Stop killing your dachshund with this one thing.
Hi, I’m Katie Saywell. I’m the owner and founder of the Dogs Code, www.thedogscode.com is where you’ll find us.
What is the single biggest killer of dachshunds ? Do you know? Keep reading to find out.
The life expectancy of a dachshund is 12 to 15 years. Are you food blind when it comes to your dog’s diet?
Obesity is the single biggest killer of dachshunds and obesity related diseases. How do we combat this? Obesity is a massive problem, not just in dogs, but in humans as well. We have to think about our diets logically. We have to think about our lifestyles logically. We have to get off our backsides and exercise, it’s no different to your dog. If your dog’s not been out for exercise on a day, reduce the food amount. How many fat sausage dogs have you seen recently waddling around, overhanging tummies?
How do you know if your dachshund is overweight? Well, there’s a simple test that you can do. If you look at your dachshund from above, they should have a waistline. It should go in. If you look at them from the side, they should go in after their ribs.
Why are you being food blind? What is food blindness? Thinking that your dachshund needs more food than they currently have, giving them titbits, giving them food that they don’t need and not giving them enough exercise. So there’s four things that you can do to change your dachshund’s risk.
Exercise more. Exercising isn’t just about walking on the lead. Exercising may be fetching a ball, it may be scent training. It may be that you have two bowls with food at meal times, and you make them walk from one place to another. They’re increasing their exercise while they’re eating, making dinner times fun. May be scatter feeding. You take one piece of food and you throw it, let them go and get it and get them to come back to you. When they come back to you throw another bit of food, so this way they’re being exercised at the same time that they’re getting a reward, which is actually their own food. Scrap the treats. Use their own food for reward, when they do something you like, they get rewarded with their own food.
What are you doing about it? Your dachshund relies on you for food, they’re dependent on you for food. We cannot blame our dachshunds for being overweight. Humans, owners, guardians, take responsibility. It’s your responsibility that your dog is overweight. The waddling sausages, the overhanging tummies, too much food, not enough exercise. So where do you look? What do you do? We change our diets. We speak to nutritionalists. We change food.
A fantastic website if you’re looking for a comparison of commercial foods, and by commercial foods, I mean food you pick up from the pet shop or the supermarket www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk. It gives you ratings on food. If you’re looking for a raw diet, there’s a fantastic Facebook group of raw fed dachshunds. You can actually be mentored into feeding raw. It’s your choice, but don’t overfeed. The food they intake will remain with them unless they exercise. Let’s not kill your dachshund. Don’t give in to those puppy dog eyes, which you believe is your dachshund saying “I want more food. I want food”. Stop the titbits, just feed their diet. Maybe a few treats at the same time. If you’re using treats on a daily basis, then don’t forget, reduce the intake of their main food source. Their main food source is going to be the food that you give them probably twice a day. There are ways, there are methods and there are certainly no reason for your dachshund to be overweight.
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