Dataset Information

Maintenance energy requirements of odor detection, explosive detection and human detection working dogs.

ABSTRACT: Despite their important role in security, little is known about the energy requirements of working dogs such as odor, explosive and human detection dogs. Previous researchers have evaluated the energy requirements of individual canine breeds as well as dogs in exercise roles such as sprint racing. This study is the first to evaluate the energy requirements of working dogs trained in odor, explosive and human detection. This retrospective study evaluated twenty adult dogs who maintained consistent body weights over a six month period. During this time, the average energy consumption was [Formula: see text] or two times the calculated resting energy requirement ([Formula: see text]). No statistical differences were found between breeds, age or sex, but a statistically significant association (p = 0.0033, R-square = 0.0854) was seen between the number of searches a dog performs and their energy requirement. Based on this study's population, it appears that working dogs have maintenance energy requirements similar to the 1974 National Research Council's (NRC) maintenance energy requirement of [Formula: see text] (National Research Council (NRC), 1974) and the [Formula: see text] reported for young laboratory beagles (Rainbird & Kienzle, 1990). Additional research is needed to determine if these data can be applied to all odor, explosive and human detection dogs and to determine if other types of working dogs (tracking, search and rescue etc.) have similar energy requirements.

SUBMITTER: Mullis RA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4349026 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Maintenance energy requirements of odor detection, explosive detection and human detection working dogs.

Mullis Rebecca A RA Witzel Angela L AL Price Joshua J

PeerJ 20150224

Despite their important role in security, little is known about the energy requirements of working dogs such as odor, explosive and human detection dogs. Previous researchers have evaluated the energy requirements of individual canine breeds as well as dogs in exercise roles such as sprint racing. This study is the first to evaluate the energy requirements of working dogs trained in odor, explosive and human detection. This retrospective study evaluated twenty adult dogs who maintained consisten ...[more]

PMID: 25755919

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Project description:Working dogs play a variety of important roles, ranging from assisting individuals with disabilities, to explosive and medical detection work. Despite widespread demand, only a subset of dogs bred and trained for these roles ultimately succeed, creating a need for objective measures that can predict working dog aptitude. Most previous research has focused on temperamental characteristics of successful dogs. However, working dogs also face diverse cognitive challenges both in training, and throughout their working lives. We conducted a series of studies investigating the relationships between individual differences in dog cognition, and success as an assistance or detection dog. Assistance dogs (N = 164) and detection dogs (N = 222) were tested in the Dog Cognition Test Battery, a 25-item instrument probing diverse aspects of dog cognition. Through exploratory analyses we identified a subset of tasks associated with success in each training program, and developed shorter test batteries including only these measures. We then used predictive modeling in a prospective study with an independent sample of assistance dogs (N = 180), and conducted a replication study with an independent sample of detection dogs (N = 90). In assistance dogs, models using data on individual differences in cognition predicted higher probabilities of success for dogs that ultimately succeeded in the program, than for those who did not. For the subset of dogs with predicted probabilities of success in the 4th quartile (highest predicted probability of success), model predictions were 86% accurate, on average. In both the exploratory and prospective studies, successful dogs were more likely to engage in eye contact with a human experimenter when faced with an unsolvable task, or when a joint social activity was disrupted. In detection dogs, we replicated our exploratory findings that the most successful dogs scored higher on measures of sensitivity to human communicative intentions, and two measures of short term memory. These findings suggest that that (1) individual differences in cognition contribute to variance in working dog success, and (2) that objective measures of dog cognition can be used to improve the processes through which working dogs are evaluated and selected.

Project description:Experimentally establishing a group's body weight maintenance energy requirement is an important component of metabolism research. At present, the reference approach for measuring the metabolizable energy intake (MEI) from foods required for body weight maintenance in non-confined subjects is the doubly-labeled water (DLW)-total energy expenditure (TEE) method. In the current study, we evaluated an energy-intake weight balance method as an alternative to DLW that is more flexible and practical to apply in some settings.The hypothesis was tested that MEI from foods observed in a group of subjects maintaining a constant energy intake while keeping their weight within ±1 kg over 10 days is non-significantly different from DLW-measured TEE (TEEDLW). Six non-obese subjects evaluated as part of an earlier study completed the inpatient protocol that included a 3-day initial adjustment period.The group body weight coefficient of variation (X ± SD) during the 10-day balance period was 0.38 ± 0.10% and the slope of the regression line for body weight versus protocol day was non-significant at 1.8 g/day (R2, 0.002, p = 0.98). MEI from foods observed during the 10-day balance period (2390 ± 543 kcal/day) was non-significantly different (p = 0.96) from TEE measured by DLW (2373 ± 713 kcal/day); the MEI/TEEDLW ratio was 1.03 ± 0.15 (range 0.87-1.27) and the correlation between MEI from foods and TEEDLW was highly significant (R2, 0.88, p = 0.005).A carefully managed 10-day protocol that includes a constant MEI level from foods with weight stability (±1 kg) will provide a group's body weight maintenance energy requirement similar to that obtained with DLW. This approach opens the possibility of conducting affordable weight balance studies, shorter in duration than those previously reported, that are needed to answer a wide range of questions in clinical nutrition. Trial registration The study is registered at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT01672632; August 20, 2012).

Project description:BackgroundPathogen or diet-induced immune activation can partition energy and nutrients away from growth, but clear relationships between immune responses and the direction and magnitude of energy partitioning responses have yet to be elucidated. The objectives were to determine how ?-mannanase supplementation and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) immune stimulation affect maintenance energy requirements (MEm) and to characterize immune parameters, digestibility, growth performance, and energy balance.MethodsIn a randomized complete block design, 30 young weaned pigs were assigned to either the control treatment (CON; basal corn, soybean meal and soybean hulls diet), the enzyme treatment (ENZ; basal diet +?0.056% ?-mannanase), or the immune system stimulation treatment (ISS; basal diet +?0.056% ?-mannanase, challenged with repeated increasing doses of Escherichia coli LPS). The experiment consisted of a 10-d adaptation period, 5-d digestibility and nitrogen balance measurement, 22 h of heat production (HP) measurements, and 12 h of fasting HP measurements in indirect calorimetry chambers. The immune challenge consisted of 4 injections of either LPS (ISS) or sterile saline (CON and ENZ), one every 48 h beginning on d 10. Blood was collected pre- and post-challenge for complete blood counts with differential, haptoglobin and mannan binding lectin, 12 cytokines, and glucose and insulin concentrations.ResultsBeta-mannanase supplementation did not affect immune status, nutrient digestibility, growth performance, energy balance, or MEm. The ISS treatment induced fever, elevated proinflammatory cytokines and decreased leukocyte concentrations (P?<?0.05). The ISS treatment did not impact nitrogen balance or nutrient digestibility (P?>?0.10), but increased total HP (21%) and MEm (23%), resulting in decreased lipid deposition (-30%) and average daily gain (-18%) (P?<?0.05).ConclusionsThis experiment provides novel data on ?-mannanase supplementation effects on immune parameters and energy balance in pigs and is the first to directly relate decreased ADG to increased MEm independent of changes in feed intake in immune challenged pigs. Immune stimulation increased energy partitioning to the immune system by 23% which limited lipid deposition and weight gain. Understanding energy and nutrient partitioning in immune-stressed pigs may provide insight into more effective feeding and management strategies.

Dataset Information

Maintenance energy requirements of odor detection, explosive detection and human detection working dogs.

Publications

Maintenance energy requirements of odor detection, explosive detection and human detection working dogs.

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