There are sooooo many different dog foods and thousands more opinions about what is the best thing to feed your dog. This will begin a series of questions for you (the reader) on what is best, or better yet, what your very opinionated dog believes is best.
So share your thoughts below or point your phone’s camera at this QR code.
Welcome to our Doggie U Blog. Here we will share interesting stories, pics, special features on dog life from both the canine and human perspective. These include training, health, food & snacks, tips and tricks, development from puppy to geriatric and more, much more. So check out our stories.
-DU editors
Interactive toys are the hottest things for our furry friends.
We know that exercise is important and healthy, but what about the ‘other‘ type of exercise – cognitive stimulation?
An article in one of our Mag/Journal sections says that ” improving your dog’s diet reduces dog droppings by two thirds.” Here’s the data.
Different diets produce different output results
According to a statement from Department of Animal Sciences and the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Illinois. the idea was to test the digestibility of four commercially available diets: a standard extruded diet (kibble); a fresh, refrigerated diet; and two fresh diets made using only USDA-certified human-grade ingredients.
These fresh diets include minimally processed ingredients such as beef, chicken, rice, carrots, broccoli, and others in small chunks or a sort of casserole.
Four beagles were fed each of these diets for four weeks at a time. The researchers found that dogs fed the extruded diet had to eat more to maintain their body weight, and produced 1.5 to 2.9 times as much poop as any of the fresh diets.
The researchers say that this is consistent with studies in humans. Read more here.
Tell us what you think or your experience is. Here is a new poll.
An article in Explica Science discusses the scientific reasons that your dog licks you. They mention 5 specific reasons that studies have shown.
1. To show affection
It is a way of showing closeness and affection to those who live with them and to those who trust them.
2. People Taste Good
You’ve probably noticed that your dog likes licking around his food bowl or your kitchen floor after you’ve cleaned up a spill. It’s evident that he likes the taste of whatever food traces have been left behind. A human’s skin also tastes good (and salty) and dogs enjoy licking it.
3. Dogs Like to Groom Themselves and You.
In addition to corresponding to an evolutionary path, dogs lick humans and other animals in an attempt to clean them. When it cannot reach the human’s face, they may lick the closest part of the body. For this reason, it is common for them to lick people’s hands, arms or legs.
3. If you hurt yourself, he/she is trying to heal you.
A dog’s saliva contains proteins that can help clean or heal its own wounds. But there are some unique organisms in dogs that it simply is not meant to tolerate or fight. This is why, if the animal identifies that you were injured, it is possibly imitating what it would do to itself: wants to help you heal.
4. Recognition of unknown elements.
Licking is also a sensory tool especially when exploring something new. Dogs may lick a table leg to ‘check it out’.
5. Dogs are communicators
It is a way of showing closeness and affection to those who live with them and to those who trust them. Possibly to say ‘let’s play’ or “it’s almost my dinner time.”
(Source: Explica.co, Publ: December 16, 2020)