Proposed Protocol for Field Testing of Endurance Fitness of Young Labrador Retrievers
The number of dogs and, with it, dog sports are growing in popularity, and the training of dogs begins at an early age. Although fitness testing is an imperative part of purposeful training and sports, to our knowledge, no objective field tests are available for measuring young dogs’ endurance fitne...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-06-01
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| Series: | Methods and Protocols |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2409-9279/6/4/61 |
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| author | Ella-Erika Söderlund Heikki Kyröläinen Outi M. Laitinen-Vapaavuori Heli K. Hyytiäinen |
| author_facet | Ella-Erika Söderlund Heikki Kyröläinen Outi M. Laitinen-Vapaavuori Heli K. Hyytiäinen |
| author_sort | Ella-Erika Söderlund |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The number of dogs and, with it, dog sports are growing in popularity, and the training of dogs begins at an early age. Although fitness testing is an imperative part of purposeful training and sports, to our knowledge, no objective field tests are available for measuring young dogs’ endurance fitness. The aim of this study is to describe a simple, easy-to-repeat, and inexpensive way to test training intervention effects on endurance fitness in young Labrador Retrievers. Healthy client-owned 16-week-old Labrador Retrievers will be recruited and divided into test and control groups. The test group will have an eight-week training program followed by a four-week detraining period, while the control group will live a normal puppy life. All dogs will be tested for endurance fitness four times at four-week intervals: at baseline, one month later, two months later at the end of the training period, and one month after ending the training program. Each of the four testing sessions will be identical and will consist of four measurements of heart rate (HR) and blood lactate (BL): at baseline, after trotting 1000 m, after sprinting 200 m, and at recovery 5–8 min after the sprint. The training-induced changes in endurance fitness are evaluated by changes in HR and heart rate recovery times (HRR), BL, and running times. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T23:41:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-be4b31430d114dbcbbfd82c12a79bc74 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2409-9279 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T23:41:51Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Methods and Protocols |
| spelling | doaj.art-be4b31430d114dbcbbfd82c12a79bc742023-11-19T02:26:11ZengMDPI AGMethods and Protocols2409-92792023-06-01646110.3390/mps6040061Proposed Protocol for Field Testing of Endurance Fitness of Young Labrador RetrieversElla-Erika Söderlund0Heikki Kyröläinen1Outi M. Laitinen-Vapaavuori2Heli K. Hyytiäinen3Department of Clinical Equine and Small Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, FinlandNeuromuscular Research Center, Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, 40014 Jyväskylä, FinlandDepartment of Clinical Equine and Small Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, FinlandDepartment of Clinical Equine and Small Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, FinlandThe number of dogs and, with it, dog sports are growing in popularity, and the training of dogs begins at an early age. Although fitness testing is an imperative part of purposeful training and sports, to our knowledge, no objective field tests are available for measuring young dogs’ endurance fitness. The aim of this study is to describe a simple, easy-to-repeat, and inexpensive way to test training intervention effects on endurance fitness in young Labrador Retrievers. Healthy client-owned 16-week-old Labrador Retrievers will be recruited and divided into test and control groups. The test group will have an eight-week training program followed by a four-week detraining period, while the control group will live a normal puppy life. All dogs will be tested for endurance fitness four times at four-week intervals: at baseline, one month later, two months later at the end of the training period, and one month after ending the training program. Each of the four testing sessions will be identical and will consist of four measurements of heart rate (HR) and blood lactate (BL): at baseline, after trotting 1000 m, after sprinting 200 m, and at recovery 5–8 min after the sprint. The training-induced changes in endurance fitness are evaluated by changes in HR and heart rate recovery times (HRR), BL, and running times.https://www.mdpi.com/2409-9279/6/4/61physical fitnessfitness testaerobic fitnessendurance testdog |
| spellingShingle | Ella-Erika Söderlund Heikki Kyröläinen Outi M. Laitinen-Vapaavuori Heli K. Hyytiäinen Proposed Protocol for Field Testing of Endurance Fitness of Young Labrador Retrievers Methods and Protocols physical fitness fitness test aerobic fitness endurance test dog |
| title | Proposed Protocol for Field Testing of Endurance Fitness of Young Labrador Retrievers |
| title_full | Proposed Protocol for Field Testing of Endurance Fitness of Young Labrador Retrievers |
| title_fullStr | Proposed Protocol for Field Testing of Endurance Fitness of Young Labrador Retrievers |
| title_full_unstemmed | Proposed Protocol for Field Testing of Endurance Fitness of Young Labrador Retrievers |
| title_short | Proposed Protocol for Field Testing of Endurance Fitness of Young Labrador Retrievers |
| title_sort | proposed protocol for field testing of endurance fitness of young labrador retrievers |
| topic | physical fitness fitness test aerobic fitness endurance test dog |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2409-9279/6/4/61 |
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