Toppers – Is Fido bored with his kibble?

GSDs get bored eating the same thing day in and day out, just like we would. “Meatloaf again?!?” What to do?

• You can slowly switch back and forth between a couple of different foods, but the basic problem will remain – they crave variety. (If you rotate foods, figure out how long your dog takes to transition. It’s quicker with familiar foods.)
• You can go to more exciting diets, like quality raw. Most people feed kibble because it’s more convenient and cheaper than quality raw. Most dogs prefer quality raw, but then they’re not paying for it. A very good kibble can be of perfectly acceptable quality.
• You can make kibble more interesting by using a snuffle mat or by tossing it in your back yard so they have to sniff out each kernel. They’ll rise to the challenge with a wagging tail!
• You can feed them less at their main meals and feed the rest in tiny portions throughout the day as rewards for good behavior. It’s funny to watch a dog that just turned up its nose at its food dish eagerly sit and do tricks for the same kibble tossed kernel by kernel, or in small amounts out of your hand! This also teaches something about the human/canine bond.
• And finally, you can also mix things up with toppers!

About toppers:

• NEVER GIVE YOUR DOG ARTIFICIAL SWEETNERS! Even in tiny amounts, artificial sweeteners can kill your dog.
• And no cooked poultry bones, ever. Cooking makes the brittle and they can puncture your dog’s digestive system.
• Next, limit salt and sugar.
• You might also want to make sure your dog likes a treat before committing a bowl of food to it! Sometimes dogs take a while to warm up to a new taste. You can typically juxtapose a new taste with a loved treat to train your dog to like new things (Classical Conditioning).
• Just use a small amount of a topper as flavoring. More than a small amount is called a “side”, as in “side dish”. Sides start to have nutritional impact, and so require some research on your part.
• If you’re going to experiment, make sure the food is safe and healthy for dogs. They’re quite a bit smaller than we are, have a much more limited digestive system, and aren’t accustomed to our dietary eccentricities. For example, they probably can’t handle the 50 pounds of sugar that the average American eats annually.
• Finally, you can rotate through a variety of toppers that excite your dog!

A few suggestions for toppers:

• Tuna or just save the juice when you make tuna for yourself
• Molasses – blackstrap has less sugar.
• Lately some brands have been adding sugar to honey, which a) you’ll want to avoid, b) is weird, and c) is an insult to hard working bees everywhere!
• Plain yogurt. Sam’s (Member’s Mark) plain Greek yogurt has no sugar, and is started with L. Casei (also known as Lactobacillus Casei, Lacticaseibacillus paracasei or L. paracasei) which in adequate quantities is useful in treating or even avoiding Giardia if given daily for two weeks before exposure. L. Casei doesn’t tend to survive long in digestive tracts, so give a little daily if you want the L. Casei benefit.
• Chicken broth – no or low salt
• Beef broth – no or low salt
• A little warm water is a fun change, and lifts the aroma. Watch your dog sniff the food with anticipation before digging in!
• Peanut butter (no sugar added, such as Smuckers). Making a soup with warm water makes a small amount go a long way.
• Sauerkraut – the real kind, fermented and without preservatives, and avoid caraway seeds, which are toxic to dogs. If your dog wasn’t started on sauerkraut it can be hard to get him interested. We start our pups on it because it’s a good, cheap probiotic.
• Coconut oil
• Eggs, raw or cooked
• Pumpkin (no sugar added). Generic Walmart pumpkin comes from China, if you can believe that. We try to buy food grown in America as much as possible, especially since the recalls on China-sourced ingredients started. There’d be a possible freshness issue as well. Our dogs love pumpkin, but it can loosen stool more than you want, so approach with care and start small!
• Banana – some dogs love it, some don’t. As always, small quantities.
• Tripe – all dogs seem to love it, whether from cow, sheep or goat. Tripe is such an excellent source of probiotics that most days we feed a few square inches of it as an unchopped side and let the dogs chew it up. It’s a lot of work to cut up finely, though we do that for the pups who go gaga over it. It warms your heart to see all those little wagging tails! A few days of Tripe also usually helps with digestive upset.
• Meat – finely chop any meat and stir in, or use the liquid left over after any meat preparation (no or low salt). Or how about a few ounces of raw hamburger, mixed in? Bacon fat is not really digestible and though it’ll be eagerly wolfed down, later it may come right back up just as suddenly.
• Try whatever healthy food you have around to see if your dog likes it. A quick search against toxic foods is a good idea before introducing something new. Who’d have guessed that chocolate and grapes/raisins are toxic to our best friend?