Table Food

All of us dog owners, or most of us, are guilty of giving into our dogs and feeding them our scraps either from the table, from the counter, or saving the leftovers for a treat for them later. There are tons of myths about what's good and what's bad for your dog, what will cut five years off your dog's life, and what will make your dog's coat healthy. I found a great list online at hartz.com of human foods that are good and bad for your dog; the list may surprise you!

I know one of Diesel's favourite snack is cheese and I think most dog's love it as well. The truth about cheese is it's actually hard for dog's to digest because they don't produce large amounts of lactase, which helps break down dairy.

Peanut butter is a great snack for dogs unless they're allergic to it. Also, peanut butter is high in fat and calories so like humans, it's good but only as a snack.

Another good snack food for dogs is eggs. Raw is not good for humans or dogs, but eggs and the yolk in them helps the dog have a healthy looking coat.

Some foods to avoid giving your dog are uncooked bread dough, yeast, and raw-meat; all these things can cause stomach problems. Also, anything with caffeine is bad, as well as macadamia nuts.

As far as raw-meat goes, i give it to Diesel all the time because he was eating it while he lived on the reserve. Every dog is different so some foods will react differently with different dogs. If you haven't given your dog something like nuts or peanut butter, it might be best to get your dog tested for allergies before trying it out.

An update on Maggie, the newfie dog I wrote about a few months back, she is still living but she is doing rough. She recently went blind and her lymph nodes are swollen all over her body. She was said to be gone by Christmas, but she's still here. Poor girl, I hope she goes peacefully and doesn't suffer.

And of course, the weekly dose of Diesel...