By Seth Bynum, DVM

The shotguns are cleaned and the vests hung up, but the offseason is far from idle time in my house. As an amateur trainer and sporting dog enthusiast, I like to pass the painfully long downtime before fall with training and conditioning.

The late winter and early spring provide my team with the opportunity to fine tune steadiness in our veteran dogs and introduce young pups to their first birds. It's certainly not glamorous, but these quiet miles help build the foundation for next fall's successes. And as a veterinarian, I'm always checking in on the health of my sporting dogs. The offseason is the perfect time to step back and evaluate your sporting dog nutrition program.

One of the most common nutrition questions I get from fellow hunters is:

"Should I keep my dog on a high protein, high fat performance dog food year-round?"

The science-based answer is unequivocally yes.

Fueling the Canine Athlete with Fats

There's a compelling body of evidence from research on sled dogs and other elite canine athletes demonstrating that high protein, high fat diets are ideal for working dogs, not just during peak competition, but all year long.

Remember, dogs are preferential fat burners. Unlike humans, who lean heavily on carbohydrates during intense exercise, dogs are metabolically designed to use energy-rich fat as their primary energy source. When we feed a performance formula like the Pro Plan Sport 30/20 that I serve my own crew, we're leaning into that evolutionary advantage.

While the 30 percent protein in these performance foods supports lean muscle mass, immune function, and recovery, it's in the 20 percent fat where the metabolic magic happens.

WATCH: PURINA Sporting Dog Shorts — Offseason Nutrition

It's About More Than Calories

Most of my fellow sporting dog enthusiasts understand that fat provides more calories per gram than carbohydrates or protein. But the benefits of feeding a high-fat performance dog food dig much deeper, right down to the cellular level.

If it's not too distant or too painful, think back to high school biology for a moment. Remember mitochondria, those tiny power generators of the cell?

Mitochondria inside muscle cells convert nutrients into usable energy (ATP). The more mitochondria a muscle cell has, and the more efficient those mitochondria are, the greater the dog's capacity for endurance (VO2Max) and sustained output in the field.

Studies in elite canine athletes demonstrate that diets high in fat trigger a natural increase in the number of mitochondria within muscle cells. This process, known as mitochondrial biogenesis, enhances a dog's ability to oxidize fat for fuel. In simple terms, it makes them better endurance athletes. Interestingly, this trait is common to all breeds of canines, not just our sporting dogs, suggesting this physiological process is deeply rooted in their DNA.

While a marvel, that cellular adaptation does not happen overnight. It takes time — often weeks to months — for a sporting dog's body to respond to consistent dietary fat levels by increasing mitochondrial density. When you feed a high protein, high fat performance dog food year-round, you're essentially maintaining that metabolic machinery. You're keeping the engine tuned, even when the biological truck is parked.

Off-Season Strategy: Adjust the Volume, Not the Formula

So what about the drop in activity once, sniff, the season is over?

Even if you're running drills on the weekends, most dogs simply aren't burning the same calories in February that they require in October. To address this adjustment in their metabolic requirement, the solution isn't necessarily changing foods, it's adjusting portions.

For my dogs, I generally don't swap to a less energy-dense formula in the off-season. I simply reduce the amount of performance kibble in the bowl to match their decreased calorie demand. That way, they continue to benefit from the high protein and fat levels that support muscle maintenance and mitochondrial conditioning.

In essence, the formula stays the same in my dogs' bowls, but the volume of food decreases.

Are there exceptions?

Of course, there are always exceptions to this recommendation, and it may be worth a conversation with your veterinarian.

It is counterproductive — and I'd argue a detriment to their health — to let your sporting dogs. become overweight in the off-season. Extra weight stresses joints, reduces stamina, and sets them up for injury when training ramps back up.

Certain dogs have markedly lower calorie requirements and are at risk of gaining too much weight in the offseason. These include:

• Senior dogs with slower metabolisms
• Spayed or neutered dogs whose hormonal shifts reduce basal metabolic rate
• Dogs that spend the offseason on the couch, not in the field

For some of these dogs, simply reducing the volume of a calorie-dense performance food may leave them feeling unsatisfied at meal time. They may act hungry, pester you constantly, or find other, more annoying or potentially dangerous, ways to satisfy their hunger cravings.

For those dogs, after consulting with your veterinarian, a slightly lower protein and fat formula may make sense. Because these diets are less energy dense, you can feed a greater volume of kibble while still meeting the dog's reduced calorie needs.

For growing, energetic puppies — like my new pointer Cowboy — performance food formulated for all life stages or for growth and development is a non-negotiable. Sporting dog puppies building bone, muscle, and neurological coordination need dense, high-quality nutrition.

Timing the Ramp-Up

If you do elect to move away from performance food in the spring, make sure you switch back well in advance of the hunting season.

The up-regulation of mitochondria that gives your dog a competitive edge in the field is not instantaneous. Remember, these metabolic adaptations may take as long as two months or more to fully develop.

So if your goal is to hit the ground running on opening day in October, that high protein/high fat performance dog food needs to be back in the bowl by July or August at the latest. Your dog's muscle cells need time to build the machinery that enhances their endurance in the field.

In Closing

Feeding a performance dog food year-round is about metabolic consistency. It's a strategy that pays respect to the biology of the canine athlete. A high protein, high fat food primes their bodies for work, even when the workload is reduced. Hunting season may seem in the distance, but preparation — with training and conditioning —is a 12-month pursuit. I'm already counting down the days until fall, but in the meantime, I'll keep my dogs' engines primed, one measured cup at a time.

Want to learn more? View the entire Sporting Dog Shorts catalogue of educational episodes HERE.

Dr. Seth Bynum is an accomplished veterinarian, writer and photographer as well as an avid outdoorsman. His veterinary practice is currently limited to canine reproduction, although he loves tackling sporting dog and internal medicine cases at his home base of Hayden Pet Medical Center. A devout follower of the “Work to Live” philosophy, Dr. Bynum keeps his clinic schedule as lean as possible to pursue his passion for bird dogs and upland hunting. He can be found afield with a fly rod or shotgun, accompanied by his crew of German shorthaired pointers and lugging around a camera.