Blood Lactate Concentration as a Marker of Exercise Intensity in Police Dogs in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory

Working police dogs subjected to intense physical exertion require objective physiological performance monitoring to ensure animal welfare and operational effectiveness. This study evaluated blood lactate concentration as a marker of exercise intensity in German Shepherd dogs deployed by the Nigeria Police Force Canine Unit in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory. Twenty dogs were subjected to three standardised exercise protocols of increasing intensity (walking, trotting, and sprint-and-search) conducted on training grounds. Capillary blood samples were collected from the ear pinnae at rest, immediately post-exercise, and at ten-minute recovery intervals for lactate analysis using a portable veterinary lactate analyser. Resting mean blood lactate was 1.8 mmol/L, rising to 3.9 mmol/L after trotting and 7.2 mmol/L after the sprint-and-search protocol, with significant differences between all exercise levels. Recovery to resting lactate values required an average of eighteen minutes post-sprint exercise. Heart rate trajectories paralleled the lactate data across all intensity levels. Individual variation in lactate responses was observed and correlated inversely with fitness conditioning scores assigned by canine unit handlers. These findings establish physiologically meaningful lactate thresholds for police dog exercise monitoring in Nigeria and support the integration of point-of-care lactate analysis into working dog fitness assessment programmes. Keywords: blood lactate, exercise intensity, police dogs, German Shepherd, Abuja.