they protrude, but they should be easy to feel. A well-conditioned sled dog should be lean and muscled, not skinny. If you are unsure of what the ideal appearance and feel of your individual dogs should be, solicit the help of an experienced musher or veterinarian. Also, take every opportunity to feel and look at the dogs that are doing well in your particular mushing activity.
It is important to note that there is no formula or table that will tell you how much you should feed your dogs. Formulas and tables will give you a place to start, but they should not be relied upon for long-term feeding guidelines. There is too much variation in metabolism among dogs and the environments they live in, let alone the workloads they perform, to rely on an "average" requirement. However, an "average" 44-pound husky living on its chain in the summertime will require around 30 calories per pound of body weight. An average 30 percent protein, 20 percent fat dry dog food (on an as-fed basis) contains about 2,050 calories per pound. Therefore, this "typical" maintenance dog will require about 101/2 ounces of dog food per day. If a dog is genetically more "husky," it may require less food; if it has more hound in its background, it may require more. Again, monitor your dogs' nutritional status with your hands.
As you gain experience in feeding your dogs, you will find that you will frequently need to change the amount you feed them in order to maintain them at their optimal weight. When you begin training and each time you increase the workload, your dogs will require more food. During cold or wet periods, they will need more food just to maintain their normal body temperature. One of the most difficult periods of time to maintain a dog's body weight is during the fall when the weather is often cold and wet and the training miles are increasing. During such periods, anticipate your dogs' increasing nutritional needs and begin to feed them more before they start to lose weight. During the most demanding periods of time, a sprint dog may require two to three times what it was eating during the off-season, and a long-distance racing dog may require three to six times its off-season requirement.
It may be difficult-if not impossible-to get your dog to eat enough of a standard 30 percent protein, 20 percent fat commercial dry food to meet its needs during Alaska winters or under racing conditions. This problem can be overcome by feeding the first 2,000 to 3,000 calories in commercial food and meeting the remaining caloric requirement with a fat supplement. This amount of commercial food will usually meet a sled dog's vitamin, mineral, and protein requirements, and the fat supplement will satisfy its need for extra calories. If you choose to feed meat as the basic portion of your dogs' diet, balanced commercial frozen meat products are available.
Keep in mind that there are limits to the amount of fat that can be supplemented. Working dogs will do very well on diets where up to 60 percent of the calories (35 to 40 percent of the dry matter) comes from fats. When fat intake is raised to 80 percent of the calories (about 55 to 60 percent of the dry matter) for periods of longer than seven days, dogs can become anemic and suffer a decline in appetite and performance.
Some mushers prefer to mix their own meat ration and add some commercial dry food to it as a source of vitamins, minerals, and carbohydrates. If you choose this route, be sure to enlist the help of an experienced musher or nutritionist, as it is not always easy to balance a ration this way. Recently a few commercial dry products designed to be fed with meat have become available. These products are enriched with vitamins and minerals and take some, although not all, of the guesswork out of feeding non-commercial meat-based diets.
Most domestic dogs spend most of their adult life in the state known as maintenance. This is also the nutritional state of most sled dogs during the off-season. During this time, there is a tendency to feed rations that are poorer in quality than those fed during the working season. Recent research results indicate that dogs maintained through the off-season on high-quality rations are better prepared to resume training because their bodies are more able to mobilize and burn fat during exercise. It also seems to take several weeks for a dog's metabolism to adapt to a high-fat diet. The drawback of feeding premium dog food year around is that it can be easy to put extra weight on a dog in the off-season, so watch your dogs closely and adjust their portions as necessary.
In addition to changes in weather and training, dogs will experience different nutrient requirements during pregnancy, lactation, growth, and old age, and you will need to adjust their diet and food intake during these times.
Pregnancy and lactation. A female should be maintained on a performance-type ration throughout pregnancy and lactation. She can be fed at maintenance levels for the first four weeks; however, from the fifth to the ninth week, her intake should be increased by 10 percent each week so that when she whelps, she is getting about 11/2 times what she was eating in the maintenance state. As a rule of thumb, her food intake should be increased by 30 percent of maintenance for each puppy she is nursing. Thus, if she only has one puppy, she should be fed 130 percent of maintenance. These suggestions are just guidelines-remember to run your hands over her every day or so and adjust her food intake as needed. A lactating dog should be neither skinny nor obese.
Puppies. Puppies usually weigh between 10 and 14 ounces at birth and should gain weight every day after the third day of life. Weight gain is an excellent way to monitor the nutritional and overall health status of a litter of pups. If supplemental feedings are required due to a health problem with the mother or pups, slow or negative weight gain is often the first noticeable sign. Enlist the help of a veterinarian or other experienced person the first time you attempt to raise orphan pups or even supplement nursing ones.
Puppies can begin to eat solid food at 3 weeks of age. Puppy food is recommended for the first 4 months of their lives. A flat pie pan with soaked dry food or a meat ration is a good way to entice them to start eating. As they walk through the food, they will lick their paws and realize it is something good to eat. Over the next three to four weeks, they will consume more food, so they can usually be weaned between 6 and 7 weeks of age. Before, during, and after weaning, be sure that less aggressive pups are maintaining a normal rate of growth (since there is no standard rate, compare the growth rates of the less aggressive pups and their littermates).
