Does Your Dog Beg for Snacks ? It Could be Why They're Piling on the Pounds

You may find your four-legged friend enjoys sitting under the dinner table hoping for a titbit to drop their way - whether intentionally or not. If you've trained your pet well, they should have learnt that drooling as they wait for you to offer them a little tiny bit of your dinner doesn't work, and if you want to keep your pet healthy you should resist the temptation to give them a titbit from the table. In fact, if you don't let your dog come into the dining room or kitchen when you are eating in the first place, it's the easiest solution all round.

However, on the odd occasion do you give your dog a cookie, a potato crisp or maybe a slice of cheese? If you do, you may find your dog piling on the pounds, even if you only give them a really small piece of cheese, one potato crisp and a tiny bit of you delicious cookie!

When it comes to the amount of calories one cookie actually represents to a dog as opposed to a human, you may find the figure is staggering. The difference in size between a dog and a person means a tiny portion of human food is the equivalent of a whole meal to our canine friends. If you give them a couple of cookies a day on top of their normal meals, you are in effect feeding your dog four times in a single day which is far too much.

Below is a list of common snacks that most people have around the home and which often get offered to dogs as a little unhealthy treat - sometimes without even realising it's being done or the consequences which can prove disastrous to the overall health of your beloved pooch.

Biscuits and Cookies – a Real No-No!

When it comes to throwing your pooch a little bit of your biscuit or cookie as a special treat because they've been "so" good and you just love them too much, you need to bear in mind that one single cookie for a dog weighing in a 20 lbs is the equivalent in calories of a whole hamburger for a human being. When you break it down, the cookie or biscuit equates to a dog's whole calorie intake for a day so if you feed them a few in any one day, your dog is heading for a weight issue which could affect their hearts, their overall well being and which could even shorten their lives considerably.

A Tasty Slice of Cheese – Now That Can't be Bad – Can it?

A single ounce of cheese for a dog weighing in at 20 lbs is the same as a person eating around 2 chocolate bars. For a small dog, this represents a third of their daily calorie intake! If you feed a few slices of cheese in any one week on top of their normal dog food, you're heading for disaster because your dog will pile on the pounds. In short, your beloved pooch could become a very unhealthy canine!

A Little Bit of Nice Cold Milk – Can That be Bad?

When it comes to offering your dog a little milk, you may think there's nothing wrong in doing that. Maybe you give your dog the last bit in the bottom of the bottle or what's left in the milk jug to save throwing it away. However, you would not be doing your pooch any favours because a cup of milk will help pile on the pounds resulting in a very overweight pooch who may even thank you by suffering from a bad case of diarrhoea!

What About a Nibble on a Hot Dog?

If you're having a hamburger or hot dog for lunch or supper and give your four-legged friend a little bit or worse still you treat them to a whole hot dog of their own – you are helping them to pile on the pounds because one hot dog for a dog is the equivalent to you eating three whole hamburgers in one go – naturally this means your pooch is going to put on weight which is especially true if it becomes a regular habit that your dog really enjoys!

Eating Potato Chips & Watching a Movie

You may love being a couch potato at weekends, it's the one time you can watch a few movies with your dog snuggled at your feet. Naturally, this is the time your dog really enjoys things because you are there, you have food and they just cannot help looking up at you with those loving eyes waiting for a potato chip to come their way.

Naturally, you're engrossed in the movie and automatically hand a few chips down to your pet throughout the film without really paying any attention to just how many they have actually eaten. Potato chips are full of saturated fat and they are coated in sodium, neither of which are very good for dogs (or humans either for that matter). Not only are potato chips really unhealthy for your pooch but they will certainly contribute to them putting on far too much weight if it becomes a regular thing you do together at weekends!

What About a Spoonful of Peanut Butter – After All It's so Funny!

It can be extremely funny watching a dog trying to eat peanut butter. However, although it's one scenario that might make you roar with laughter, if the truth be known a single ounce of peanut butter packs about 94 calories. It's also full of saturated fat at levels which are far too much for a dog to cope with! In short, although funny, think of your pet's health and how much you enjoy having them around fit, healthy and always ready to please you and make you laugh in many other ways!

Conclusion

If you are going to give your dog lots of treats, you should make sure you always have a few healthy doggy ones in your pocket. It's never a good idea to feed a dog too much human food, because a lot of it is actually toxic to our canine friends. However, things like cookies, potato chips and cheese are items of food kids usually have in the house and which often get given to the family dog. If you notice your pooch is piling on the pounds, you might need to take a look at the treats they're being given because just a little bit of cookie or an ounce of cheese represents a lot of calories for a dog!