Choosing Dog Treats for your Pup 101
Thank you to chewy.com for sending Rosie some treats! These opinions are all my own!
Rosie pup is taking over the blog today to talk about one of her favorite things: TREATS!
When Dustin and I brought Rosie home a year ago, one of the first things we did was stop over at Petsmart to pick up some toys and food for her. We were approached by a sweet employee (who ended up becoming one of our close friends) who helped us pick out a new bed and then walked us down the three isles of dog food and talked to us about all the different types of food and ingredients. I felt like we had been thrown into a whole new world: I had didn’t realize there was so much to consider when picking out what to feed my sweet puppy!
When choosing dog treats for your pup, consider the following things:
Look for fillers: Do the treats have fillers? Fillers are what manufacturers use to essentially “fill” up the treat, and while it makes treats more affordable, it doesn’t necessarily make the treat good for your dog! A filler is used to make your pet feel “full” but contains little to no nutritional value. Common fillers are corn meal, feather meal, soy meal or animal by-products, which is essentially left over animal parts. Gross.
Look at Calories: Yes, I’m saying it. Counting calories is hard enough for yourself, but you need to look at the calorie count for your pup! You want to pick low calorie treats for your pup so you can give them more throughout the day. High calorie treats like bacon could easily fill up over half of your dog’s calorie needs. You don’t want an obese puppy!
Ingredients: We already talked about looking for fillers, but looking at the whole ingredient list will help you determine the quality of the treat. The first ingredient listed is the ingredient used the most in the treat, so you want the first ingredient to be a real, solid protein or veggie! If your first ingredient says chicken, beef, bison, sweet potato or anything similar, you are on the right track. If the first ingredient says corn meal, then you might want to reconsider.
chewy.com sent Rosie some treats this month and boy, was I stoked to get some high quality treats for my girl. We got Evanger’s Nothing but Natural 100% Wild Salmon treats. So yes, these treats are 100% Salmon. No fillers, no grains, no weird by-products and the calorie count is decent, as well! Rosie loves these treats and I love giving them to her because they are so dang good for her! She has actually started to refuse taking some cheap grain based treats because she knows there is something better hanging out in her treat cabinet.
Here is a video of Rosie straight up turning her nose up at her grain based bone and then doing all of her tricks for her Salmon treats from Evanger’s!
Also, now you all can get a taste of how sassy Rosie can be. I mean, come on. How dramatic can she get with her “bang” trick?
What are your favorite treats for your pup?
