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Dog Obedience Training Blog
Category : Dog Vitamins
Cooking For Your Dog
My dogs' favorite treat!
I have been a dog trainer and a vet tech for what seems like forever! I have never “catered” to my dogs’ food choices. If I were to let them choose, my 12 year old dog would opt for Reese’s Pieces and Peanut Butter Cookies for all of his meals! He is a dog after my own heart!
I haven’t jumped on the raw diet bandwagon and I don’t have the time or effort to cook all of my dog’s meals for them. I don’t believe in spoiling them when it comes to their meals either. You surely know someone who’s dog will only eat homemade meals.
Personally I don’t believe that most homemade dog food recipes and raw diets get the dogs all the vitamins and nutrients they need in all the right amounts. I know that most try, but I don’t believe that they have been around long enough to provide my dogs with all that they need.
I understand that there are many of my readers that make their own dog food or feed the raw diet and do a great job and have wonderful results, but for now it is just not for me. I believe in the research and nutritional components of some of the large dog food companies. I am not here to discourage anyone from making their own dog food.
However, I recently had a scare when it comes to dog treats.
I use to give my dogs a third of a piece of chicken jerky at night when we all went to bed. And, my dogs started begging to go to bed around 7 p.m. each night so that they could enjoy their nightly ritual! I didn’t realize that the FDA had been cautioning pet owners about chicken jerky products made in China since 2007! YIKES!!!
It got me thinking; perhaps it would be safer for me to make my own dog treats!
For years I have been telling my obedience clients to use human food for treats (in moderation of course) because if lots of small children get sick from string cheese we will know a lot faster than if dogs get sick and the process it takes to diagnose and relate it back to a food or treat item.
But, my dogs LOVED chicken jerky!
So I am going to start cooking for them, at least in moderation! And, I am going to share some recipes with you so that you can do the same!
When cooking for your dog, remember that simplicity is best! Dogs don’t need added salt or onion or garlic flavorings. Actually onions and garlic can be toxic for your dog, and salt is hard on his kidneys so when I cook for them I decrease or leave out any salt, garlic, onion or other spice. My dogs don’t care about spices! They just want treats that taste good to them, and we all know that dogs eat unimaginably gross things! Keep it simple, they also don’t need sprinkles or anything that “looks” like chocolate!
Chicken Jerky Oven
- 1 cooked chicken breast cut into thin strips
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees
- Place strips on baking sheets and bake 2-3 hours (depending on thickness) to remove moisture.
- Allow to cool in oven as oven cools to continue dehydrating
- Freeze to preserve freshness
Keep it Simple!
Chicken Jerky Dehydrator
- Raw chicken breast (as much as you desire or have room for) cut into thin pieces
- Dehydrate for 8-10 hours depending on thickness
- Freeze to preserve freshness
I assume you could dehydrate almost any kind of meat this way!
Liver Biscuits
- 1 lb Liver
- 1 box of corn muffin mix
- Liquefy liver in food processor or blender, mix with muffin mix, knead until doughy, spread on a nonstick cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Cool, cut and put in fridge or freezer.
Internet Diagnosis and Alternative Therapies
I love to utilize the internet as a tool. You can basically find ANYTHING on the internet! And, that is part of the problem. I think sometimes the internet is overused and abused when it comes to diagnosing ourselves and our pets.
The problem increases with our animals because we cannot as readily see the side effects and the damage that these diagnosis and holistic or alternative therapies may be causing.
For example, if I decide to take Goat Weed to treat my ear infection and I get severe anxiety, muscle tension and confusion I can stop taking it because I recognize something within my body is not right. But if I give my dog the same medication or something similar I might not see any visual side effects, and it could be doing irreparable damage. Read the rest of this entry »
Top 5 Strategies to Help Alleviate Your Dog’s Shedding
Tis the Season for Grooming!
Ahh spring has arrived, and so have the little furry bunnies that scurry across my hard wood floors and augment in size as the minutes progress. I guess that is what I get for having 3 hairy dogs and one hairy cat in my house all of the time!
Spring and fall bring a kind of molting period for 2 of my dogs. They resemble wooly buffalos as their fur cascades slowly down their bodies. If I am quick I can grab a handful of fur as they fly past me galloping and playing with one another.
I hate to say I am a neat freak, because I don’t think anyone with multiple animals really can be, but I am as close as you can get for someone with a pack of pets. I hate fur in my eyes, up my nose and swirling about my floor. I do my best to vacuum daily to keep dirt and fur at bay, but during shedding season sometimes daily is not enough!
There are a few tricks of the trade to help keep the fur and dirt at bay, at least for a while! Read the rest of this entry »
Urine Spots on Your Lawn Getting You Down?
