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begging1.jpgSimple question, right? Is it bad to give your dog people food or not? Do you do it?

I do not give Ace any of my food. The only thing I give him is peanut butter to fill bones or Kong toys. The reason I never give him people food is because I hate when a dog begs, and I don’t want to have an overweight dog. Sure, Ace will beg regardless (as you can see). But feeding him my food will only encourage and reward the begging.

I realize some people food is healthy for dogs to eat, but it is not necessary. Ace is at a healthy weight and likes his dry food, dog treats and occasional bone. So many dogs are fat because their owners give them too much people food on top of other treats and dog food. Other owners are more responsible and balance the portions, but I’d rather stick to feeding Ace dog food.

What do you think?

(Every week, I am going to ask a dog-related question. I don’t care if you’re an “expert” or not. I want to hear what you think. If anyone has a dog-related question, just email it to me at Lindsay@thatmutt.com, and I’ll post it for others to answer. Otherwise, I’ll keep supplying my own questions, because I’ve got plenty of them.)

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Comments:
8 Comments posted on "Weekly question: Is it bad to give your dog ‘human’ food?"
Lora on June 2nd, 2008 at 12:07 am #

I do give my dogs human food. I am very conscious of the doggie no-no list I posted on my blog. My dogs will patiently wait til I offer them the last bites off my plate and I am finished. They only get a fork full or two because I don’t want them to gain weight. ALso if they become assertive towards the food… they are cut off!

Lora’s last blog post..Human food NOT to give your Dog!


Ty Brown on June 2nd, 2008 at 7:24 am #

I give some human food from time to time. My two year old tried to constantly give the dogs food.

What it means for me is having to use functional obedience. When we eat we simply have the dogs lie down and stay in the other room. No begging allowed.

Ty Brown’s last blog post..10 Ways to Exercise a Dog


Apryl DeLancey on June 2nd, 2008 at 9:44 am #

I never gave my girl human food until she was ill and we were happy she would eat anything. I find it awful when people give their dogs whatever they are eating. Most of the time, it isn’t good for the human - much less the dog. To me, a responsible owner will give the dog food that is best for them, not table scraps.

Apryl DeLancey’s last blog post..5 Questions With A Football Coach


Fuzzy Logic on June 2nd, 2008 at 2:09 pm #

I’d be willing to bet that if you fed your dog kibble from the table he’d learn to beg. It’s not the food, it’s where it comes from.

My dogs get human food all the time, but they know they ONLY get it in the kitchen after I’m done making and eating my dinner. As soon as I bring my plate in after my meal, they come in for a taste.. but they never bother me while I’m eating.

Fuzzy Logic’s last blog post..Three times this week…


K9 Amiga on June 2nd, 2008 at 10:19 pm #

begging brings out the cutest facial expressions on my puppy, i dont mind it much, but there are rules. he understands “go on..” during dinner, and returns when he is called. he is patient and never snaps and loves his bits of hamburger and simple chicken

K9 Amiga’s last blog post..Tricks & Treats


castocreations on June 3rd, 2008 at 1:52 pm #

OH boy….I get SOOOOO mad at hubby sometimes. He thinks it’s funny to sneak food to the dogs while we eat. Of course all three dogs gather around him every meal time. Never me because they know better!

I do allow Trooper to occasionally lick my plate if there’s nothing ‘bad’ on it. Last night he got to lick the left over rice and beans. =) Just a few kernels of each.

We are both really bad when it comes to our ice cream containers though. Trooper sits and stares at me until I’m done with the container and then “knows” that he gets to finish it off. Once he licks it dry Quinn takes it and rips it apart. It’s our routine.

I think hubby is finally starting to understand why I get upset. Those “little” pieces of bread, meat, whatever add up and are one of the reasons Quinn and Kodiak are SO fat.

castocreations’s last blog post..For the Love of a Dog


Lindsay Stordahl on June 3rd, 2008 at 2:10 pm #

Thanks everyone for your input. I guess I’m a mean mom for not sharing my food with Ace. :)


Tamara on June 8th, 2008 at 12:17 pm #

I ONLY feed my dogs ‘human’ food. Usually its not off my plate. (Well, ok often times the plate goes onto the floor on its way to the DW). I’ve been feeding raw human grade food for 15 years. The girls get the occasional kibble or ‘dog snack’ from the coffee shop or hardware store stash, the occassional fast food burger and ice cream now and again - but mostly its human grade, raw meat and pureed veggies and fruit. I should eat as well as they do :)

Now begging for my food? That’s just plain rude!


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