Penn Vet Working Dog Center
American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation
2020 Research Internship Proposal
Canine Fitness Assessment

Mentor:
Cynthia M. Otto, DVM, PhD, DACVECC, DACVSMR, Professor of Working Dog Sciences and Sports Medicine Penn Vet Working Dog Center
3401 Grays Ferry Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19146
215-898-2200
cmotto@vet.upenn.edu

Mentee:
Carrie Ruge V’22 University of Pennsylvania
Internship dates: May 26, 2020 – Aug 7, 2020

Hypothesis
Key aspects of canine fitness can be measured using standardized assessments

Background
A dog’s fitness significantly affects both their quality of life and their athletic or operational performance. For many working dogs, their fitness also directly affects the safety of their human teammates or the humans they have been tasked to find. Knowledge of a dog’s fitness would help tailor preventive medicine approaches to prevent disease or injury as well as guide operational and risk management decisions. Fitness also is critical to quality and length of life, a goal for all canine companions.
To our knowledge, canine fitness has not been previously defined or formally assessed. This gap represents a sizable impediment to evidence-based recommendations for canine health, athletic performance, or tactical utilization. Nearly every human athletic or tactical profession has defined fitness requirements, and this project aims to do the same for canine fitness. Veterinarians in particular are not focused on the fitness of canine patients. This opportunity to involve a veterinary student in the exploration of canine health will facilitate the spread of information through research presentations and development of tools for wide dissemination to veterinarians and concerned dog owners.

Specific Aims
Aim 1 – Define canine fitness modalities and identify key modalities
Aim 2 – Develop, select, and refine assessments for each fitness modality
Aim 3 – Determine the test-retest and inter-rater repeatability of each fitness assessment
Aim 4 – Create educational resources to share information
Method
Aim 1
We will review the literature to develop standardized definitions for fitness modalities. We will then survey experts across a spectrum of canine fields and ask each to rank these modalities according to their importance in their field. Finally, we will analyze the results to determine the key canine fitness modalities. Expected time to completion 2 weeks.
Aim 2
We will develop potential assessments for each modality, evaluate their utility on a spectrum of dogs, and select the best assessments. We will then refine each assessment while prioritizing cost, simplicity, and time requirement. Expected time to completion 2 weeks.
Aim 3
We will perform the fitness assessments on a spectrum of dogs on two separate occasions. We will record each assessment, and the recordings will be evaluated by two reviewers. We will then determine the test-retest and inter-rater repeatability of each assessment. Expected time to completion 6 weeks.
Aim 4
An educational document/video will be created to educate dog owners about the value of fitness and provide valuable science based recommendations. Expected time to completion 1 week. In addition, results will be presented at the Penn Vet Student Research Day.

Subjects
Fitness assessment will be performed dogs of various ages, breeds, temperaments, and careers. Projected subject populations include:
‚óè Penn Vet Working Dog Center (n=30)
‚óè Client owned dogs, University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School and Ryan Veterinary Hospital (n=50)
‚óè Geriatric Sled Dogs (Vaika, Cornell University) (n=97)
‚óè Greater Philadelphia area Law Enforcement K9 departments (N=20)

Innovation
This research provides a novel approach to investigating canine fitness for all dogs. Developing a scientifically based repeatable and quantitative fitness assessment provides the foundational knowledge necessary to pursue future studies. Future studies could include evaluating specific fitness requirements of companion, sport, and working dogs. Studies on the effects of fitness status on longevity, injury prevention and injury recovery. The fitness assessment data collected from healthy dogs can act as a standard to be utilized in routine veterinary health visits for monitoring treatment for dogs with musculoskeletal disease.