Am I spoiling the dog?

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Ever since my sister and I moved in together, the accusation has been levelled against me that I "spoil the dog." The dog's name is Lucy.

I only toss Lucy scraps from my dinner every now and then, not every night and even then its like like those little pork cubes in rice when I get Chinese take-out or a small piece of beef or steak.

I think I'm doing a good thing, the dog has learned to listen to me. Lucy sees me and thinks "He will give me good stuff if I do what he says." Hell, when her boyfriend came over, Lucy listened to him, too. Even when going for a walk, she ran right to where I would take her rather than where my sister would take her.

So, I think I'm doing a good job with this pet thing >.> Lucy can have pork cubes and my sister can shove it.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Am I spoiling the dog?

No, you aren't doing the dog any favors. I've raised many a dog in my lifetime and made many mistakes. Giving them "people food" is one of the biggest mistakes. My aunt learned this the hard way with her last dog too. You start giving dogs people food and they start to prefer it over their dog food. I mean COME ON....smell that stuff once! Hell, when I was a kid my dad used to leave us for a week with no food in the house. Guess what? The dog didn't get fed thats for sure. lol And I'm here to tell you that dog food tastes like ASS! Don't even get me started on MilkBones..../shudder. lol

But she'll eventually want only people food and people food is full of fat and salt, its just not good for her. My aunt lost her black lab recently to obesity and high blood pressure. She started with scraps of people food for treats to do tricks, then it rolled into a little from the table when they ate, and eventually she panicked because the dog wouldn't eat its food. Since he'd eat the people food just fine, she started to feed him that instead.

Top if off with dogs that are fed people food are annoying. They know you are eating and sit there and stare at you while you eat. Some beg constantly and some will even go onto tables and eat food thats set on them. They smell food in garbage bags and know the scent so they'll rip them open to get at it. It teaches them bad habits and can be bad for their health. It's just an all around bad thing to do. It might make you feel good but you aren't doing the dog any favors.

[KingOfZeal]

Re: Am I spoiling the dog?

We've fed our dogs occasional 'people-food' as TGM nicely puts it, but neither one ended up obese, with high blood pressure, and both still eat their own food.

My last dog, Henry, a golden retriever/black lab mix simply we had to put down (he was 14 years old), and the dog we have now, Susie, is going on 12. I'll admit they are (or were) a little overweight, but nothing that can be considered obese.

I also won't deny that Susie isn't spoiled -- Tuna or Salmon mixed with dog food, and on Saturdays when we grill out (like today) she tends to get a fair bit of Steak.

I personally think that as long as it's not being over-done, there's nothing wrong with it.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Am I spoiling the dog?

Healthy stuff like Tuna or Salmon, no of course that won't make them fat but it will spoil them. Chinese take out....ya thats gonna make them fat.

For me, in the end, the point is it's not your dog. Stop feeding it food that its owner doesn't want it to have. I think this is more an issue with you and your sister than it is with the dog.

[Feba]

Re: Am I spoiling the dog?

It's all in the way you do it. If you're passing scraps under the table in the middle of the meal, then yes, you're going to get TGM's result of the dog annoying people while they eat. If you give it too much, it can get overweight just as easily as any of us. If you don't discipline it, it could start to cause problems by trying to get into your food.

However, it sounds like you're doing fine, BBQ. The most important thing is discipline, both of the dog and yourself, not what the dog eats. If you're disciplined about walking them and not giving them too much, weight isn't a problem. Same for begging and tearing things up.

TGM has it half right; it's easier to raise a dog well if you don't give them human food, but it's by no means the only way to do it. Hell, I've seen people who work with animals professionally (dog trainers, vets, etc.) give recommendations on feeding dogs using human foods; especially for snacks. BBQ, if you're only giving it small bite sized portions of chinese food and the like anyway, I would recommend putting them in baggies, and using them as treats during training session. The dog will like it much more, and it's a good use.

It's just as easy to raise a bad dog on dog food as a good dog on human food. If your dog is listening to your commands, you're already doing a good job.
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Uh, TGM, BBQ pretty clearly said The Dog, not Her Dog.

It might be her sister's dog, but it's a little rude to assume.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Am I spoiling the dog?

It doesn't matter who's dog it is, I stand by what I said. It sounds like an issue between Kitten and her sister more than it is actually about the dog.

[Kailea]

Re: Am I spoiling the dog?

raied 3 dogs myself and would have to agree, feeding them people food at all is bad

they get fat
they start begging worse

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Am I spoiling the dog?

Its her dog, but pets always have taken better to me, truth be told. Even the cats run to me, but that's because they know I'm allergic, I think.

Got her one of those chew bones tonight from the store (the ones that are good for their teeth and such) and I'm gonna try to ween her on it anyway. I might have to pretend its people food though, she's only poking at it.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Am I spoiling the dog?

Go to a dedicated pet store and check out the healthy treats. They have freeze dried liver that is people food but not.....well you know what I mean. LOL Dogs go bonkers for them! There is a lot of really good treat type food for dogs now but you have to read the labels. You know those rawhide chews? Don't buy them. They are really bad for dogs. Not every dog has a hard time with them but I had one dog die from eating them. It wasn't pretty. Instead of those, get something like pig ears. Just realize they are a bit fatty so thats a once in a while treat.

