Dog Treats

Is it possible to spoil your dog with too many dog treats? I know we limit the amount of candy we give our kids; why don't we put these same restrictions on our dogs? It seems whenever my dogs beg, I give in. Then I give them more even when they don't ask. It's as if I'm trying to produce selfish, fat pets. Any thoughts on how much is enough treat giving?

 

Yes! You can definitely give too many. When we got ours, that's one of the first things we had to do was start limiting his treats. It's okay to spoil them some, but he was rather overweight because his previous owner gave him treats constantly.

Does your dog seem healthy? If he's overweight at all, I would recommend starting to cut back some.

 

I never give Homer as many treads as he wants because if I did he would eat them all the time without breaks. He would probably give up on sleep . I especially try to limit these special dog treats that you can buy at the store - I don't want him to be overweight. But I spoil him with carrots, he loves them

 

There are millions of diet books on the market for people. I don't seem to be able to find a good book to guide me on how much to feed my dogs. Also, how often to treat.

 

You can find a lot of calculators online about how much to feed dogs. It's usually based on weight.

As for treats, it's very similar to humans. Do you eat cupcakes and candy all day long? No. Would it be okay to have a treat here or there, though? Yep!

 

I think those people who think that their dogs need to cut down on treats must first make some changes to their own diets. Too often, dogs become over-weight because they have been spoiled by their over--weight owners.

 

Well you will need to determine this for yourself. If your dog seems healthy and not over weight then maybe the amount of treats your giving them isn't a bad thing at the moment. If you want to you can consult your Vet about this and see what they have to say. One bit of advice I can give you is if the dog isn't asking for the treat, then maybe its not a good idea to give it to them.

 

Teamrose, if you are feeding your dog with dry dog food, it's easier. I feed my Homer with Royal Canin and on the packaging there is written how much of it he should eat every day, so I don't have to worry that I'm giving him too little or too much.

 

Absolutely! Too many treats are not good for our dogs. We are the ones in control, the parents. We have to decide how much is the right kind. I've found that dogs will eat until you stop feeding them. Begging isn't a good gauge of when they are hungry.

I learned the hard way with my Lab. Once a dog is overweight, it is difficult to get them back to the right weight. She was about 3 years old when the Vet told me she was 10 lbs over weight. I found her a low calorie dog food and cut out all people food. Once I got her weight back to normal, I found some low calorie dog treats. Then, I was able to treat her during the day without feeling bad about it.

The best advice my Vet gave me was to balance things. On a day where I might give extra treats (i.e. Misha needs to be in her cage because a repair person is coming over), I am to take that out of her regular food. That way it balances out.

So, my advice is to find the balance. It's must easier to maintain your dog's weight than to put them on a diet. Also, if you find that you are a softie when it comes to treats, try vegetables. You can give your dogs baby carrots, broccoli, etc. and it won't affect the amount of food you feed them over a day.

 

The latter bit is actually the best way to help a dog lose weight, too. Instead of giving them the full amount of their food, mix in some peas or green beans. They'll feel like they're eating the same amount as usual, so they won't beg for more....but they won't be taking in nearly as many calories.

 

Melody, Jessi, I so agree! Vegetables are great treat - mostly because they're really healthy. My Homer eats lots and lots of them and he doesn't have any problems with weight You just need to know what is your dog's favourite vegetable to make him happy very easily

 

Exactly.

Oh, and if you have a fiesty dog who likes to chase things around the house or play fetch, give him peas....either frozen or fresh. They roll around and it'll give your dog some exercise while he's at it. Even our cat will chase frozen peas sometimes, lol.

 

Jessi, it's great idea, I must give it a try . But you must be very careful not to throw peas under bigger furniture, right? Because if a pea rolled under the closet, I'm sure my Homer would want me to move it And he would bark endlessly if I wasn't strong enough to do this .

 

Jessi, that's a great idea! They do love it when we give them these little extras. And, it won't harm their diet at all.

Claudine, my Mom and Misha share Cheerios in the evening (little round oat cereal, in case you don't have them where you are). Every now and then one will roll under my Mom's living room chair. Misha becomes obsessed with this lost Cheerio. She'll get down on her side and try to stick her head underneath the chair. Then, she keeps reaching with her paw. She will not give up. When I get down on the ground to help her, I have to push her out of the way because she won't budge. Maybe she thinks I'm going to eat it myself.

Same thing happens when a small piece of food gets under the stove. She is really persistent!

 

Lol! Yeah, maybe so. My cat hates when she bats one under the fridge and then can't get to it. There is no way I'm moving the fridge for one losing ol' pea, though.

It'd be like the princess and the pea story where she couldn't sleep with the pea under her mattress.....except maybe your dog wouldn't want to rest until the pea was out from under the furniture. On the up side, if you have more peas, dogs are easily distracted and may be happy if you just get him another.

 

I think this is exactly what she thinks . When I manage to reach to a treat that rolled under furniture, Homer instantly starts to bite me because he wants to get it as soon as possible .
I'm pretty sure I saw Cheerios at my store... I think Homer might like them too

No, Homer is very stubborn, even if he was able to forget about the pea for a while, he would sniff it later and again want it . Once I had to look for help to move the couch because of his treat that rolled under it

 

I gave my dog a carrot today and, not surprisingly, he looked at me like I had lost my mind. Though I gave him some cooked peas and seemed to really like those.

 

Vegetables haven't been much of a popular food with my dogs. Except for Terry, a Spitz mix. But then again Terry wants to eat everything that I eat. If I eat apples, she wants apples. If I eat cucumbers, she wants cucumbers. Doesn't really matter what it is. As long as I eat it, she wants it.

I have another dog who is into fruits. Not all kinds of fruits. Just those small and round sweet ones. Like rambutan and longan. Benjamas, the fruit-lover, learned to eat fruits from her first owner.

 

I think that it's very important to set restrictions of treats, just like we do with children and candy. I think that it's just as harmful, if not more, to give a pet too many treats as it is for us to eat too much junk food. I set limits on my dog - I give him max 1 treat a day and he may choose when to ask for it. He sometimes gets two if he had a really good walk or if he didn't try to attack anything while we were walking But I try not to give in to his begging because if I did I would have an unhealthy dog instead of an annoying one. It's mainly a health concern, he's far too small to stomach too many treats a day, and although some dogs may be able to take more, it's still important not to give them too many too often.

 

I limit the amount of snacks I give my dogs. I want them to respond when I train them. They always have bones available to help with oral boredom.