{"product_id":"2940014024860","title":"Dieting your Dog","description":"Why Worry About Your Dog’s Diet\u003cbr\u003eYour dog is your buddy. In some cases the best friend. They offer you unconditional\u003cbr\u003elove and company. Some breeds live to please you. They can brighten up your day when\u003cbr\u003eyou get home after a long day of the office with how excited they are to see you. It is a\u003cbr\u003eknown fact that having a dog can improve your mental health and offer companionship\u003cbr\u003efor many people. Dogs can be trained to do a number of things, they can be trained to be\u003cbr\u003ea Seeing Eye dog, police dog, and even clown dogs. They can do tricks such as dance\u003cbr\u003ewith your, sit, play dead.\u003cbr\u003eI love my dog. He is a 2 year old dopey golden retriever who is my protector and my\u003cbr\u003ebuddy. I love the greetings I get from him when I walk in the door. I love the fact that\u003cbr\u003ewhen he wags his tail, his whole body shakes back and forth. I spoil my dog and to be\u003cbr\u003ehonest I never gave much thought to what I was feeding him, or even how important it\u003cbr\u003ewas. My whole life I have had dogs. You would think that I know all about their diet and\u003cbr\u003ehow important it is for them to have a good diet.\u003cbr\u003eWell I don’t, or at least I didn’t up until a short while ago. I was one of those dog\u003cbr\u003eowners who didn’t give my dogs diet a second thought. I bought whatever dog food was\u003cbr\u003eone sale that week and never read the ingredients. I listened to my vet advertise brands of\u003cbr\u003edog food and sometimes took his advice but other times didn’t because I knew he was\u003cbr\u003ebeing paid to promote the food. I could tell because of all the free samples he was trying\u003cbr\u003eto get rid of.\u003cbr\u003eI wasn’t however, one of those people who fed their dogs leftovers from the dinner table.\u003cbr\u003eThose are the people who fall for the puppy dog eyes that our dogs seem to have\u003cbr\u003emastered. That is not to say I didn’t toss him a taste every now and then, but for the\u003cbr\u003emost part, I never fed him. Some of the food we eat can be toxic for a dog, and greasy\u003cbr\u003efoods, or fried food, forget it. Have fun cleaning up after him after that mess!\u003cbr\u003eIt wasn’t until I noticed my dog’s coat not looking as shiny as it once did. Other dog\u003cbr\u003eowners have said it wasn’t until their dogs began scratching themselves silly or not have\u003cbr\u003emuch energy that they notice something was the matter. One person said it wasn’t until\u003cbr\u003etheir dog’s stomach grew so much from him being overweight did they realize their\u003cbr\u003emight have been a problem with the food.\u003cbr\u003eDogs are mammals, just like us. If we eat too much and don’t exercise enough we are\u003cbr\u003egoing to get fat as our dogs. If we eat food that is not good for us, we tend to feel\u003cbr\u003elethargic afterwards and do not want to move. Eating unhealthy for us can cause a whole\u003cbr\u003eslew of problems from heart disease to diabetes. We can make our skin look unhealthy\u003cbr\u003eand our hair and when we go to bathroom. Well let us just say that it can be pretty ugly\u003cbr\u003esight.\u003cbr\u003eDogs are no different. If they eat too much and get no exercise they become overweight.\u003cbr\u003eIf they eat food that is not good for them, they to can feel lethargic and have no energy.\u003cbr\u003e3\u003cbr\u003eWhat they eat can affect their coat and their skin. Dogs can get most of the same\u003cbr\u003ediseases we do. They can get cancer, they can get heart disease, and have heart attacks.\u003cbr\u003eThey can even get diabetes.\u003cbr\u003eThis is why it is so important to understand why your dog’s diet is so important to their\u003cbr\u003elives. Just like with us, dogs are what they eat, just like we are. Unfortunately though a\u003cbr\u003edog can not tell you when something does not feel right on them, or when they have a\u003cbr\u003estomach ache from the food they eat. Most of us watch what we eat because of the\u003cbr\u003ehealth benefits that come with the effort, and it is the same thing in our dogs.\u003cbr\u003eA dogs diet needs are not that different from our own. They require the same vitamins\u003cbr\u003eand minerals as we do just not in the same quantity. They require protein, carbohydrates\u003cbr\u003eand fats just like we do. Their stomachs work similar to ours. There are only a few\u003cbr\u003edifferences. If we eat too much and not exercise enough, we get overweight.\u003cbr\u003eOverweight can bring on a whole slew of problems for us. For a dog, it is no different.\u003cbr\u003eIf they eat too much and do not get enough exercise, they too will become overweight\u003cbr\u003eand they too will deal with a whole slew of problems also. The food we put into our\u003cbr\u003ebody can affect our skin and our hair. The food we put on a dogs body affects their skin\u003cbr\u003eand their hair. Why do some dog owners think otherwise? We eat certain foods to give\u003cbr\u003eus the nutrition we need to keep us healthy. The same is true for dogs. While they can\u003cbr\u003enot eat the same foods we do, careful attention should be paid to the ingredients in dog\u003cbr\u003efood to make sure they are getting a healthy and nutritious meal.\u003cbr\u003ePoor diet in dogs could mean many things. Dogs with a poor diet do not have high\u003cbr\u003e...","brand":"99 \u0026cent; store, save a lot more","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47079817216240,"sku":"2940014024860","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014024860_p0.jpg?v=1763599260","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014024860","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}