Do you give your doodle human junk food?

[Sabrina and Bentley]

Ok, so Bentley is my first dog and my fiance (Allen) and I have had him for almost 6 months now.  I don't know anything about raising a dog so I turned to the internet to learn alot about what to feed him, how to train him, etc.  I took alot of pride in learning what I could to give Bentley the best life possible.  Allen has grown up with dogs (St Bernards and Great Danes) his entire life, so he has his own opinion on how to raise a dog, what to feed them, etc.  so that's the backstory. 

My question is, do you give your dog your junk food as a  treat every once in awhile?  I give him fruit, veggies and meat as treats sometimes.  Allen on the other hand gives him tortilla chips, the cookie part of an oreo, pieces of a muffin or cupcake, pretty much any sweet that he's eating because he's a sweets junkie.  Granted this is maybe every other day and it's only one piece, but when he does this, it's like nails on a chalkboard. Smoke starts coming out of my ear.  I'd say I don't know why it bothers me so much, but I think a part of it is so frustrating because I take care of Bentley 90% of the time.  I trained him to sit, stay, come.  I trained him to not play with his toys on the couch.  He's in puppy training right now because I've been unsuccessful with him jumping on people and pulling on his leash.  I work from home, so I play with him during the day.  He gets three walks during my work hours and Allen walks him before bed.  So I feel like Allen gets to benefit from all of my hard work with Bentley while he does nothing but play with him and give him junk food. Not to mention he doesn't discipline when he jumops on people because he thinks that's what dogs do.  We are on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to raising Bentley which makes me translate to how it will be raising kids with him.  LOL!!  I laugh, but it's true.

I could totally be overanalyzing this, but I haven't let up and he doesn't plan to stop, so I figured I'd reach out to you guys for your opinion.  Do you think I'm being way too anal?  Bentley has never gotten sick from any of this, but I look at the long term and wonder if/how this will affect him.  This is free therapy, so thank you in advance!!!  :-)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Bananas and apples are not junk, not at all. They're fine for dogs. But he does need to only give them at appropriate times and in appropriate places.

[Suzanne & Jack]

Chocolate milk would definitely not be good for Labradoodles.  That is Jack's favorite.  he beats on the refrigerator until DH caves in.  He also sprays whipped cream into their mouths.  Bad habits.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Suzanne, I hope you have pet insurance. Spraying whipped cream into their mouths is more than a bad habit; it can bring on an attack of pancreatitis. In addition to horrendous vet bills, dogs with severe pancreatitis have a 50% mortality rate.

Chocolate is also toxic to dogs.

[Suzanne & Jack]

He only gets to lick the inside rim of the milk bottle.  Unfortunately he is a total pushover to the boys.  I'll tell him about the pancreatitis, maybe that will make him think.

 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Suzanne you were so supportive of me during Guinness's Pancreatitis episode and you know how close we were to losing him.  I would so hate for anyone to ever have to go through what we did.  I would really worry about the whipped cream....that is so high in fat.  My Vet told me for some dogs it doesn't take much to trigger this horrible disease. 

[Suzanne & Jack]

Thank you both for your concern.  I told DH NO MORE WHIPPED CREAM!  He agreed.  Usually he is the one giving the boys all of the vitamins and suppliments.  We have been very fortunate with no illnesses in their 5 years.  Since we've been through two dogs with cancer and tumors you would think he would be much more careful about what they eat.  Sometimes I think that he thinks giving them all of their vitamins will keep them immune to disease.  Not so.  I am transitioning them over to Fromm after reading so much on here.  Thank you Karen & Jack.

[Moe]

If you are feeding your dog a high quality dry kibble do they need any 'extras' at all. Things like fruit, veggies, yogurt or dog treats? Are dogs that are fed fresh fruit and veggies healthier?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I don't know if they're healthier, but for those who do give treats as rewards for housebreaking, training, etc., fruits and veggies make good treats. At the end of my last dog's life, she could only eat human quality foods, and baby carrots made a nice treat for her. She always got a "cookie" when she came in from doing her business outdoors, from the time she was a puppy being housebroken, and why should that end because she was old and sick? I use treats as rewards for JD during training, and also to get him to take the many pills he needs for two immune-mediated diseases, too.

Fruits and veggies are lower in calories than any commercial dog treat, so it makes sense to use them as rewards.

Yogurt is helpful for dogs who are on antibiotics and need to replace some of the good flora in the gut that's destroyed by the antibiotics along with the bad. Green beans added to kibble are helpful for dogs on weight reduction programs. Several different types of vegetables are helpful for poop issues. And some of us have dogs with GI diseases and we must add certain "extras" for nutritional purposes because most limited ingredient dog foods are too low in protein.

So while all dogs may not "need" extras, there are many instances where some of them do "need" these things, and for those who don't exactly "need" them, like they need air and water, it's still nice to be able to reward or treat a dog occasionally.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

I give Tara healthy human food for a couple of reasons:

1. I believe (may be wrong) that in general  real, unprocessed food is healthier and more nutritious than processed food, even fortified processed food. For instance kibble. It is no longer recognizable as a food. You can't see meat, vegetables, etc at all. And due to the processing many nutrients must be added back in. Where are these nutrients sourced from? The majority of vitamins are coming out of China today. Quality control issues there. And so it goes...

2. Dogs do have taste buds and can detect the same tastes of sweet, sour, bitter and salty that humans do.  They have fewer buds but they are clustered near the end of the tongue. I can't imagine what it would be like to have to choose one food and eat it for the rest of my life. OMD! That is getting close to my idea of h-e double L.  So I change things up for Tara just to give her  an opportunity for variety...which is after all the spice of life! LOL!

[Katie, John & Parker pup]

I give Parker pretzels when I am eating them myself and he also enjoys a couple gummy bears here and there! But other than that, just fruits, veggies and dog approved treats. Isn't the cookie part of an Oreo chocolate? Maybe he should cut the chocolate sweets out of Bentley's diet! lol!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I wouldn't give him pretzels, which contain wheat, or gummy bears, which contain nothing a dog should be eating, lol. I also wouldn't give him anything you are eating while you are eating it, that does make for a dog who begs.

Food treats really need to be earned rewards, it will make life easier for you in the long run.

[BG and Gavin]

Our trainer teaches no treats at all.  I am not prepared to go quite that far, but I saw the results of "treat training" (obviously poorly executed) this past week with two different dogs.  Both behaved exactly the same - nearly taking your fingers off for a treat and being pushy when giving a paw (more like bashing you) and barking when you do not give up the treat right away.  I am beginning to understand her position.  I never give Gavin anything from my plate but I catch DH doing it once in a while.  Guess what? Gavin sits at DH's feet in the kitchen with a longing look when he pulls out the cheese block, but he does not do it to me.  Funny how they know who the weak link is.

p.s. You guys better get your parenting philosophies lined up before you get married and have a child lol!