[Kailea]

Re: Am I spoiling the dog?

ooo and they have those cookies for dogs ;p mine likes those, he gets 1 a day

[Sabaron]

Re: Am I spoiling the dog?

My family has a lot of dogs and they all receive people food occasionally. One set of grandparents are fond of the "last bite" routine, and my brother & his fiance let Buster eat the last piece of something too (sometimes he even gets a whole piece of pizza). My other set of grandparents would take certain table scraps (like bones, gristle and fat from meat) and put them in the dog's bowl with it's food.

I think it's more important to look at where and under what circumstances the dog eats "treats" rather than what. You shouldn't feed a dog at the table or the dog will think he can eat there and he might start hopping up on the table or begging both of which are bad habits. The best way to treat people food is as an occasional reward--have the dog perform a series of "tricks" before receiving the food will help the dog distinguish between lavish people food and his own.

Smarter dogs usually "weigh consequences" when they're making decisions, so depending upon their punishment, they will decide to be disobedient based on how you react to them. If they feel as though they are in charge, then they will do whatever they want. You can often see them doing this when you tell them not to do something they really want to do like go "explore" the kitchen where they know delicious people foods are stored. Pavlovian training works better on some dogs than on others and is often based on how you treat the dog.

Beating a dog with a shillelagh (the method used by my Great great great grandparents to train coon dogs and by my uncle to train all of his dogs before he died) makes very obedient dogs, but they are not very nice dogs. Since they have been trained by beating, they are "tougher" and therefore, if all you do is talk and take submissive postures with said dogs, they will assert their dominance over you quite readily especially if you are invading your territory. Shock collars, rolled up newspapers, and physical force (not necessarily striking, but firm, controlling grips) can be used to assert this type of dominance without causing harm).

Treating a dog too nicely on the other hand causes the dog to assume dominance over you and they won't do anything you say. If you're going light, spray bottles and confinement are more on the soft side.

I don't advocate beating dogs. Once the master is away the dogs are very aggressive and dominant. They will only behave in the presence of the master (and occasionally other people it knows well and is, generally, afraid of). When my uncle died, for instance, his dog had to be put down (by way of a bullet to the head from his master's pistol). Incidentally you could tell if my uncle was home or not by how his dog behaved: If the dog was aggressive, he was away, but if the dog was well-behaved (almost like those hat guys that guard Buckingham Palace) he was home. He would always growl a little bit, but he wouldn't come at you if my uncle was home. If my uncle wasn't home, he'd rip your face off. This dog was trained as a guard and did a very good job of it, but I doubt if he was happy. I think he probably liked the bullet (which was, incidentally, delivered by another of my uncles). There are probably 10 people saying "Why didn't you just take him to the vet?" The answer? The dog would only behave for a select few individuals and as such bringing such a brutish beast into the presence of other people and or animals would be unwise. Shooting a dog in the back of the head is as quick and painless as pithing a cow or pig for slaughter, and up until probably 30-50 years ago was probably the most common method to euthanize a dog.

So if you don't think it's appropriate for my uncle to have shot his brother's dog, then you should probably avoid eating beef, pork, chicken, turkey etc. Have you ever seen chicken's slaughtered on a farm? The workers will take each chicken by the neck and twist its head off (wearing work gloves of course), the body is then thrown into a pen and the head into a bucket. Now, PETA showed supposedly "shocking" video of poor little chickens being thrown across a room, stepped on, or kicked. What they neglected to mention is that these chickens have no heads...

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Am I spoiling the dog?

They have these peanut butter cookies for dogs by us and my son actually ate one. He said it wasn't quite as sweet as a regular cookie but still tasted damn good.

[DakAttack]

Re: Am I spoiling the dog?

Dogs don't taste, they just consume, so I wonder if feeding my dog table scraps is even worth it.

Feeding dogs from the table turns them into vultures. They lose respect for you, and they simply hover and stare. I'm sure TGM knows all too well the way dogs can breathe on you while you're eating like they're trying to poison your food.

We do it because we love them, but I know we need to find other ways to enrich their lives. My dog loves toys that make noise, but the rest of the family hates it. I got him a squeaky toy anyways, and loved listening to him chew on it in the living room at night. I got a lot of respect from him after that.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Am I spoiling the dog?

Well, when the dog doesn't listen to what I ask, I just speak in a harsh tone and tell her to go to her room, which she does (especially when she starts barking at people walking around out front). I'm not a total softie with her, I just know that my sister is so busy with work at times that someone has to give the dog some attention.

Oh and dogs do have a sense of taste. When I toss Lucy a chex, she sometimes drops and questions it. When its a piece of meat - any meat - she homes in on it and catches it before it hits the floor. It could even be a piece of rice that touched the meat and she'll snap at it before it hits the ground.

[Telera]

Re: Am I spoiling the dog?

We've fed our dogs occasional 'people-food' as TGM nicely puts it, but neither one ended up obese, with high blood pressure, and both still eat their own food.

This. Body chemistry, activity, etc.

I've had dogs. Purebred and mutts, all my life, and they've always eaten both their food and random 'people food' and have always been very healthy animals. Clean physicals, and active, happy pets. So yeah...

And even dogs that haven't been fed any human foods will tend to hover under a table when people are eating, because it smells like food. My cousin never fed her dog human foods and it still sat near the table when you ate wishing it could get something. But it never barked or even whined. Just sat there and gave you the 'I'm so pitiful, love me' eyes.