Why A Trainer Talks Nutrition

One of the questions I have gotten over the years is "Why do you care about dog nutrition when you're a trainer?" There are two things that a trainer can not contend with when it comes to behavior; breed characteristics (you can't teach a beagle not to sniff) and health problems. Both of these things complicate behaviors and if we can eliminate one, we'll have more success.

I had a very detailed conversation with a veterinarian a few years ago and found an interesting fact. Veterinarians do not have a nutrition aspect of their training. The veterinary programs are focused on symptoms, injuries, and surgery on multiple animals from the dogs to rodents, reptiles, and livestock. To have them also study pet food labels and the individual ingredients in them is simply too much. Can you imagine how big that textbook would be?

Now I'm not saying that your vet knows nothing about what your dog should eat. Of course that's not true and many vets who zero in on caring for just a couple types of animals do in fact take it upon themselves to learn more about what should be going in these animals. But otherwise, there is very few places you can go to get some good information about canine nutrition. If you live in or near a large city, you maybe lucky enough to find a nutritionist but otherwise you're googling that stuff!

The reason I made the nutrition talk part of my curriculum was because I found many students with similar behavior problems had a common denominator... bargain basement food. If you're buying your food at the local grocery store or your local WalMart, I can almost guarantee that you are feeding a low quality food. There's a reason we are strongly encouraged not to eat McDonalds for every meal. These grocery store foods are an equivalent.

If you feed a poor quality food, your dog is lacking nutritional requirements. Poor quality food, as mentioned in the previous article, can cause intestinal discomfort, bowl variations, and other health concerns. An uncomfortable dog is not a well behaved dog and all the training in the world won't rectify it. If a dog is not feeling good or is in pain, like us, it'll be irritable, short tempered, and may even show signs of aggression. So as trainers, if we can talk our students into starting a healthier food right on day one, we'll all be better for it and our success rates will be that much higher.

Here are a few recommendations:

                                             

I personally use Natural Balance Synergy. If you don't have a pet store nearby, try your local farm store like Tractor Supply. They are starting to carry some of these higher quality foods! And while you'll pay a higher price per pound, you'll find yourself feeding less and you may help avoid any costly visits to the vet!