Giving Your Dog a Treat

Just like us, our canine friends enjoy a treat now and then but it's important to remember that they're not human and that the treats we enjoy aren't necessarily good for our dogs.

Because dogs are natural scavengers they'll generally eat anything that's offered to them, regardless of whether or not they actual like the taste or will be receiving any nutritional benefits from the snack. In other words, don't let your dog lead you - learn how, when and why to feed him snacks and your dog will enjoy many healthy years in your company.

What Kind of Treat?

Take a walk along the pet food aisle of any supermarket and you'll probably be overwhelmed by the number of different dog treats available, each of them claiming to be the right one for your dog. It's little wonder a task that sounds simple can become so confusing that many owners end up over-treating their dog or giving them treats they simply don't need.

Small, tasty treats can be given to mark correct behaviour during training and hard, chewy treats are useful to help keep your dog's teeth clean and healthy and large ones will keep him occupied when you're not giving him attention. Biscuits are available in a variety of sizes and should be chosen with the dog's size in mind: the larger the dog, the larger the biscuit. There are even treat toys available that will help keep his mind active while trying to work out how to get the treats out of the toy.

Are Treats Healthy?

Treats should be given in moderation and should be chosen with a specific purpose in mind. Handfuls of biscuits fed every time your dog looks at you with his big brown eyes are likely to lead to obesity whereas a healthy treat fed in the evening or a hide chew given once a week will give him something to enjoy without damaging his health.

Treats to Avoid

Although there are safe chocolate dog treats on the market, it's better to not feed these as a regular treat. Dogs can't distinguish between doggy chocs and the chocolate bar you left on the table; and chocolate designed for human consumption is so toxic to dogs that unnecessary deaths happen all too often because of chocolate poisoning.

In fact, any treat designed for our pleasure is probably unhealthy for your dog so should be avoided. Any high calorie human food will cause obesity and biscuits containing sugar will rot their teeth. Raisons, which are found in buns and biscuits, are also poisonous to dogs.

For more information on feeding chocolate to dogs, click here.

Treats as Rewards

When done properly, treating a dog stimulates their mind, teaching them that when they perform a certain action they'll be rewarded. Most dogs will try hard to get things right if they know that something desirable will be waiting at the other end so this is useful for all kinds of training, from teaching a pup where to urinate to teaching an older dog to stop barking on command. Agility and other fun activities can also be taught through offering treats as rewards.

Burns Pet Nutrition have formulated an excellent training treat for dogs. Click here to view them.

A good solid bone like the one shown above are excellent treats the will keep your dog amused for hours.

What's important is that the treats offered should be small and tasty. Small pieces of cheese or sausage are popular although, if you prefer to use commercially available treats, tiny biscuits sold as puppy treats can also be offered.

If your dog begs for a treat, it shouldn't be given. It's important that the dog understands who makes the decisions about when a treat is offered; treating after begging will tell him that he's in charge of the situation and bad habits that form quickly can be difficult to break.

As with most things, treats should be given in moderation and for a reason. While they can be damaging to your dog if given in excess, If used properly treats are a useful and pleasurable part of your dog's feed.

Copyright © PetClub UK Ltd. 2006

Was this article useful to you?

If you would like to email this article to a friend please click here to email to a friend

Copy this article

PetClub UK Ltd. grants any reader permission to copy this article in its entirety for use on your website or publication. Anyone who wishes to use this article must copy and paste the following HTML code into their website in full. Publications should credit the article to www.petclubuk.com, and should contact us with full details of where the article is to be used, as well as sending us the final copy.