Thinking of cooking up a storm for your pooch? And that I assume you’re having difficulties in convincing your pooch eating his premium dog food.There are two issues here—Home-cooked meals verses commercial premium dog food.
Whether or not one is better than
other is a matter of preference—you not your dog. And whether or not your dog becomes a demanding “gourmet” is also depending on you; not your dog.
In choosing varied “gourmet” diets for our dogs (diets which are quickly becoming expensive), we fall into an anthropomorphic fallacy—a tendency where human characteristics for animals.
Dogs and all animals are creatures of habit. A pup raised on an ordinary feed (even he’s strictly on commercially packed food) will grow to like it, sometimes shunning rarer delicacies in favor of "the usual."
Occasionally, your pooch may clamor for your steak while his own kibbles waits in his bowl, he’ll eventually go for his regular meal if other temptations don’t compete. Variety is not as crucial to him as it may seem to you.
Dogs are not finicky eaters by nature. We inadvertently create this problem by substituting food for love. We think that every time our dog does something cute, we should give him a treat. After a while, our dog wants nothing but treats, especially if they come from our plate or
refrigerator! If you feed your dog a variety of food in hopes that one will appeal to him, he will demand a greater and greater variety, and you will have created a finicky eater! Choose a high-quality food and stick to it. Do not feed table scraps or give in-between meal snacks to your dog. Some "gourmet" dog foods (and especially dog "treats") are designed to appeal more to
human purchaser than
animal consumer. Color-blind canines are indifferent to
pastel hues that beckon
buyer of dog candies. We pay extra for such gimmicks because we consciously or unconsciously equate human tastes and needs with those of our pooches. What matter most to them is
taste, not
shape, size or colour. Dogs don’t know a clue about calories that gamey treat can add to their waistline. So is up to us to be
sensible one to give treats in moderation. If possible, limit it to training and party times.