Low fat dog treats?

seannash

So my dog is currently overweight. She gets a good amount of excercise but the problem is people giving her treats.
She comes to work with me everyday and spends most of the day walking around to other peoples desks,playing with them and getting treats.
She is very persistent and wimpers if she doesn't get them and they always give in.
Now I have told them all that they cant be giving her excessive amount of treats but its still not really working.

I would like to know is there anything I can giver her as a treat that isnt fattening?

tk123

Depending on what you feed her you could either bring some of her daily allowance and ask them to give that as treats? Another option would be to just cut back on the daily allowance to allow for the treats and bulk the food out with veg. Low fat treats I use are dried fruit/veg/fish/meat chews or even fresh veg like carrots.
I feel your pain - I had to tell everyone in our park NOT to give my dog treats about 20 times and that he was on special diet for health reasons - you'd think I'd asked them to give him poison rather than nothing at all!

cocker5

Honestly i would just tell my work colleagues that by feeding her as many treats as they do (albeit they are trying to be nice) effectively they are killing her with kindness.... and thats not fair on your dog.

for healthy treats heres whats i feed my guy...

Sugar Snaps - uncooked straight form the prepacked bag in Tescos, he loves them as they are crunchy etc.
Mangout - same as above
carrots - peeled and sliced thinly - again uncooked
Red peppers - washed and cut up into small peices -uncooked
Broccoili - but i boil this for 1 minute and let it cool

I try and avoid lots of fruit (although he loves it) due to the high sugar content.

All dog treats from supermarkets are high in fat again my guy loves these but i try and limit them...

you can also bake your own dog cookies, buscuits etc... just google a receipe!

Best of luck

seannash

I do tell them to limit the treats but its very hard to control as she just walks around the office. There are 20 people in the office and she goes around them individually so she is at least getting 10 treats a day(Its actually more)

I will try the vegatables but she doesn't really like them that much.
Maybe Ill bring in some of her burns grains and use them instead.

cgarrad

Tell them that the dog is diagnosed with kidney problems and is on a special diet. No other food allowed.

Harsh but being overweight is very unfair on the dog ;-)

cocker5

cgarrad wrote: »

Tell them that the dog is diagnosed with kidney problems and is on a special diet. No other food allowed.

Harsh but being overweight is very unfair on the dog ;-)

I agree... god forgive me but lie if you have to... tell you colleagues feeding her anything but the treats you bring in will cause her harm (and it will long term if she doesnt loose weight).

Op i know what people can be like, they like your dog and she likes treats (as all dogs do) so they want to keep her happy.... I totally understand that.. BUT she will get serious complications if she doenst loose weight so in this instant you must be cruel to be kind IMO.

with regard to veg.... trust me my dog didnt like it too much either in the begining... but after a few days of NO OTHER treats being on offer his taste buds quickly adpated and now he trips over himself when he hears the fridge door open to get for some sugar snap peas! Honetsly trust me... bring some into the office... pass them around to your mates in work (yes they will think your mad) but after a few days she will be lapping them up.

IMO if shes trying to loose weight giving her the burns nuts even as treats will still equate to over feeding her, veg is viturally fat free plus has the added value of vitimans etc...

So try the veg, persist for a week and she will adapt and learn embrace the veg.

If you dont persist she will get weight related complications and then she will be in a worse state ..

Best of luck with her diet :P

seannash

cocker5 wrote: »

I agree... god forgive me but lie if you have to... tell you colleagues feeding her anything but the treats you bring in will cause her harm (and it will long term if she doesnt loose weight).

Op i know what people can be like, they like your dog and she likes treats (as all dogs do) so they want to keep her happy.... I totally understand that.. BUT she will get serious complications if she doenst loose weight so in this instant you must be cruel to be kind IMO.

with regard to veg.... trust me my dog didnt like it too much either in the begining... but after a few days of NO OTHER treats being on offer his taste buds quickly adpated and now he trips over himself when he hears the fridge door open to get for some sugar snap peas! Honetsly trust me... bring some into the office... pass them around to your mates in work (yes they will think your mad) but after a few days she will be lapping them up.

IMO if shes trying to loose weight giving her the burns nuts even as treats will still equate to over feeding her, veg is viturally fat free plus has the added value of vitimans etc...

