Skinner's: Stepping up the range during the working season

To help sustain your dog throughout the days ahead, you may decide to move from the Field & Trial Maintenance recipe to a diet with a higher nutritional profile such as Field & Trial Muesli or Working 23, around one month before.

At this stage, you may also have to adjust their daily intake slightly, to suit their increased energy demands. 

Dogs should enter the working season with a good level of fitness and stamina. However, as the season begins, even the fittest dogs may start dropping a little weight and condition, especially on cold, wet days.

Therefore, we do suggest regularly weighing your dog, at least weekly, and regularly body condition scoring them. This involves doing both visual and physical checks to assess their overall muscle tone and fat distribution while asking yourself questions such as “Do they have an abdominal tuck?”, “Are the ribs easily felt but not seen?”, “do they have a visible waist?”.

By doing this you can monitor any physical changes and make dietary adjustments, where appropriate.

If your dog’s condition drops off as the season progresses, or they lack a little stamina, then we would first suggest increasing their daily intake in small increments (around 10%) and monitoring again.

However, if you need to feed significantly over the guidelines to maintain condition or performance, or their stools loosen the more you feed, then that’s when a more energy-dense diet may be beneficial.  For example, you may consider stepping up to a diet such as Field and Trial Working 26 (26% protein, 16% fat), or even Field and Trial Working 30 (30% protein, 20% fat).

These diets can be beneficial as you can feed a more manageable portion while providing your dog with extra “fuel”. As with any dietary change, we would suggest making changes slow and gradual over approximately 7-10 days to give the digestive system time to adjust. 

Even the fittest, most well-conditioned dogs can benefit from a nutritional snack during the working day. Often dogs are not regularly working at the same energetic output and will be physically pushed beyond that of their average training day.

That’s where Skinner’s Field and Trial Energy Bar comes in, as our unique recipe has been developed to give dogs a ‘boost’ and help maintain performance out in the field. Our bar is packed full of ingredients such as honey to provide a source of digestible carbohydrates for quick-release energy, as well as protein-rich chicken for energy and muscle recovery.

Lastly, our recipe is boosted with antioxidant-rich ingredients including carrots and apples which can help limit the impacts of oxidative damage. It’s also a handy size to slip into bags or pockets and is soft bake meaning it can be easily portioned. This pocket-size treat packs a big punch and is a must-have for any working day.