This spins off from the conditioning post. The example is the use of cornflakes in the keep. Scientifically speaking there is no real benefit for the conditioned dog but ol' Johnny has won four or five using corn flakes. With that said, doing these dogs is as much art as it is science. Where do the lines collide? Where is the gray area?
I have always used fat as a food source. All sorts of fats from lards, to beef fat, to oils, to chicken fat, etc..etc... Scientific research is now leaning toward more fat for the working dog than ever before. ( everyone knows an old timer that knows more than anyone else and so do I). He says fry everything you can find in cheap vegetable oil or lard. (Chicken backs work best along with cow cheek). Let the grease cool, the top layer will gel, congeal, or set-up. He scoops two tablespoons into the feed every day for six weeks prior to starting the keep. Everyday he fries something else in that same grease allowing it to gel on top and he uses that again. It is something about the frying part that breaks down the animal fat and just works better for the dog. He says it gets the dog use to using fat for fuel during 'harder' times. In the past few years I am reading this as newly found research or based on recent scientific studies. This guy has been doing this with dogs for thirty to forty years.
Let me just say this old timer is a far cry from a researcher, a scientist or even what one would call a learned man. So some where the personal experiences were researched and proved by the scientific community (or disproved for that matter).
Any other science vs. personal experiences similar to this? EWO