Healthy Nutrition for Picky Dogs

By Dr. Jennifer Coates, PetMD

Some dogs seem to barely eat enough to stay alive. I’ve had a couple of them myself, and despite being perfectly aware that slim dogs live longer than fat ones, I can’t stop myself from worrying that they may be missing something from their diets.

The first thing to do if you have a picky eater on your hands is to rule out medical causes for the behavior. A veterinarian should check your dog’s teeth, gums and the rest of the oral cavity for any abnormalities, perform a complete physical exam, and maybe order blood work or other laboratory tests to confirm that your pet is healthy and not suffering from any conditions that might be related to poor nutrition.

Once you and your veterinarian have determined that your dog is simply finicky and not sick, there are a few things you can do to help him/her get all the nutrition they can from every bite.

Make sure you are offering your dog a food that offers balanced nutrition and is made from high-quality ingredients. Look at the ingredient list for things like chicken, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, etc. Higher quality foods are also more nutrient dense than poorer quality options, so smaller volumes contain comparatively more nutrition. The MyBowl tool is a great way to evaluate your dog’s current diet and to comparison shop.

To see the MyBowl tool click on the link below: 

http://www.petmd.com/sites/all/modules/nutrition/mybowl/pdf/MyBowl_downloadableGuide.pdf

Ø  Don’t switch to new food too often. Frequently changing what you are offering can actually make your dog more finicky. He will quickly figure out that something “better” may be coming down the road and try to wait you out. For the same reason, limit the number of treats you give throughout the day. Pick a food that you think is appropriate for your dog and stick with that choice for at least a few weeks.

Ø  Don’t be scared to let your dog get hungry. It is not dangerous for a healthy, adult dog to miss a couple of meals (this does not apply to puppies or dogs with certain health conditions like diabetes, however). Offer your dog his food and pick up anything that remains uneaten after 30 minutes or so. Try again with the same type of food at the next regularly scheduled meal time. I recommend meal feeding rather than free feeding because it can be hard to monitor a dog’s intake when the bowl is always full.

Ø  Feed two or three times a day. Dogs will often take in a bit more if they are offered food several times a day rather than just once.

Ø  If you feed your dog a dry food and want to continue to do so because of its lower cost and greater convenience, try adding just a small amount of canned food. Limit the canned food to less than 10 percent of your dog’s diet and mix it in well with the dry so he can’t just lick up his “treat” and leave the balanced nutrition in the bowl.

THESE OLD WONDERFUL FACES SAY IT ALL.........

These are the dogs that worked the Trade Center & Pentagon that are still alive.

True heroes of 9/11 still with us today... they did their species proud!

Moxie, 13, from Winthrop, Massachusetts, arrived with her handler, Mark Aliberti, at the World Trade Center on the evening of September 11 and searched the site for eight days.

Tara, 16, from Ipswich, Massachusetts, arrived at the World Trade Center on the night of the 11th. The dog and her handler Lee Prentiss were there for eight days.

Kaiser, 12, pictured at home in Indianapolis, Indiana, was deployed to the World Trade Center on September 11 and searched tirelessly for people in the rubble.

Bretagne and his owner Denise Corliss from Cypress, Texas, arrived at the site in New York on September 17, remaining there for ten days!  

Guinness, 15, from Highland, California, started work at the site with Sheila McKee on the morning of September 13 and was deployed at the site for 11 days.

Merlyn and his handler Matt Claussen were deployed to Ground Zero on September 24, working the night shift for five days.

Red, 11, from Annapolis, Maryland, went with Heather Roche to the Pentagon from September 16 until the 27 as part of the Bay Area Recovery Canines.

Abigail, above, was deployed on the evening of September 17, searching for 10 days while Tuff arrived in New York at 11:00 pm on the day of attack to start working early the next day.

Handler Julie Noyes and Hoke were deployed to the World Trade Center from their home in Denver on September 24 and searched for five days.