Lawn not looking as well manicured as you might like?
It is springtime, the time of year when we begin spring cleaning and we get back outside to our lawns, gardens, and flowers. Many people want a pristine yard, but their dog’s urine kills the grass.
Supplements abound and homeopathic advice that claims to change the PH of your dog’s urine and therefore keep the urine from burning your yard, however there are imperative things for you to know before you give your dog these supplements or any other suggested remedy. Read the rest of this entry »
Questions to Ask Your Vet about Your Dog’s Cancer Treatment
Let’s face it, dealing with cancer is scary. The whole idea of what stage of cancer your dog might be in, whether or not to treat, what treatments are available, cost, prognosis; well, to say it can be overwhelming is an understatement. When dealing with any medical issue, it’s a good idea to try and think of some questions before you see your vet and write them down, so you don’t forget anything.
7 Questions to Ask Your Vet About Your Dog’s Cancer Treatments
by Andrew Lewis, healthy-k9.com
Initially, you will need to decide whether you would like your dog to even go through cancer treatment. There are many factors that play into this decision:
Seborrhea in Dogs and Vitamins
Learn more about this skin disease, and what to do about it.
Seborrhea in Dogs and Vitamins
liquid-vitamins-minerals-humans-pets.com
Seborrhea in dogs is a skin disease that can cause your pets skin to be very dry and flaky, or it can be just the opposite, very greasy. It is believed to be an inherited disease as it generally has a family history.
It usually starts to form when a puppy is between the ages of 12 to 18 months old. The term Seborrhea actually means a scaling or flaking of skin.
There can be two major causes of this condition; primary, which is genetic and thus inherited, or it can be secondary and the result of several underlying causes, but in most cases it will be a nutritional deficiency. With the secondary form, it can affect any breed of dog.
The breeds that seem to be the most affected genetically are German Shepherds, Labradors, Golden Retrievers, Dachshunds, Basset Hounds, Terriers, and Spaniels, especially American Cocker and English Springer’s, and well as Miniature Schnauzers.
However, it can also be found in obese dogs of any breed as they will have a more difficult time in properly grooming themselves.
Types of Seborrhea:
There are three types of Seborrhea in dogs; Seborrhea sicca, which is the dry form and will demonstrate dry and scaly conditions in your pet, Seborrhea oleosa, which causes an overproduction of oil in the skin which makes it stink and actually helped to coin the word smelly dog, and Seborrheic dermatitis, which demonstrates both conditions.
Reporting an Adverse Drug Reaction
If your dog has been given a medication which appears to have an adverse effect, read this publication to find out what you should do.
How to Report An Adverse Drug Experience
Introduction
Veterinarians and animal owners are encouraged to report adverse experiences and product failures to the government Agency that regulates the product in question. Pretesting by the manufacturer and review of the data by the government does not guarantee absolute safety and effectiveness due to the inherent limitation imposed by testing the product on a limited population of animals. CVM encourages you to contact the manufacturer of a suspect product. Reporting information for the following product categories:
Is your “natural” dog food truly natural?
Reading and understanding the ingredients on dog food labels can be confusing. Always consult with your veterinarian to determine what dog food you should be feeding your dog. And, learn more about some of the so-called “natural” dog food products on the market in this article.
Is your “natural” dog food truly natural?
By Elizabeth Wasserman
For dog owners like Carol Davis of Fairfax, Va., the sight of a synthetic or chemical ingredient listed on a pet food label leads to the following conclusion: I wouldn’t feed that to my dog. “I usually avoid it,” says Davis, who has a 5-year-old English springer spaniel named Lana. “I feel like if she eats healthy now, she’ll stay healthier and we’ll have fewer vet bills later.”
Like Davis, you are probably more concerned about putting “natural,” or minimally processed, foods on your dinner table, and that standard now extends to what’s in Fido’s bowl. Davis says she looks for recognizable ingredients, such as chicken and carrots, when choosing commercial food for Lana. However, there’s still some confusion about what constitutes a “natural” dog food.
Dog Owners RAVE About New Dog Supplement
You want your dog to be healthy right?
You’ve probably seen the scary stats about how Cancer will kill more dogs then any other disease this year?
And if you’re like me you already know that the best way to make sure your dog doesn’t fall prey to Cancer is through good nutrition.
But most pet foods just don’t pack the nutritional punch dogs need to battle diseases like Cancer.
So we have to find supplements to make up for the poor food quality.
That’s why I was super excited to find Dr. Andrew Jones, an actual Veterinarian, and not some nameless, faceless vitamin company who seems to have finally put together a supplement you can add to your dogs diet that really works — what a concept right?
Read what people are saying about this new Dog Vitamin.
It’s pretty impressive!
Chet