engleski

Effects of exercise in water environment on selected physiological parameters in search and rescue dogs

The aim of the study was to evaluate physiological response in Croatian Mountain Rescue Service dogs after a simulated search exercise conducted in water environment. The exercise took place on a lake were dogs were driven in a boat and were supposed to find 3 hidden persons on the land. Whenever they showed signs of scent recognition, the boat would stop and the dogs went out to search the sector. Twelve healthy dogs of different breeds (4 Border Collies, 4 Belgian Malionois, 2 mixbreed, 1 Labrador Retriever and 1 Australian Shepherd dog ) mean age 3.25 (±1.92) years were included in this study. All dogs are active search and rescue dogs of Croatian Mountain Rescue Service and are being kept in active training programme that varied among handlers, in average 3 training sessions per week. Blood samples were obtained twice in the same day, baseline immediately before the fieldwork and the second one within 5 minutes after the end of 2 hours fieldwork. Blood was collected from saphenal vein, in serum tubes, kept in refrigerator and analyzed on the day of collection. Lactate and glucose were measured on site using portable devices. Body temperature, heart rate (HR) and respiration were also determined. Body temperature, HR and respiration increased significantly post exercise. Serum biochemistry demonstrated a statistically significant increase of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), creatine kinase (CK), creatinine and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) from baseline values. There was a statistically significant difference between lactate concentration measured prior to the exercise and after. A decrease in glucose level post exercise was noted but not statistically significant. The simulated exercise conducted in water environment presents a high demand for energy in search and rescue dogs, and the muscle damage indicators suggest that this specific activity resulted in overall increased metabolic demands.

canine, search and rescue, exercise

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