These Foods Are Deadly for your Dog

Many people are unaware that some of the foods that we eat on regular basis can be deadly to your dog.

A piece of chocolate can cause seizures, coma and death.
Even a small piece of chocolate is dangerous.
Anything containing caffeine can have a similar effect and be as dangerous as chocolate, and that includes coffee grounds, tea, and tea bags.

Grapes and raisins can cause kidney failure and even a single serving of raisins can kill your dog.
Excessive salt intake can also cause kidney problems.
Onions can cause anemia by destroying red blood cells while tomatoes can cause tremors and heart arrhythmias.
Tomato plants are particularly toxic to dogs.
Avocados are also highly toxic and can cause breathing difficulty and fluid accumulation around the abdomen chest and heart.

When giving your dog bones ensure that they are raw as cooked bones can splinter and damage their internal organs.
Excessive fat can cause pancreatitis, so it is not wise to feed your dog a diet of fatty foods.
Fried foods also fall into this category and are not good to retain maximum health in your dog.
Certain nuts, such as Macadamia nuts and walnuts can cause weakness and muscle tremors.
Peanut butter however is generally okay provided you use the salt and sugar free peanut butter as sugar can encourage cancer growth.
The core and pits of fruits such as Apple's cherries and peaches contain cyanide, which is poisonous to dogs and can kill them within 24-hours without warning.
If in doubt, always refrain from feeding your dog foods that we are eating assuming that they will be okay.
What is safe for humans can kill your dog within hours.

Create Your Own Cost Effective Quality Dog Food

In an earlier newsletter I talked about allergies and how many of these are related to the food that your dog eats.

This is due to all the filler, colors and preservatives that the dog food manufacturers put into the processed dog foods that are sold through the stores.

There is a solution if you have a dog that has food allergies and it is not only a cost effective way to feed your dog but it can also add to the quality of your dogs health.

Creating your own dog food and dog treats might be the best solution for your dog's allergies.
Even if your dog doesn't have food allergies you can often see an improvement in the health of a dog by changing to homemade treats that don't have all the harmful additives of the dog food you will buy over the counter.

You will also have full control over the ingredients that you use for your food preparation and you can eliminate any foods that you already know your dog is allergic to.

If you are still unsure of the food that your dog might be allergic to you can add and delete the various different foods until you eliminate those that cause negative reactions and only use food that your dog is comfortable eating.

While it might be difficult determining exactly what is in the dog food that you buy from the store you will always know exactly what your dog is eating if you prepare the food yourself.

You can create the food fresh and in the quantities that you require rather than rely on the portions that are determined by the manufacturers.

A Collar and Lead for your Dog

It is important that every dog learns to feel comfortable with a collar and lead, as this will be required when taking the dog to public places.

Walking your dog with a collar and lead is a basic and important skill otherwise you will be one of those people where the dog takes them for a walk and they are forever straining to hold the dog back from running away.

The bigger the dog, the bigger the problem.

Even if your dog is extremely well trained it is unwise to take it out without a collar and lead as accidents can happen.
The dog might get scared from unexpected noise or another dog might attract its attention and it could run off.

If the dog is in new surroundings it could also get spooked by new noises and run off without thinking.

Having a collar with good identification will help you to locate your dog should it ever go missing so this is an important safety factor that we all hope we never have to rely on.

You must always choose a collar that your dog will feel comfortable with as it will be wearing it a lot of the time and you can't even start leash training until your dog has become accustomed to the collar.

On puppies it is not unusual for them to try to remove the collar when they first start wearing it.
It is best to simply ignore your puppy and they will soon get used to wearing it.
You can help by distracting it with toys or playing with it so it forgets that it is even wearing a collar.

Once your dog has accepted wearing the collar you can begin leash training.