my food or yours?

Turkey, carrots, peas, sweet potatoes, rice, blueberries, cranberries. Sounds like a great start to Thanksgiving dinner!

Would you believe that this is dog food?

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I Can't Feed my dog People Food!

As a trainer who encourages using treats to train dogs, I often hear that dog owners think they shouldn’t feed “people food” to their dogs. Let’s talk about some of the common misconceptions:

“It will teach my dog to beg at the table while I’m eating.” Feeding a dog while he’s bothering you - whether giving human food or dog treats - will teach your dog to bother you some more. Don’t give him any attention or food (and make sure the kids don’t drop food to him either!) while he’s being annoying. When he gives up and lays down across the room, THEN you can give him attention and, yes, even food treats!

We use treats to train service dogs to ignore food at restaurants.

Cooper practices his down-stay while I prepare treats on the counter!

“It will teach my dog to steal food off the counter.” When there’s food on the counter, dogs can smell it, and they will investigate it further – with their mouths! Be sure to keep dogs out of the kitchen whenever anything edible is on the counters. Or better yet, train them to stay out of trouble! 

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“Human food isn’t healthy for dogs.” Actually, lots of fresh foods are better for dogs even than processed dog food. Plain chicken, eggs, carrots, and apples can be very nutritious snacks for dogs. The human food that isn’t good for dogs isn’t good for humans either: namely sugar, artificial sweetener, salt, and fat. A quick google search will tell you if an ingredient is ok for dogs; be sure to talk to your vet about it too if your dog has any underlying health conditions.

Click on the picture for more information.

The ingredient list of this dog food indicates several concerning and unhealthy ingredients.

“Dog food is more nutritious than human food.” Not all dog foods are equal; many brands use sub-par ingredients and unhealthy fillers. Check the ingredients on your dog food bag: you want to see named meat sources at the top of the ingredients list, and very few carbohydrates. To further investigate the ingredients in your dog’s food, a helpful resource is www.DogFoodAdvisor.com.

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“Human food will make my dog fat.” Too often dog owners mistakenly think that even one bite of food outside of mealtime will cause their dog to gain weight. If your dog is overweight, the best thing to do (after a vet checkup) is to decrease his overall diet – meals, treats, AND snacks – and increase exercise to burn fat.

Pro-Tip: Trick training is a fun and efficient way to get dogs to exercise and loose weight!

Remember that just like us, dogs get bored of the same treats every day. A special little treat once in a while will help them stay motivated to train, and allow them to celebrate the holidays along with us!