Use of Pedometer to Assess the Requirement and Consumption of Calories by Service Dogs

摘要

The assessment of the type and amount of food given to dogs, the diet formulation andthe evaluation of the intake of calories according to the physical work of the dog, are essentialconditions to maintaining the health status and performance of the service dogs. The housingand climate conditions also play a major role in maintaining the health status of the dogs andin expressing their genetic potential.The research used service dogs, German Shepherd breed, aged 1.6 to 9 years, whichwere observed and monitored during their performance of specific duties, without taking themout of the environment where they live and work. The requirement of energy and the amountof food required each day are calculated function of the body weight (BW) and of theintensity of the effort. The BW categories that were surveyed were: normal weight (40 kgBW, case A), over weight (50 kg BW, case B), and under weight (35 kg BW, case C). BMIevaluation (body mass index) was done according tot the international specifications, between1 emaciated, to 9 very obese.The analytical methods evaluated the chemical structure of the given food; the amountof dry commercial food required for maintenance according to the physical work; theconsumption of calories of the dog function of the walked distance (expressed in meters andsteps) during the physical work.The consumption of calories during the physical work was calculated with a DistaT300 pedometer, which recorded the walked distance in terms of meters and steps, and theconsumption of calories during the physical work.Caloric consumption=0.14*caloric necessary+43.61*(travelled) distance-7.57In this case, the caloric necessary and the (travelled) distance influence the caloricconsumption by 99,86% and the result will be estimated with 4.51 error. Instead, if entries 1and 3 are eliminated (because of the low number of kilometers, which statistically speakingcould be considered extreme values), we can observe a decrease of the two factors influence,but with a growth in the precision of the estimates. Caloric consumption=0.05*caloricnecessary+55.8*(travelled) distance-115.23In this case, the caloric necessary and the (travelled) distance influence the caloricconsumption by 98,42%.The daily consumption of food of the dogs monitored with the pedometer was 593 Kcal inaverage, which requires an additional 167 g food per day, to the requirement for maintenanceof 529 g food/day, giving a total of 696 g (40 kg average dog BW; 3.55 Kcal/g drycommercial food).The results revealed that the permanent monitoring of the consumption of calories inthe dogs making constant physical work, but different in terms of intensity and duration, maybe of use for the fast adjustment of their feed requirement, which must meet the dailyrequirement of calories.