Scout and another unknown dog lie among the rubble at Ground Zero, just two of nearly 100 search and rescue animals who helped to search for survivors. During the chaos of the 9/11 attacks, where almost 3,000 people died, nearly 100 loyal search and rescue dogs and their brave owners scoured Ground Zero for survivors. Now, ten years on, just 12 of these heroic canines survive, and they have been commemorated in a touching series of portraits entitled 'Retrieved'. The dogs worked tirelessly to search for anyone trapped alive in the rubble, along with countless emergency service workers and members of the public.

Traveling across nine states in the U.S. from Texas to Maryland, Dutch photographer Charlotte Dumas, 34, captured the remaining dogs in their twilight years in their homes where they still live with their handlers, a full decade on from 9/11. Their stories have now been compiled in a book, called Retrieved, which is published on Friday, the tenth anniversary of the attacks.

Noted for her touching portraits of animals, especially dogs, Charlotte wanted 'Retrieved' to mark not only the anniversary of the September 2001 attacks, but also as recognition for some of the first responders and their dogs.

'I felt this was a turning point, especially for the dogs, who although are not forgotten, are not as prominent as the human stories involved,' explained Charlotte, who splits her time between New York and Amsterdam. 'They speak to us as a different species and animals are greatly important for our sense of empathy and to put things into perspective.'

Deaf Black Lab Fetched By Dog Friend

Teamwork has never been more adorable.

Benson, a cute black lab, is hearing impaired, so when it's time to come inside after playing in the yard, his buddy Buffy has to fetch him.

Watch as Buffy happily prances over to his roommate, grabs his collar, and ushers him back towards the house.

If you want to help a dog in need, check out Petfinder.com or the ASPCA website to learn about adopting a homeless pet.

Halloween Contest

PUPPY LOVE

Is Having A

HALLOWEEN COSTUME CONTEST

When:  Thursday, October 13^th at 5:00 PM

Where: Town Square Park in Howe, IN.

No Entry Fee

1^st Place – Free Groom at Puppy Love

2^nd Place - $10 Gift Card from Puppy Love

3^rd Place - $5 Gift Card from Puppy Love

The crowd will be the judge!

All dogs are welcome.

Bring your creativity.

Please keep all dogs on a leash.

Fun Facts

Fun Facts About Dogs

·    Dogs only sweat from the bottoms of their feet, the only way they can discharge heat is by panting.

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·    Dogs have about 100 different facial expressions, most of them made with the ears.

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·    Dogs have about 10 vocal sounds.

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·    Dogs do not have an appendix.

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·    There are more than 200 different breeds of dogs.

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·    Dalmatians are born spotless: at first pure white, their spots develop as they age.

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·    Contrary to popular belief, dogs aren't color blind; they can see shades of blue, yellow,

·    green and gray. The color red registers on a grayscale in a dog's vision.

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·    Most domestic dogs are capable of reaching speeds up to about nineteen miles per hour when running at full speed.

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·    Using their swiveling ears like radar dishes, experiments have shown that dogs can locate the source of a sound in 6/100ths of a second.

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·    Domesticated for more than 10,000 years, the dog was one of the first animals domesticated by humans.

Fun Feline Facts

·    Cats do not have sweat glands.

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·    A cat can jump as much as seven times its height.

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·    Cats have five toes on each front paw, but only four toes on each back paw.

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·    Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have about ten.

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·    A pack of kittens is called a kindle, while a pack of adult cats is called a clowder.

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·    An adult cat can run about 12 miles per hour, and can sprint at nearly thirty miles per hour.

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·    A cat's tongue is scratchy because it's lined with papillae-tiny elevated backwards hooks that help to hold prey in place.

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·    The nose pad of each cat has ridges in a unique pattern not unlike a person's fingerprints.

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·    Cats' bodies are extremely flexible; the cat skeleton contains more than 230 bones (a human has about 206), and the pelvis and shoulders loosely attach to the spine. This adds to their flexibility and allows them to fit through very small spaces.

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·    Cats have better memories than dogs. Tests conducted by the University of Michigan concluded that while a dog's memory lasts no more than 5 minutes, a cat's can last as long as 16 hours-exceeding even that of monkeys and orangutans.

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The Motorcycle Dog