So try the veg, persist for a week and she will adapt and learn embrace the veg.

If you dont persist she will get weight related complications and then she will be in a worse state ..

Best of luck with her diet :P

I'm hoping that If I offer an alternative "Treat" even if my colleagus feed her treats it wont matter.I will definetly try the vegetable and hopefully that will help.

I fogot to mention that we have other dogs in the office and as such I know if I say dont give mt dog treats she will still get them when I'm not looking.
It would be unfair to have other dogs getting treats but she doesn't get any.

I will definetly persist with the vegatables, hopefully I can win her over

Bullseye1

Carrots my pair love them. Also read that if shredded they act as a natural deterrent to worm in the gut.

cocker5

It would be unfair to have other dogs getting treats but she doesn't get any.

Im sorry but this really made me smile , she'll be fine, she'll get over it... it waaaaay better for her to loose weight and live a happy healthy life than her getting in a huff if another dog gets treats and she doesnt!

and she will be getting treats..... veg treats, she will see these as "nice" treats if you presist - trust me!

be cruel to be kind!!

seeing her suffer from complications from being over weight (even though you have control over this) down the line will be ever more unpleasent than her not getting her treats trust me.

seannash

cocker5 wrote: »

It would be unfair to have other dogs getting treats but she doesn't get any.

Im sorry but this really made me smile , she'll be fine, she'll get over it... it waaaaay better for her to loose weight and live a happy healthy life than her getting in a huff if another dog gets treats and she doesnt!

and she will be getting treats..... veg treats, she will see these as "nice" treats if you presist - trust me!

be cruel to be kind!!

seeing her suffer from complications from being over weight (even though you have control over this) down the line will be ever more unpleasent than her not getting her treats trust me.

No I mean I want to have an alternative treat(Veg) that my colleagues can give her when they are giving treats to the other dogs. I think that if I dont provide an alternative they will just give her the regular treats regardless of me asking them not to.

Ill definetly try the Veg,Ill see if I can get her to like them over christmas.
So my next question is, I've tried her with veg before,she smells it and turns away.How do I get her to taste it in order for her to develope a liking to it.

As treats are only given as a reward and not as her main source of food I think as she is not starving she might just not even bother with them.

(Reading back my dog sounds like a spoiled brat but shes really not)

cocker5

Op…. apologies if I took you up wrong I agree if your work mates have both “nice” dog treats v’s veg treats they will give the treats your dog prefers…

With regard to the veg, here’s what I would do… give her NO OTHER normal dog treats over xmas…
when you are rewarding her ONLY offer her veg and praise…
yes first few times she’ll turn away and that’s fine too but after a awhile she will accept them and learn to like them, once she accepts the veg of course every now and then you can add normal dog treats back in, but in very limited supply.

BTW - not sure if she gets “dentastick” but they are REALLY high in fat so totally cut them out for a bit.

As she is overweight at present have you thought of salmon oil in her nuts to help with the additional weight, its excellent for her joints and overall health. I have my cocker on salmon oil for the last 5 years etc. I get the “hunter” salmon oil from zooplus, find it great.

It will take 2 weeks or so but she will learn to like veg.

Don’t get me wrong my cocker gets normal dog treats too…. But he’s really greedy… if I open “his” drawer that’s a cue for a treat …. If I open the fridge he’s over like a rocket - for a treat… if he comes in from his toilet and gets into bed – cue for a treat…
now this is all in his mind of course, but he looks longingly, like as if he’s being starved and hasn’t eaten in like YEARS!! He’s eyes are pleading with me – honestly I call him a food wh*re (excuse the bad language) , he would sell his soul for a treat and my soul too at that!

So what I do is I obliviously don’t give him a treat every time he wants one BUT if I didn’t keep him in check he would be jabba the hut (fat and probably happy too)…. But I give him 1 or 2 sugar snaps etc and this keeps him happy!

To get her more interested with the veg.. you could possible scrape a tiny (like tiny amount) of Philadelphia low fat cheese on it to entice her!