After 4 months of age, pups should be fed a premium food at a rate that keeps them in optimal body condition but not so much that they become fat or grow too fast (maximum growth rate of 21/2 pounds per week for huskies, 3 to 31/2 pounds per week for larger Northern breeds). Puppies from lines free of bone diseases may be fed free choice but should still be monitored for normal weight gain.
Studies in Labradors and Great Danes have shown that puppies that are overfed are at higher risk of developing diseases of their bones, cartilage, and ligaments. There tend to be fewer problems with hip dysplasia, osteochondrosis (a problem involving cartilage and bone maturation), and panosteitis (an inflammation in the long bones) in the Alaskan husky than in most other working breeds. These problems are, however, still fairly prevalent in some lines of Siberians and malamutes. The potential for these problems can be greatly reduced by restricting food intake during the most rapid periods of growth. Such mild restriction will not prevent a puppy from reaching its normal full size, but it may take it a bit longer to do so.
Puppies from lines where these diseases have been observed should only be fed free choice during the first 3 to 4 months of life. From 4 months through the time they reach their adult size, they should be fed a mixture of 50 percent puppy food/performance ration and 50 percent adult maintenance ration or 100 percent adult ration. The adult ration used should be intended for maintenance of adult animals but shown to meet puppy requirements (this information will be on the label).
Older dogs. The aged dog has a slightly decreased ability to digest and absorb nutrients. It also takes an older dog longer to move a meal through its gastrointestinal tract. Some nutritionists have suggested that older dogs be fed diets lower in protein than their younger counterparts on the assumption that all older dogs have some degree of kidney disease. Recent studies have failed to support this theory. Most older dogs will do well on the same ration you use to feed your younger dogs in the off-season. Occasionally a dog will have trouble digesting all the fat in this ration or may become constipated on it. If these problems arise, try feeding a diet lower in fat or higher in fiber, respectively.
Water is the most essential nutrient. While deficiencies in protein, fat, vitamins, or minerals will affect a dog's health, it may take days or months before such problems are noticeable. In contrast, dehydration affects an animal's health immediately and in severe cases can even lead to death within hours if left untreated.
A dog gains water by drinking it directly, by eating foods that contain water, and by generating water through metabolism. Water is lost each day through urine, feces, and water vapor in the breath. A non-working dog requires about 1 ounce of water per pound of body weight per day. An "average" 44-pound husky thus requires around 11/2 quarts of water per day.
Anything that increases a dog's daily water loss will increase its daily requirement. When a dog exercises, it exhales more air per minute than when it is at rest. The exhaled air contains water, and the colder and drier the outside air, the more water that is lost. Dogs also lose significant water through panting when the weather is warm. Increased food intakes associated with exercise lead to increased fecal output and increased amounts of metabolic waste, which must be filtered through the kidneys. Exercise thus leads to increased water loss not only through the breath, but also through the stool and urine. A dog's water requirement may thus increase twofold if it participates in open-class sprint racing, for instance, and three to fivefold if it participates in long-distance racing. Keep in mind that symptoms such as diarrhea and vomiting also increase water loss.
It is difficult to estimate a dog's water requirement exactly, but it is important to understand how environment, training, and illness may affect it so that you can anticipate these changes and offer your dogs more water when they need it. During warm weather, it is best to have clean, fresh water available at all times. When the temperature drops below freezing, water consumption can be encouraged by offering warm, baited water. The bait can come from any source that will increase palatability (such as dry food, meat, cooked fish, or garlic powder). The bait should mix well in water and must not be spoiled or soured.
About 11/2 quarts of water should be offered two to three hours before training. Some dogs will not drink this amount all at once but will readily consume several smaller portions offered within a short period of time. Small amounts, such as a pint, can be offered immediately after exercise to help cool the dogs down. More, about a quart, can then be offered when they have completely cooled down. Water intake can be further encouraged by offering 1 to 11/2 quarts of baited water before feeding or mixed in with a dog's food.
These recommendations are intended as a starting point and should be adjusted according to the needs of your dogs. You can monitor your dogs' hydration status by observing their hunger for snow and by examining their skin and gums. In a well-hydrated dog, the tent made by lifting up the skin on the shoulder blades should disappear within one to two seconds, and the white spot made by pressing on a pink area of the gums should disappear in one second or less. If either of these processes take longer, the dog is probably dehydrated and, depending on the severity of the problem, may need subcutaneous or intravascular fluid supplementation.
Remember that these guidelines are only intended to help you begin your feeding and watering programs. Your best feedback on how well you're doing will come from the dogs themselves. Watch them carefully and learn as much as you can from experienced mushers whom you respect.
Proper dog nutrition is a blend of science and art-you can get a brain-full of science by reading, but you can only develop the actual skills by practice. So keep your eyes and ears open, and go have fun with your dogs!