Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/401545
S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S 7 6 sporting dog scene is even more compartmentalized than you probably suspect. For example, Nolan Huffman's been on top of the shoot-to-retrieve field-trial world for close to 15 years now, while Robin Gates has been the king of the all-age circuit for the last quarter-century. How many times had they met? Exactly none. Until the Sporting Dog Summit, that is, and their example was just one of many. So this served as a terrific opportunity to make new acquaintances and renew old ones; to connect with peers, share information, and swap war stories. From this perspective alone, the Sporting Dog summit proved tremendously valuable. I n a sense, though, that was just the backdrop. The more focused portion of the agenda, and the official theme for the summit, was a two-day program entitled "Achieving a Performance Edge." Held at the Purina Event Center, a state-of-the-art, multi-purpose facility situated on a lovely piece of rolling Missouri countryside, the program had two main thrusts: first, nutrition and conditioning (which go hand in glove, of course) and second, canine sports medicine with a special emphasis on diagnosis and treatment of the most common orthopedic and soft-tissue injuries seen in hunting dogs. The amount of information presented over those two days was staggering. Some of the attendees were taking notes so fast and furious that I swear they broke out in a sweat. So I'm just going to try to boil things down and provide, in bullet-point form, what I think are the most important takeaways. On the nutrition-and-conditioning side, the presenters were Purina nutritionists Dr. Arleigh Reynolds (who also happens to be a world champion sled dog sprint racer) and Dr. Brian Zanghi. • Feed a performance diet – 28 percent protein and 18 percent fat are the minimums – throughout the year. Switching to a "maintenance" diet in the off-season essentially de-trains your dog's exercise metabolism to efficiently utilize fat, which is its primary source of fuel. • The best time to feed is as soon as possible after your dog has cooled down from hunting or other strenuous exercise, and as long as possible – up to 24 hours – before the next serious exercise. And unless there's an overriding reason to feed more frequently – for example, if you feel that your dog is at risk for bloat – one meal a day is optimal. • Feeding in the morning prior to a hunt does more harm than good – a lot more. There's a litany of reasons for this but the bottom line is that dogs, unlike humans, do better without breakfast. • There's really no good snack you can give your dog for a quick, mid-hunt energy boost. Most of the