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Feed twice a day.
Keep dogs quiet for an hour after feeding.
Don't feed a dog immediately after aggressive exercise. Let them cool down.
Let dogs have access to water.
Pick a food that meets AAFCO requirements and let personal preference, amount needed per lb. to maintain, and your pocket book decide what food to feed.
Don't overfeed :this could also be by feeding performance formula to an inactive dog, just remember, all that fat and protein isn't necessary for most dogs, and is taxing to their system.
Meat/Chicken/Lamb should be one of the first 2-3 ingredients.
Soy is a fine food for many dogs, but some breeds do not tolerate it well.
Wheat is a food many dogs have an allergic reaction to.
Beet Pulp absorbs moisture from your dog's intestine, and is used to make stools firm and small. In human beings we call this constipation. Use foods with beet pulp with caution.
Don't switch foods constantly. Dogs enzyme systems and the bacteria that help digest food get used to certain foods and they aren't prepared to handle an abrupt change of diet.
Educate yourself! Don't listen to everyone. Check out our links page for a DOG FOOD comparison chart, as well as links to the American Veterinary Assoc., The Morris Animal Health Foundation and other authorities on canine nutrition!
I will start a new exercise with food reward, unless a dog is an idiot over food.
Usually though, you can find a food that a dog will work for, but not necessarily rip your hand off over. So find that balance.
Bend slightly over the dog, with the food just out of reach and slightly back of his head. He will want to see where it went. Most dogs just naturally sit out of the need to follow your hand. Repeat "sit" while doing this. When the dog does sit, say "good sit" in a nice tone and give him the food, still slightly over his head, don't make him reach forward and get out of position. Some dogs try to turn around to follow your hand, just keep positioning your body in front of him, while nicely telling him to sit. Eventually he will tire of turning.
Be calm. A lot of dogs need to do a lot of wrong things before they calm down enough to start to think. Don't chatter at him. Give the dog the room to think this through. The one word "sit" coupled with no food until the dog does sit, may take time initially, especially in older dogs trained in stronger ways. They need to de-stress and realize there is no punishment in LEARNING. Puppies learn this way very quickly.
No Punishment while teaching !!! Correction only comes for DISOBEDIENCE of a learned behavior.
Repeat this 10-12 times at a "sitting"(sorry,couldn't resist) and as you see the light bulb come on ,start to give food less and less, and reward with a "good sit!". Don't over praise and get him to break the sit. If he does, just re-do it, you need to find the level of verbal and patting praise that will work, and food. Remember to ask for the sit when you have eye contact. Remember to use your release word when the exercise is over(make sure it ends on a happy note), DON"T over praise when you are done! Why should he work when all the praise is at the release???
Practice attention training when you feed, let him outside,inside etc.
