|
|
Trainer's
Corner - June 2009
Nutrition
and Behavior
You
may have noticed we have begun
carrying a few lines of dog food and treats here at K-9
Coach’s Bed
and Bark. Pet Chef and Verus are wonderful foods, meeting all of
your dog’s dietary needs and helping build strong muscles and
bones. However, quality dog food has more than these types of
effects on your dog. It can have a big effect on your dog’s
behavior and training. “What? Training?”, you say.
YES,
training.
Dog
food has the same effect on your
dog as food does on you. If you eat three snickers bars, you are apt
to be hyper and over reactive to your environment. If you feed your
dog grocery store dog food, you might see the same issues emerge. Take
my aggression cases, for instance. One of the first questions I
ask is what the dog eats. Nine times out of ten the dog is eating a
grocery store food, full of sugar and fillers. Not only is it
missing the mark on nutrition but it is adding to the behavior issue
due to the natural effect poor nutrition has on behavior.
How
do you know if your dog food is sub
par? Look at the bag! Dog foods list the ingredients in descending
order of amount in the bag. Beneful list corn as the number one
ingredient. Dogs are carnivores and corn should not be the number
one ingredient in anything that they eat. Meat and bone meal are
next on the Pedigree list. This can be taken from any
beef
parts, not suitable for human consumption, including bones. Chicken
by-product is no different and the animal fat listed on many of these
products can be form any source. This includes 4D animals (animals
that are dead, diseased, dead before slaughter or disabled) and a
variety of other sources, including goats, pigs and rats. Now, sure
it is cheap by have you ever wondered, how do they make it so cheap?
Because the ingredients are poor quality and you have to feed twice
as much, so you buy it more often.
Verus,
a high quality opticoat food we
carry, lists the main ingredients as fish, potatoes, barley and oats.
Pet Chef lamb and rice, which we also carry, lists lamb as the first
ingredient, followed by brown rice. You feed roughly half of a lower
quality food and the dog is eating much healthier, feeling better and
suddenly, calmer! We will be happy to speak to you about our foods
and treat selection and help you make the best decision to keep your
dog as healthy as you can. Also, remember to ask for your free
sample of food beginning July 1st!
Amber Burckhalter
|