Let us know how you get on

seannash

cocker5 wrote: »

Op…. apologies if I took you up wrong I agree if your work mates have both “nice” dog treats v’s veg treats they will give the treats your dog prefers…

With regard to the veg, here’s what I would do… give her NO OTHER normal dog treats over xmas…
when you are rewarding her ONLY offer her veg and praise…
yes first few times she’ll turn away and that’s fine too but after a awhile she will accept them and learn to like them, once she accepts the veg of course every now and then you can add normal dog treats back in, but in very limited supply.

BTW - not sure if she gets “dentastick” but they are REALLY high in fat so totally cut them out for a bit.

As she is overweight at present have you thought of salmon oil in her nuts to help with the additional weight, its excellent for her joints and overall health. I have my cocker on salmon oil for the last 5 years etc. I get the “hunter” salmon oil from zooplus, find it great.

It will take 2 weeks or so but she will learn to like veg.

Don’t get me wrong my cocker gets normal dog treats too…. But he’s really greedy… if I open “his” drawer that’s a cue for a treat …. If I open the fridge he’s over like a rocket - for a treat… if he comes in from his toilet and gets into bed – cue for a treat…
now this is all in his mind of course, but he looks longingly, like as if he’s being starved and hasn’t eaten in like YEARS!! He’s eyes are pleading with me – honestly I call him a food wh*re (excuse the bad language) , he would sell his soul for a treat and my soul too at that!

So what I do is I obliviously don’t give him a treat every time he wants one BUT if I didn’t keep him in check he would be jabba the hut (fat and probably happy too)…. But I give him 1 or 2 sugar snaps etc and this keeps him happy!

To get her more interested with the veg.. you could possible scrape a tiny (like tiny amount) of Philadelphia low fat cheese on it to entice her!

Let us know how you get on

Sounds exactly like my dog

Ill try the philadelphia trick also.

cocker5

seannash wrote: »

Sounds exactly like my dog

Ill try the philadelphia trick also.

best of luck with it and keep us posted!!

:P

aonb

cocker5 wrote: »

Honestly i would just tell my work colleagues that by feeding her as many treats as they do (albeit they are trying to be nice) effectively they are killing her with kindness.... and thats not fair on your dog.

for healthy treats heres whats i feed my guy...

Sugar Snaps - uncooked straight form the prepacked bag in Tescos, he loves them as they are crunchy etc.
Mangout - same as above
carrots - peeled and sliced thinly - again uncooked
Red peppers - washed and cut up into small peices -uncooked
Broccoili - but i boil this for 1 minute and let it cool

I try and avoid lots of fruit (although he loves it) due to the high sugar content.

All dog treats from supermarkets are high in fat again my guy loves these but i try and limit them...

you can also bake your own dog cookies, buscuits etc... just google a receipe!

Best of luck

arent dogs the most amazingly contrary creatures. If I offered any of my dogs mangetout, snap peas, peppers, brocolli or carrots, they would laugh in my face!!! Lucky you that your dog will eat veg - you can bulk out their dinners nicely. There is always a bit of veg left in my dogs dishes - its like they think, cripes what was that thing doing in my tasty dinner

seannash

quick update.tried her on carrots and she didn't like them. I was pouring frozen peas into a pasta sauce one night and a few fell on the ground. she ran over and gobbled them up.
so I started giving her frozen peas.
then one evening she was staying with a friend after work who didn't feed her that night.
she was starving in work the next day so I tried her on carrots.
she gobbled them up and has loved them ever since.
she's lost a kilo also.
her poop is now bright orange though

boomerang

Gradually acclimatise her to wearing a little basket muzzle while you're in the office with her? People will soon get the message and get out of the habit! Other people being unable to resist the urge to feed my dogs is a real pet peeve of mine!

seannash

boomerang wrote: »

Gradually acclimatise her to wearing a little basket muzzle while you're in the office with her? People will soon get the message and get out of the habit! Other people being unable to resist the urge to feed my dogs is a real pet peeve of mine!

Well there only feeding her carrots now so I cant see the harm in her eating those.
The other dog that was in the office is actually gone back to the states so its really only her wandering around so they all know only give her carrots

sillysmiles

Can you make a sign to put on her collar - something like "I'm a tub, please don't feed me nicies, but i do like carrots"

seannash

sillysmiles wrote: »

Can you make a sign to put on her collar - something like "I'm a tub, please don't feed me nicies, but i do like carrots"

I don't think its necessary, think there all falling in line now in work