Issue 3 | May/June 2017 | $9.95
Creating an Effective K9 Unit Part 1
FLSA and the K9 Handler
Canine Care & Handler Compensation
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Building a Better Dog GOOD, CLEAN BULKING FOR YOUR K9 PARTNER By Jill Cline, MS, PhD Royal Canin
D
ogs are similar to humans in that an athletic body is the result of three things: genetics, strength and conditioning workouts to remodel muscle tissues, and good nutrition.
Genetics
Genetically, some lines of dogs are bred to be more muscular than others. For example, Greyhounds have significantly more muscle mass than German Shepherds. Body type and genetic predisposition to muscle mass can be traced back to original function of the breed. For example, Labrador retrievers were originally bred to swim in the icy North Atlantic retrieving fish that escaped the nets of coastal fisherman, therefore Labradors tend to have 10-15 percent more body fat than German Shepherd Dogs and 15-20 percent more than German Short Haired Pointers. What does that mean? If you handle a Labrador, it may be more of a struggle to keep your dog lean and muscular than the guy who handles a German Short Haired Pointer. Most pointed-eared breeds tend to have moderate fat mass. It is not possible to overcome genetic predisposition, however the right exercise/conditioning program coupled with the right diet can improve and enhance muscle mass.
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Building Strength & Muscle Mass Dog muscles, like human muscles, get bigger in one of two ways: through neuromuscular efficiency or increasing muscle fiber size. For every action and movement you or your dog performs, the central nervous system controls it. The brain will decide which muscles to contract, how many muscle fibers to contract, with what intensity to contract, and how often to contract. Figure 1 illustrates the way in which muscle contraction is initiated. Basically, the brain sends a signal through the spinal cord to the outlying nerves and to the “motor unit” which has a nerve that talks to the muscle cell saying “contract.” The more motor units that contract, the stronger the overall muscle movement.
Figure 1: The Brain Initiates Muscle
Movement by Calling on Motor Units to Contract • Motor unit is a motor neuron and all the muscle fibers it controls • One motor unit controls some fibers in a muscle • Smaller motor units provide finer control (ex. eye muscles)
Dogs in formal strength training programs begin to show improvement within two weeks because the brain is activating more muscle fibers to participate in exercises. A human example would be if you are working on shoulder definition - you should do three exercises to hit the anterior, medial, and rear deltoid rather than just doing lateral flies for the medial or center part of the muscle. The second way to increase muscle strength and mass is to create muscle cell hypertrophy or increase muscle cell volume. The physiologic stress of resistance training causes micro damage to the contractile proteins in the muscle fibers. Satellite cells that are hanging out near the membranes of the muscle cells are called into action. These satellite cells multiply and fuse into new protein strands or repair the damaged protein strands. Micro-
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trauma, or the small lesions caused by exercising, is repaired and protein production is upregulated resulting in a bigger, stronger cell. Additionally, because of the stress of the workout, increased blood flow to the muscles occurs. This happens by the body actually creating new capillaries to the tissue to support the muscle cells’ needs. Use caution however when working with young dogs. It’s a fine balance between having a fit adolescent dog and over training. Gaining large amounts of muscle mass before the long bones of the legs are fully grown can result in an increase in skeletal deformities like hip dysplasia or osteochondritis dissecans (OCD). Note that all this repair and rebuild occurs in the recovery phase AFTER the workout. Many factors affect the ability of an individual’s muscles to hypertrophy, including genetics, hormones, and nutrition.
Good Nutrition It can’t be said often enough - a highly digestible diet is key to your dog’s success. Again, dogs like people require 10 essential amino acids for proper growth and body wellness (Table 1). Amino acids are the building blocks of all proteins in the body including the immune system and skeletal muscle. Essential amino acids must be supplied by the diet and non-essential amino acids can either be synthesized by dogs from dietary proteins or supplied in the diet.
Table 1: Amino Acids for Dogs Dietary Essential
Dietary Nonessential
Amino Acids
Amino Acids
Isoleucine
Alanine
Leucine
Tyrosine
Lysine
Aspartic Acid
Methionine
Asparagine
Phenylalanine
Glutamine
Tryptophan
Glutamic Acid
Valine
Glycine
Histidine
Serine
Threonine
Cysteine
Arginine
Proline
A conditioning program that creates micro-trauma of muscles combined with highly digestible protein diet will result in: 1. Increased mitochondrial volume. Mitochondria are the cellular “power houses” that fuel movement and cell activity in each body cell. Having more mitochondria translates to more efficient muscle use.
Genetics, strength and condition, and nutrition have a tripartite relationship in the success of your working dog. You, as the handler, can control and improve on your dog’s genetics by developing the correct strengthening program to promote muscle mass and by providing a highly nutritious, complete, and balanced diet for your dog.
2. Increased capillary density. Exercise combined with readily available (aka digestible) proteins will increase the number of tiny blood vessels called capillaries which provide increase blood flow to muscle fibers, allowing them to be bathed in nutrients more frequently and more completely. 3. Increased muscle volume. Dietary protein among other nutrients is critical for an increase in muscle volume. Conditioning workouts intended to increase muscle volume will not be effective if the protein percentage is less than 22% or if the proteins are not digestible. Other important nutrients for building muscle are omega 6 and omega 3, antioxidants like vitamin E, inositol, thiamine, calcium, and energy. Omega 6 fatty acids like corn oil, beef tallow, and chicken fat provide muscle membrane rigidity, whereas omega 3 fatty acids help decrease inflammation which results from a strenuous exercise bout allowing the micro-traumas in the muscle fiber to repair faster. Antioxidant vitamins like vitamin E can also decrease inflammation and promote muscle cell health. Inositol, vitamin B12, and thiamin are all vitamins that help promote muscle cell health. Calcium is critical for muscle cell contraction. If the right amount of digestible calcium is not provided in the diet, then muscle cells cannot contract even when the cells receive signals from the brain. The result? No increase in muscle size or strength. The other very important nutritional factor in helping your dog to be more muscular is energy or calorie content of the diet. If you do not feed enough digestible calories, your dog will not have enough energy to build muscle mass. However, if you feed too many calories and don’t have a vigorous conditioning program, your dog will gain fat instead. Investing in a well-balanced dog food will ensure all of the nutrients required to help your dog gain strength and fitness and prevent you from having to add a variety of supplements to provide the nutrients in supplement form.
Dr. Jill Cline is the Site Director for Royal Canin Pet Health and Nutrition Center and has 20 years of experience in the pet food industry. Dr. Cline has worked in several areas within the pet industry including manufacturing and product development, non-invasive R&D, and technical communications for veterinarians, breeders and working/sporting dog enthusiasts. Her expertise is in vitamin metabolism, skin and coat health and she has a keen interest in canine athletes, feeding behaviors and aging animals. She has lectured extensively on the influence nutrition has on a working dog’s cognitive function and the link between dietary requirements and how they affect dog’s ability to learn and maximize their performance. Dr. Cline has many publications on topics ranging from animal husbandry and kennel management to cognitive function in geriatric dogs. Dr. Cline is actively engaged with the sporting and working dog training communities because of her keen interest in “dogs with jobs” and because of the two very busy sporting dogs and one working dog she has at home.
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