How To Decide On The Right Pet Food

Puppy chow, weight control dog foods and food for senior citizens are just a few of the choices that you face in the dog food aisle. Beyond that you can also choose between dry food, canned food and moist food that is served from a handy pouch. Prices can range from the very affordable to quite expensive and you can be left standing in the aisle, desperately trying to decide which one is right for your pooch. Here are some tips to help you find the best dog food for your puppy.

Your Dog's Health and Needs

Every dog is an individual and their needs will vary. What is perfect for one pet may prove too fattening for another, or it may not provide key nutrients that another dog is lacking in.The first step is to look carefully at your dog's health. Write down any health conditions that your dog is dealing with. These could include recurrent diarrhea, obesity, being underweight, problems with worms or fleas, low energy or a thinning coat.

Now make another list and write down all of your dog's health assets. A shiny coat, for example, is an asset. Clean teeth or breath that is decent are assets. Compare the two lists. If your dog has far more assets than problems then you have probably already found the ideal dog food.

However, if your dog is facing more problems than pride, then he or she may benefit from a change in diet. The next step in this case will be to have a meeting with your veterinarian. Take along the ingredients label form the dog food bag so you can discuss changes that may be necessary. A dull coat, for example, may require a diet that is higher in essential fatty acids.

What to Look for in Dog Food

When you are changing your pet's diet, look carefully at the ingredients. Here are some tips on what you are looking for and why.

Protein

Essential to satisfy their carnivorous appetite, the first ingredient should be some kind of fresh meat type followed by a meal. Meat meals, such as lamb meal or salmon meal, are perfectly acceptable. The label should name the type of meal, not just call it "meat meal". Think of it as feeding your children fresh chicken breasts compared to hot dogs.

Fats and Oils Necessary for skin, coat and brain development, the fats and oils need to be there. Look for specifically named fats like chicken fat, canola oil and the like.

Carbohydrates

These are great for energy. Look for whole grains like rice, oats, barley, potatoes, peas and sweet potatoes. Beware of foods where the grains are split and listed as the grain, grain flour or grain bran.

What to Avoid

Sometimes it's easier to start by learning what you don't want in the dog's food. Here is a short list of ingredients that you don't want to see on your dog's food label.

Corn gluten, soy meal or soybean meal should be avoided.

Mineral oil

Grain products, like flour, middlings or mill run

Unspecified sources of grains

Apple pomace, grape pomace or citrus pulp

Onion

BHA, BHT, TBHQ, sodium metabisulphite preservatives

Sugar, fructose, sucrose, glucose, ammoniated glycyrrhizin, corn syrup, propylene glycol

Any dyes

The final step is finding the right pet food will be the taste test at home. The ideal product will be healthy for your dog and enjoyable for her to eat. Start by purchasing small bags and keep track of what is tried and what the response is. With a little patience and some research, you will soon find a dog food that is perfect for your dog's needs.

Some pet foods can be very expensive and not contain the correct nutritional requirements for dogs

Putting Things Right and Into Practice

I have been to Oxfordshire today which is a change for me to be out of Leicestershire recently as Leicestershire is keeping me very busy. I took a phone call from a very confused dog owner who had had a visit from a "Dog Listener" who has spent three hours in their lounge telling them how to resolve the issues they were experiencing with their rescue Boxer/ Pointer dog. Whilst some of the suggestions had delivered an improvement, nothing had changed the dog's behaviour out on the walk. The talk had taken place with the dog in the room but with the trainer and the owners sat for the entire three hours, the dog was asleep in his bed so there was not even any observation of the interaction.

When the owners called me, they were skeptical and not surprisingly so. They told me their experiences to date and asked if I was different. They had seen and liked the testimonials on my web site and when I ran through how I work and when I asked questions about their interaction with their dog, they understood my approach is very different. They asked for time to think about it, it was only three weeks since the listener had been and they were not inclined to rush into anything, especially with the costs involved.

Two days later I took another call from them and they requested an appointment for a Home Visit which I completed today.

The dog is lovely and was calm at the door when I arrived and remained calm when I was in the house. The first part of the discussion revolved around their confusion and the mixed signals they were giving their dog and I helped dispel their confusion and also a few old wives tales along the way.

During this time, the dog decided he was not getting enough attention and started sitting in front of his owners and backing into them until he was almost under their legs! This was a sure fire way to make sure he got their attention. He was also prone to putting his face into theirs and barking just in case they had forgotten he was there. He had very cleverly worked out which behaviours gained the most attention and his owners had fallen for the whole performance.

When he started to be rewarded for not demanding attention and for being more relaxed, he started to settle down. Working with the dog in this way and explaining why our interaction shapes our dogs behaviour, the owners were amazed to find an hour and a half had already gone.

I wanted to make sure we covered as much as possible in the time allowed and this is usually determined by how quickly the dog can calm down and today we were working with a dog who just wanted to be calm so we were able to get out on a walk where his most explosive issues were.

But, before we went out on the walk, we had to see how the dog thought he should leave the house. When I do this, I am looking more at the state of mind of the dog rather than at the physical behaviour. Because the two are intrinsically linked, you get better behaviour from a calm dog yet you won't get better behaviour if the dog remains stressed and confused.

As they always put the dogs lead on in the garden and then went straight out through the gate, they had not given the dog to really show them how he was thinking so in order to do this, we brought the lead and collar into the lounge and made the starting point there. His behaviour amazed his owners as he started barking and biting the lead, things he had never had the time to do before. By giving the dog the time to show us how he thought he should behave, he gives us all the information needed for us to change the behaviour.

He soon learned his stress and determination to control the lead received no attention at all and if he went through the door on a tight lead, he was brought back to try again. When he went through the doorway on a slack lead, he was praised for it and very soon learned to do just that through the next three doorways. Excellent progress quickly achieved.

Out of the garden gate, he quickly wound up and became stressed at the anticipation of meeting cats, dogs, people, joggers and cyclists, all of the triggers for his bad behaviour. I quickly changed him from pulling to walking on a slack lead and explained to his owners how to spot his elevation of stress and at which points on the walk this happened. By stopping at these points, he learned to relax before proceeding and by also taking a wider berth into corners, the owners were able to see what was coming rather than walking blind into the corner which made them both nervous in case they came upon a jogger or bike.

On the way back, a jogger did come past and the owner just remained calm and moved away slightly and the dog just glanced at the jogger and did not react. This is also because there was no tightening of the lead or frantic calling "Leave It".

The owners are much happier, they feel they have really learned valuable information and are happy to continue what they have started. That is the difference between professionals and the rest.

This article was written by Steven Havers, a professional dog behaviour expert who specialises in training dogs not accepted by mainstream training clubs, centres or trainers. You can visit his website at http://www.haversspecialiseddogtraining.co.uk/ for more articles and training information.