Healthy Dog Treat
How many dog treats can be considered
a healthy dog treat? - There is no denying that treats
are a positive and effective behavioral training tool.
Furthermore, many people like to feel that they are
not wasting their own food if they give the leftovers
to their dog, or they will add leftovers to the dog's
meal to improve the flavour for the dog. However, too
many treats or the wrong kind of leftovers can be
bad for the dog's health and even lead to dangerous
disease conditions or early death.
Dog trainers many times like to use
treats, which are easy to pocket, non-greasy or dry
and treats that they can also eat. This has led to
some unusual foods being used for dog treats, including
such things as raisins or dry bits of hard cheese,
or popcorn, for example. Some of these foods can be
health hazards to the dog.
The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center
lists raisins as toxic to dogs. Hard Cheese is healthy,
but can lead to constipation of the dog if over fed
and furthermore, greatly increases the caloric intake
and popcorn offers no caloric increase to the dog
but if salted the sodium can be dangerous. Leftovers
such as chicken or any cooked meat that is still on
the bone can cause splintered bone punctures to the
digestive tract and any cooked foods which contain
onion, a common ingredient in most stews and casserole
type dishes, is also dangerous for the dog to ingest.
Onion is a food, which should be avoided raw or cooked.
Many vegetables are safe for the dog when raw but
if cooked can lead to digestive upsets or even vomiting.
It is important that the trainer recognize
that overfeeding can lead to obesity in the dog and
that when you give an inordinate amount of treats
as a training tool you can also be adding to the caloric
intake of the dog. Obesity in the dog is a huge health
problem for modern dogs and can contribute to early
death, immune deficiency disorders, kidney or liver
failure and diabetes.
The best way to avoid such problems
is to recognize that dogs should be fed dog foods
and should be treated with dog treats. It is possible
to make healthy dog treats at home and many safe and
healthy recipes can be found just by looking them
up on the internet. Dog treats abound in all the pet
stores too. To avoid increasing your dog's caloric
intake, all that needs to be done is to measure out
the amount of food that your dog can have in a day
and allot some of the portion to be set aside and
given to him as a treat. If your dog does not eat
"plain food" as a treat and is not motivated
by a treat, which is his regular dog food, then commercial
dog treats can be given as a substitute for as much
as one third of the regular dog food your dog eats
daily. If you do this, you are avoiding the introduction
of unusual or possibly toxic foods into the dog's
system and are also avoiding over feeding.
