Raise your hand if you love trail mix! I sure do-the delicious blend of various nuts and chocolate….yum. It’s the perfect mix of salty and sweet and is a delight to the taste buds! I mean, don’t they say that variety is the spice of life?
Can you imagine if you were a dog and you only got to experience the taste of your sad, brown kibble nuggets and maybe a few different brands and flavors of treats? How boring and disappointing. Especially since food and treats can be viewed as an extremely valueable currency to dogs!
While it’s true that dogs don’t have as many taste buds as humans and don’t necessarily rely on their sense of taste as the most important sensory expereince (smelling is numero uno!), but through food, we can certainly add some elements to enrich their lives!
We want to incorporate elements from different sensory experiences like taste, texture, and smell. Dogs defitnitely have a preference for each of these catergories and it can be fun to do some taste tests to see what you dog likes and doesn’t like. Think of it like when you start to introduce your toddler to new foods-you have to try things a few times to really determine if they like it or not AND preferences can change. Think of something that you didn’t like as a child that you may love now-for me, that would be tomatoes and guacomole-no thank you as a kid, but I love them now!
So what should you try? Mix in a variety of different flavors and textures into your dog’s meals and into your treat pouch! This can help our dogs to stay more motivated because even though they don’t know what food reward they will be receiving, it will ALWAYS be something yummy and interesting.
It can also help “picky eaters” to become more excited about and engaged with eating meals. Imagine if you had to eat the same thing day in and day out…..even though it’s something you may really love, it can get boring and lose it’s luster after awhile.
Suggestions:
kibble
different flavors of kibble (chicken, salmon, beef, pork, duck, venison, lamb-there are even some more wild and exotic proteins!)
fruits (many provide different flavor and texture combos and are okay to feed in moderation: apples, banana, blueberry, strawberry, pineapple tend to be pretty popular)
vegetables (many provide different flavor and texture combos and are okay to feed in moderation: carrots, green beans, peas, broccoli, zucchini, sweet potato tend to be pretty popular)
fruit and vegetable chips for dogs
freeze dried treats (many flavors)
crunch treats (many flavors, some are meat based and some are fruit and vegetable based-Fruitables has some great flavor combos)
soft treats (many flavors, soft consistency means you can easily break up into smaller pieces)
raw food toppers (many are softer and can easily be broken up into smaller pieces)
refrigerated dog loafs (come in many flavors and can easily be chopped up into smaller pieces)
cereal, crackers, and chips (watch sugar and salt content-a few of my favorites are regular cheerios and goldfish crackers-feed in moderation)
deli meats and hot dogs (chicken and turkey are best, feed in moderation)
strings cheese and different flavors of cheese (break into smaller pieces and feed in moderation since dairy can sometimes cause tummy upset)
Other tips:
start with a small bag/sample size first to see if you dog actually likes it
may need to offer it a few times to determine if your dog doesn’t actually like it
offer smaller pieces first
dogs have different preferences
mix kibble with hot dogs and deli meats-once you run out of the meat item, your kibble will have marinated in it, so the kibble can become more yummy! You can also mix the kibble with dog safe gravies and broths to get the same effect.
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