Dogs and Diet: Not Just About Physical Health
By Cathy Brooks
Chief Human Officer – Hydrant Club
702.721.WOOF (9663)
Cathy@HydrantClub.com
When people think about their dog’s diet generally they’re considering physical health – nutrients, allergens, caring for fur/coat and the like. That is important. However, what a dog eats plays an equally prominent role in its behavior.
Think about it. When you eat something that doesn’t quite agree with you or that isn’t of good quality, you don’t feel well. The result of that may be that you don’t sleep properly and thus, are tired. As a result of being tired, you’re cranky and may have a hard time focusing. Bad food or just “off” ingredients can impact your gastrointestinal tract – and we all know how cruddy that makes one feel.
Then there are those foods that just amp you up:
- sugar
- fried food
- things stuffed with preservatives – making you jittery, anxious and a bit off center.
Now imagine you’re a dog.
You don’t control your food. You eat what you’re given. You have no way to communicate you don’t feel right. Instead, you act out – dismantling bathroom trashcans, shredding newspaper, marking in the house and being generally anxious or agitated.
Much like with humans, simply cleaning up your dog’s diet can go a long way towards giving them better physical health and giving you a clearer baseline of their actual behavior so you can address training more effectively.
