Changes in Behaviour and Voluntary Physical Activity Exhibited by Sled Dogs throughout Incremental Exercise Conditioning and Intermittent Rest Days

SIMPLE SUMMARY: It is important to understand how typical exercise regimens for sled dogs affect their behaviour. Furthermore, rest and recovery are an equally important part of a conditioning period. Understanding how behaviour and voluntary physical activity change throughout both exercise and rest periods may assist in optimising conditioning to maximise the exercise capacity of dogs, while keeping their well-being in mind. Sled dogs decreased their voluntary activity and locomotive behaviours as they progressed throughout their training but seem to demonstrate a recovery of the reduced voluntary activity when given two consecutive rest days. These findings could be used by mushers and working dog owners to improve the conditioning periods and overall wellbeing of their sled dogs. ABSTRACT: Participation in repetitive endurance training decreases sled dogs’ voluntary activity and locomotive behaviours; however, the changes in their voluntary physical activity over consecutive rest days has not been examined to assess exercise-recovery. The objective of this study was to examine the changes in behaviour and voluntary activity of sled dogs throughout repetitive incremental conditioning and intermittent rest days. Fourteen dogs (6 males, 8 females; age 3.7 ± 2.7 years; BW 21.5 ± 2.8 kg) underwent 10 weeks of conditioning. Once a week, 5-min video recordings were taken pre- and post-exercise to measure the time spent performing agonistic behaviours, chewing on the gangline, digging, jumping, lunging, posture changing, sitting, standing and lying. Additionally, voluntary physical activity was measured on a day with an exercise bout during baseline, week 4, 5 and 7 and two consecutive rest days during baseline, week 1, 4, 5 and 7. A repeated-measures mixed model was used to analyse data in SAS (v 9.4.). As dogs progressed through their conditioning, the time spent changing posture prior to an exercise bout decreased (p < 0.05), suggesting that dogs may reduce their voluntary locomotive behaviours with increasing exercise. Additionally, dogs were more active during the second consecutive rest day than the first (p < 0.05), suggesting that rest days may provide a short-term recovery period.