Dogs become finicky when they are given too great a variety and by overfeeding. I’m not surprise that at this stage, they may already have weight and health issues to add to their existing dilemma. If you do change foods, do it gradually by adding a bit of new food each day to old food. The reason for this is that digestive flora gets used to one food and a rapid change can cause diarrhea and digestive upsets. If you choose a high quality food, there is really no need for vitamin supplementation. You will pay more for premium dog food, but you will use less because a small feeding amount has more nutrients and is more thoroughly digested.

And if you should decide on home cooked meals instead, just remember that you should depart from a “complete and balanced” pet diet in favor of a more specialized program. These reasons may include age, disease, or even stress.

A good rule of thumb to apply to your dog’s diet system is “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” And with this notion, your pooch will soon know you are truly Gourmet—The Boss.

If you selected second option you might have reacted correctly if filly was gently asked to respect your space previously and elected to ignore request out of defiance. In such a scenario you would need to reinforce your authority lest she view herself as being alpha leader amongst you.

But what if filly stepped against you because wind was carrying along a plastic bag that startled her? In such a case if you discipline your horse you do her a huge disservice because she's not trying to be defiant or challenge your authority – she's scared and she wanted your reassurance! If you start cuffing your filly for violating your personal space she will be like a deer caught in a car's headlights; bag to her left and handler to her right are scaring her and she'll either bolt or become paralyzed.

Had you understood root of her concern you could have forgiven invasion of your space and instead showed your filly plastic bag was nothing to be concerned about. Such reassurances would have put her mind at ease, allow her to regain focus on task at hand and hopefully become desensitized towards future encounters with plastic bags.

A trainer that believed in "one size fits all" philosophy would probably have chosen option two in above scenario since at face value that would be correct reaction, but without understanding horse or motivation behind her action his "correction" would have further compounded problem. It is essential a handler take time to understand a horse's behavior before attempting to correct it since one size most definitely does not fit all. And who would better understand your horse than you?

In addition training process does not have to be stressful battle of wills that most of us initially believe it to be. Taken slowly, both horse and owner can actually look forward to advancing along lesson plan. As owner and horse work together, each will develop an even better understanding of other's mannerisms, personality and expectations… and with understanding comes success.