Kurt Venator, DVM, PhD, talks about getting peak performance out of working dogs. “The key thing is to define what VO2 Max is,” Venator said. “It’s not some odd scientific term. It’s simply the rate of maximum oxygen use. And obviously that’s important because oxygen is going to fuel endurance, performance, and energy. That’s both in dogs and in humans.
. . . the higher that VO2 Max, the more intense a dog can exercise and the longer it can maintain higher running speed.” – Kurt Venator, DVM, PhD
Source: Gun Dog, August 18, 2021. Link.
“What we’re trying to do. . . is efficiently consume more oxygen when exercising at the maximum capacity,” Venator said. “That’s going to fuel the aerobic energy and endurance. But the difference between dogs and people is that dogs are based on how well their body can use fat as energy.”
So in dogs, it’s all about fat metabolism and what we call fat oxidation. And that provides most of the dog’s energy for the expenditure.” – – Kurt Venator, DVM, PhD
INSIGHTS: Venator advocates owners of hard-working gun dogs use a 30/20 formula, percent protein, 20 percent fat, to give their hard-working dogs the fat and protein they need. Diet coupled with conditioning maximizes VO2 Max.