Dog Nutrition, Dog Food Recipies and Preventing Dog Obesity

Overweight Dogs - How to Put your Dog on a Diet

Once you know what type of food to give your puppy, the big question is - "how much"? Many dogs will just eat and eat, so you would never know when they have had enough. You can see the results in the many "portly pooches" waddling along the pavements next to their owners.

Statistically, 41% of dogs examined by vets in Australia are overweight or obese according to a study published in the influential British Vetinary Association journal The Vetinary Record ("Prevalence of obesity in dogs examined by Australian veterinary practices and the risk factors involved" by McGreevy, Thomson, Pride, Fawsett, Grassi, and Jones).

The results can be dangerous. Just like humans, dogs get diabetes, arthritis, back problems, heart disease and clogged blood arteries. It is cruel to have a fat, overweight or obese dog, so you should resist constantly giving them "treats" or over feeding them at meal times. The Puppy School book store has many books on how your dog can loose weight.

Some breeds are notorious for having never-ending appetites, such as Cocker Spaniels, Labradors, and Retrievers - they just seem to be "wired" differently! You might just need a bit of advice on how much, how often, and when to feed your dog from some of the books in the catalogue at the bottom of this page.

Dog Nutrition

The saying "you are what you eat" applies just as much to dogs as it does to humans. Correct nutrition and diet is vital for healthy growth of puppies and for the long-term health of all dogs.

The choices about dog food are vast. Pet food companies earn huge profits selling dog food through supermarkets who dedicate enormous shelf-space to these mass-produced products.

As any vet will tell you, there are also a wide range of "premium dog foods" - usually better quality than the supermarket products. But there are also big differences between brands of premium dog foods. It can all be very confusing, especially when you realise that vet's offices sell the premium dog food, and so a vet may not be impartial in his advice!

Assuming you read the labels on the food (and that they tell you the complete story - a problem recently with some of the ingredients the pet food companies sourced from China), you need to know how to interpret it.

Dog Food Recipes

A practical solution to knowing what your dog is eating is to prepare the food yourself from fresh ingredients. You should certainly know what is going into the dog food if you do this, but you still need to know that you are cooking the right nutrients and feeding your dog the right diet for his stage of life.

For more information (and some great recipes), please have a look at the many popular books we have which give advice on how to feed your dog well.