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Welcome to our Blog. This is designed to provide Chihuahua owners (and
other dog owners) with information and tips to help care for your dogs,
possibly with some anecdotal info about our dogs and puppies thrown in
from time to time. If there is something you would like us to blog about,
please send an email and let us know. We will do our best to post a new
entry every few weeks.
Update 2-9-11 - After months of neglecting the blog, I am back. If you
have any topics that you would like me to blog about, feel free to email
them to me.
Click here to view our previous blog entries from 2008 to 2011.

January 29, 2012
Treats

Ah treats...they're wonderful things! They can be used by us humans to make our doggies do just about anything.
The manufacturers make some of them smell good enough that we consider tasting them ourselves sometimes.
Oh and many of them come in resealable packages or tubs with lids so they don't become stale. Indeed, dog
treats are a most helpful and convenient invention. BUT.......they must be used in moderation for most dogs.
Many treats are very high in calories and can very often put unnecessary weight on your dog. We see too many
overweight Chihuahuas (and other small breeds) whose owners are having no luck getting the weight off and they
ask us why? Our first question is...what do you feed your dog? Very often, the owner will tell us that when it
comes to treats, they are small and the owner considers them to be insignificant, so they will give them 10, 12 or
more a day. That's WAY too many treats for any dog, especially a small breed.
Small breed dogs are more prone to become overweight than larger breeds are anyway, and adding those extra
calories with unnecessary treats does not help that. Your dog should not receive more than 4 to 5 treats a day,
and treating should be reserved for training, or perhaps just to give your dog something special during the course
of his day. If your dog does not have a tendency to become overweight, you're probably alright to continue with
whatever treats you prefer to give him, although there are healthier alternatives. But if your dog has a weight
problem, we have some recommendations for treats which are tasty and much healthier for your beloved pet.
First of all, our favorite, and you can buy it at our favorite place...that's right, Wal-Mart...is PupCorn. They are
little doggie shaped, popcorn looking treats. They are very low in calories, which makes them less likely to put
weight on your dog, and dogs LOVE the taste. Our dogs adore them! If your dog enjoys the soft, meaty treats,
we have several recommendations for that. Sniffers treats, which you can buy at PetSmart and other pet supply
places and online, are very small, training size treats, but dogs really enjoy them. Also, there are the Hollywood
Stars (from Wal-Mart) or Bil-Jac (from pet supply places) liver treats. These are the soft, meaty type of treat
and they are just a bit bigger than a training treat, but not as big as many of the meaty treats. Our dogs really love
those as well. And you also have the Train Me treat line (from pet supply places) which are training size, meaty
treats. Basically, for the meaty treats, the smaller the better, as these are often the ones that do the most damage
to a dog's waistline! Biscuit treats can also put weight on your dog. It is rarely necessary to give a dog,
especially a small breed, a large biscuit treat. TreatCo (which can be purchased at www.jefferspets.com) has a
line of small biscuit treats. These treats are so small that actually the small size that they sell is a training size, bone
shaped biscuit. The medium size biscuits will also make a good size treat, even for overweight dogs. Old Mother
Hubbard also has a line of very small biscuit treats that are all natural. Charlie Bear is another good biscuit type
small training treat. Another wonderful treat for dogs is yogurt treats. Pooch Passions and Vitakraft both have a
line of these that are a decent size treat, but for the overweight dog, only one of these per day! All of the above
mentioned treats can be found at either www.carealotpets.com or www.jefferspets.com .
And then there is a variety of "health foods" for dogs, including treats. The dog food company, Nutro, makes a
line of foods and treats called Ultra which are supposed to be a healthy alternative to regular treats. We can't
speak for them though as we have not tried them. Also, there is a line called Wellness, and one called One Earth
Natural Dog Biscuits, which you can find at www.carealotpets.com All of these are supposed to be all natural
and wholistic to promote your dog's health.
Whatever the treat you choose for your dog, we recommend that you do not discount the effect that the treats
can have on your dog's weight. You'd be surprised how quickly overweight dogs can drop those pounds when
their treats are cut back and/or changed.