Food Discussion Thread

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Food Discussion Thread

By Sally Bradbury

Discussion thread and Q&A on food, feeding, treats, etc. Normally off topic for the group, but we are going to brave it and see what happens.

PLEASE, NO BRAND NAMES.

This is an article from our files:

What Should I Feed My Dog?

There are many different ways to feed your dog a healthy diet.

Commercial foods include complete dry food (kibble), moist food in pouches, tinned food, frozen, or fresh. Additionally you may choose to feed your dog a home cooked diet, or feed him on raw meat and bones.

We are what we eat, and diet can affect behaviour, especially in puppies and adolescent dogs. Therefore we want to encourage you to feed your puppy a diet that does not contain additives and fillers that dogs cannot readily digest, and may cause problems such as hyperactivity.

There are literally hundreds of different brands of dog food on the market, and there is no best food. What suits one dog, may not suit the next. However there are definitely some that should be avoided.

Take a critical look at the list of ingredients on the side of your dog food packet.

Things to avoid:

Animal and vegetable derivatives. This means that this particular ingredient derived from an animal (or a vegetable), but we have no idea which one, or which part it is.

Generic fats or proteins. EG meat meal as opposed to beef, or chicken, etc. Always look for a named protein source.

Corn or wheat gluten. This is a waste product from human food production, and would indicate a poor quality food.

BHA, BHT, or Ethoxyquin (artificial preservatives). Another sign of a low quality food. Ethoxyquin is banned from use in foods for human consumption, except in some spices.

Most breeders will give new puppy owners a diet sheet and instructions on what and when to feed. As a general guide, an eight week old pup should be on four meals a day. This would reduce to three meals at about 12 – 14 weeks old, and then to two at six months old. It is usually best to continue to feed your adult dog two meals a day.

Dogs are not grazing animals, and it is not a good idea to give them free access to food to pick at all day. They are better off having set meals because:

• You want your dog to value food, so that we can use food rewards during training
• If your dog doesn’t want a meal, it can be an early indication of a health problem
• If you wanted to get a second dog it will inevitably cause a problem, either with squabbling over the food, or with one eating too much, and the other not enough

Treats for Training

Treats for training need to be easy to cut or break into tiny pieces, without becoming crumbs. There is no reason that you cannot use your pup’s food for training in some circumstances but in class, or other highly distracting environments, or when trying to teach something new, you need a higher value food.

Some suggestions:

• Hot dog sausage
• Cheese
• Liver cake
• Baked liver (or any meat)
• Ham (or any cold meat)
• Bacon (raw or cooked)
• Cooked chicken
• Cat biscuits