Most humans have at least one type of food that they won’t eat – either because they were ‘force-fed broccoli’ as a child and have never recovered from the trauma, or because they simply don’t like the taste. In the same way, pets can be fussy about their food, and if you smell the contents of a ‘budget’ tin of dog food it’s not hard to see why they would turn their very sensitive noses up at it! As well as being nutritious and full of the right essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients, pet food should be appetising, encouraging your dog to eat regularly. But what can you do to encourage a truly ‘fussy eater’ to stick to a healthy diet?

What NOT to do…

The worst thing that an owner can do is indulge their pet’s fussy fads. Most dogs will eat whatever is put in front of them, but if they start getting too picky or choosy about their food, pandering to their demands reinforces negative behavioural patterns and can compound the problem. Not only could this get expensive if your dog develops a taste for organic chicken breasts, for example, but you could also be damaging their health by upsetting the balance of vitamins and nutrients your dog really needs. Fussy eating is in most cases, a psychological condition and this behaviour needs to be corrected. However, if your pet is off their food completely rather than just becoming merely fussy, consult a vet to ensure that there is not a more serious underlying health problem.

Changing behaviour patterns

As much as it goes against a pet owner’s nature, hunger is the best cure for a dog that’s become a fussy eater. Make sure that when you do put food down, it is appetising and encourages the dog to eat. Brands such as Eukanuba and Arden Grange use natural ingredients that are designed to be both nutritious and appetising. By introducing a ‘little and not too often’ routine for a couple of days, you should be able to cure your fussy eater of its habits very quickly.

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I groom my own dogs. The bad thing about that? It looks like I groom my own dogs. If you want your dogs to look the way they should look, it takes a lot of practice and a lot of equipment, which can be costly. On top of that, if you don’t care for your tools properly, it can be even more expensive. I burned out a two hundred dollar pair of clippers because I didn’t know you were supposed to oil them and clean them as you worked. I also damaged an expensive blade because I didn’t wash my dog first and the blade got very dull. If you think this sounds like a lot of effort when you can just take a trip to the groomer’s, you’re right. In fact, I only started doing my own grooming because my Sarah had separation anxiety, social anxiety disorder and panic attacks when she saw a stranger (or a frog, or a broom, or…)

Finding an dog grooming expert in your area is pretty simple with the new Spock directory. I love the fact that the directory is built by everday people. Anyone who signs up for spock.com and tags him or herself as a dog groomer shows up in your search. So, you can find all of the dog groomers in the directory and then look for one in your area. Once you make a choice, check the groomer’s profile for more information, such as which business they groom for.

By the way, I decided to try Spock out myself, although I don’t plan to tag myself as a dog groomer, of course. Sign up is really easy, but I am still waiting for the confirmation email so I can start tagging myself. I assume it is delayed because I am signing up on a Sunday.

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Dog aggression continues to be a major concern for many of you, so I am revisiting the topic today with a few tips on how to stop dog aggression.
1. Don’t wait to break up a problem. Be proactive. For example, if you know your dog gets overexcited when you are walking it and you see another dog, make sure you have complete control of the lead and that your dog is paying attention to you. If not, this may be the time to make a quick turn without warning, which reminds your dog to watch you and be ready to obey the next command instead of looking for a fight.
2. Make sure your dog knows you are in charge of the pack. Enter and exit rooms first, make the furniture off limits and use obedience commands.
3. Most importantly, spay or neuter your dog. So many times, this really helps lessen all that aggression towards other dogs.

If your problem child is a puppy, the advice on how to stop puppy aggression is pretty much the same. It is especially important to teach your puppy obedience and enforce proper behavior towards people and other pets at a young age. If you allow your puppy to act up, you are missing a valuable training window, especially if it is going to be a large dog. After all, puppies learn quickly and are smaller and easier to handle than adult dogs.

This post is sponsored by DogObedienceAdvice.com

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