'What do the dogs eat?' is a question which I am asked quite frequently.  While many people, before visiting, would assume that a sled dog eats any old kibble bought in the pet store like many other dogs, they quickly learn that a canine athlete requires much more than that!  In fact, so much more that the diet and nutritional aspects of a sled dog requires the musher to take on the role of a scientist and nutritionist.

 

Let's first take a look at what a sled dog requires in their daily nutritional care.  A sled dog needs a food that provides a minimum of 30% fat and 20% protein with only a fraction of carbohydrates.  While a human athlete gets energy from carbohydrates for their exercise and relies on protein for muscle building, a dog actually relies on fats to supply appropriate energy levels.  The purpose of a carbohydrate in a dog's food is to help the dog feel satiated so that while burning the fats for fuel they don't feel hungry.

 

A dog also requires appropriate levels of vitamins and minerals to support a system with high demands.  One of the most important ingredients for any successful athlete is WATER!  Water has many benefits to dogs (as well as people), including: whole-body hydration, assistance in the fabrication of joint lubrication, muscle development, and support to the immune system.

 

There are a few select 'kibbles' that are specially made for sled dogs, and they  supply the dogs with all of the appropriate levels of nutrients and have been created in labs by veterinarians and dieticians.  While these foods are great and make the job of a musher very easy, feeding kibble to a dog every day is the same as feeding 'McDonald's' to a long distance runner everyday.  It's fast, easy, convenient, and has everything you require in a meal.  So, what's the problem?  Continued feeding of a 'fast-food' can be hard on the digestive system, not to mention that dogs (in general) originated from wild dogs, wolves, and coyotes, all of whom never ate their meals in the form of small, round, crunchy, balls!

 

 

So, what DO the dogs eat?  Our kennel, after careful research and communication with our two veterinarians, is fed an entirely raw diet.  They are fed a mixture of raw meats that incorporates all of their nutritional requirements (fats and proteins), including: beef, chicken, fish (usually salmon), beaver, goat, lamb, and duck.  These meats are ground up together in a ratio that is considers what each meat has to offer, and then frozen.  The dogs are fed a frozen block of these meats each day, usually weighing approximately 1 kg.  Above this, they are also supplemented with eggs, minerals, vitamins, electrolytes, and cooked whole grain!

 

In terms of water, they must legally be provided with a minimum of 1 litre every day.  In the summer, the dogs have water buckets that each hold 20 litres.  Their buckets are scrubbed clean and refilled daily!  In the winter months, when temperatures do not allow for buckets of water, the dogs receive 'souping' several times a day.  A 'soup' is warm, flavoured water (usually with meat and minerals/vitamins), to encourage drinking and hydration of these self-sufficient dogs (many of whom would rather eat snow!).  Each souping session provides the dogs with 1 litre of water, and the dogs are souped 3-4 times a day!  Electrolytes are added to their soup right after exercise to replenish calories to their systems to prevent shock and injury!