Try to be consistent in your use of treats too. If your dog is used to getting rich, indulgent treats, it will be harder to switch over to healthy versions.
Reduce mealtime calorie intake The commercial dog foods now available from firms such as Hill’s Pet Nutrition are complete, meaning there is no need to supplement them with anything else. Indeed, if you start adding to your dog’s diet by dispensing treats, you risk overfeeding it. To ensure you don’t fall into this trap, make a mental note of the number of treats you give out during training sessions and adjust your pet’s food portions during mealtimes accordingly.
Particularly if you are handing out lots of treats, it’s vital that you choose foods that are low in calories. For example, rather than handing over meaty offerings such as pieces of sausage, perhaps you could provide small slices of carrot.
By far the best way to train dogs is to use positive reinforcement. This means offering the creatures a reward each time they perform a behaviour you want. The only trouble is, owners often get carried away with handing out edible treats to their canine companions, and this can cause the animals to gain too much weight.
By putting less food in your dog’s bowl, you can help to prevent it from gaining excess weight.
Resist the urge to top up during the day
We’ve all been there: our pooch fixes us with those saucer-sized puppy eyes, and we give them whatever they want. For food-loving pups, that can often mean constant food bowl top-ups throughout the day. While this gesture may stem from a well-meaning place, it does our dogs no favours. In fact, by grazing throughout the day, they’re more likely to cross their stomach’s threshold at dinner time. The next time they plead with their eyes, steel your resolve and stick to your doggo’s allotted meal times.
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Madison Davis “I found and took in a stray. She was supremely scrawny, so my first instinct was to feed her a lot to help her gain weight. But she started having stomach issues. Now Ive pulled back on the table scraps, and she is recuperating just fine.”…” more