Why Treats Could Be Harming Your Dog

We all love our dogs. They make great companions, and one of the ways you can express this is through the joy of food. But this article isn't about the love you have for your dog, or indeed the way dogs enjoy the food you give them. Instead, the following article is going to be centered around the eventual counterproductiveness of giving your dogs too many treats.

Firstly, there are affects it has to the behaviour of your dog. Treats are by their very nature a reward for your dog. They're nice tasting, sweet and the fact that they're not given as often as other edibles means that they are something to be savoured. This is all well and good when you're using treats as an effective method of incentivising particular traits and behaviours within obedience training. But when you over use treats, their significance loses meaning in the dog's eye. You're effectively treating them for doing nothing, which at the very least will cause them to mistake their social standing in the household.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, over treating your dog can lead to weight issues that have serious impacts on the quality of life of your dog. Often, the treats that we do give to our dogs are quite calorie intensive, and therefore need to be balanced out by a lot of exercise so that your dog doesn't put on weight. Failing to moderate the treats you give your dog and not balancing the treats you do give with exercise can lead to heart problems, arthritis and diabetes within dogs.

Lastly, but by no means least, is the subject of chocolate. It tastes so good to us that it must be a treat to your dog, right? Chocolate does in fact have the potential to be incredibly harmful if consumed by our canine friends. It has been known to trigger allergic reactions that actually result in death. Make sure, by all means, that you never leave chocolate around for your dog to eat, or there could be serious health issues that arise.

Jonathan Belcher has been an Angler for 10 years now, and runs a review site at Folding Camping Chair [http://www.foldingcampingchair.net/], which also focuses on reviewing a Folding Camp Chair [http://www.foldingcampingchair.net/2010/01/20/folding-camp-chair-reviews/]