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Low-cost food might be better for your wallet, but it can be a raw deal for your dog, because he may not get the nutrition he needs. Premium foods, such as IAMS™ ProActive Health™ Smart Puppy Original , make sense both nutritionally (because of consistent, high-quality ingredients) and economically because they provide:
The investment in a premium food might initially cost more per bag, but because these high-quality formulas are high in nutrient density, your dog may need less food, which can offset the higher cost per unit of weight. On a cost-per-feeding basis, look at how much you feed each day as opposed to how much the bag costs, because nutrient and energy density will generally be lower for a low-cost food compared with premium foods.
With budget-priced formulas, the emphasis is on production and ingredient costs. Two bags of the same least-cost formulated food can have different ingredients and/or levels of ingredients. Plus, those ingredients may vary significantly in digestibility. This means, simply, that you may need to feed more just to equal the nutrition offered by a smaller amount of a premium dog food formula.
High-quality, complete, and balanced premium dog foods such as the IAMS brands are specifically designed to provide your dog with a food that has:
To determine how much food to give your dog, check the daily feeding recommendations set by the pet food manufacturer and read the label. To calculate portion sizes, divide the total daily recommended amount by the number of times (usually two for adult dogs) you plan to feed your dog.
To tell if your dog is at a healthy weight, move your hands along his sides. If you can feel his ribs, he's about right. Or, look down at him when you're directly above him. You should be able to see a waistline.
If he's gaining or losing a lot of weight, slightly decrease or increase his daily intake and weigh him in another week. If you have specific concerns about your dog's weight, talk to your veterinarian. He or she can assess your dog's needs and make a feeding recommendation.
Once you've decided on a premium formula, you have another choice to make: dry or moist. And what about biscuits?
Premium dry dog food gives you the best value and convenience, while fortifying your dog with high-quality nutrition. Premium dry foods come in a number of bag sizes and formulas suited to size, life stage, and activity level. Dry food also helps keep teeth clean, and it stays fresh for a long time if you store it properly.
Wet foods from IAMS provide 100% complete nutrition. IAMS ProActive Health Puppy Biscuits make great treats and rewards and can add taste variety to your new dog's diet.
There’s no doubt that dogs are affectionate creatures. And they have numerous ways of showing it. One of these ways is by licking their owners. You may enjoy it when your furry friend comes up and gives you a big ol’ pooch smooch. But why do dogs lick you? In a poll* of dog owners, IAMS™ found a large majority (75%) believe dogs lick people to offer signs of friendliness. That’s definitely a correct assumption. Let’s dive a bit deeper for a better understanding.
Licking has been a social behaviour among dogs since the days of the great-great-great granddaddy wolf. 'It’s a standard canine greeting to lick others around the face,” agrees James Serpell, B.S., Ph.D., Professor of Humane Ethics & Animal Welfare at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. “Junior members of the pack will run around and lick the mouths of more senior members.” But is that all that there is to dog licking behaviour? Or are there more reasons why dogs lick people? Let’s find out!
Here are a few reasons that can explain why dogs like to lick.
For dogs, licking is equivalent to kissing or showing affection. You may have noticed female dogs licking their puppies which is a behaviour that is intended to show affection. And your dog considers you part of their pack, so they show you affection the same way their kind does - by licking.
Dogs are oral creatures and gather a lot of information about their surroundings through taste and smell. Maybe you’re salty after a sweaty run. Maybe you’ve got barbecue sauce on your face. “Dogs can smell a lot better than we can,” says Dr. Jo Gale, BVetMed CertLAS MRCVS, Senior Manager, Global Science Advocacy at Waltham Petcare Science Institute, “so they find a lot more things interesting to lick than we can.” This is despite the fact that dogs only have about 1,700 taste buds compared to around 9,000 in humans.
Have you been too busy with work lately? Or has anything kept you inattentive toward your pooch? If so, it’s probably one of the reasons why your dog is licking you. It is also possible that your dog just got too bored and wants you to play with them, which is why they’re suddenly licking you.
That’s true. Much like humans, dogs can also suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder, which can be concerning. It is often triggered due to stress and anxiety and makes the dogs suddenly begin licking. You will need to visit your vet if you suspect this to be the case.
Unlike humans, no other animals have knowledge about or access to proper healthcare. So, when they get injured, their first instinct is to lick their wounds. This helps them numb the pain to a certain extent, and also clean the wound. Thus, when your dog sees a wound on you, their natural instincts kick in and they try to help you by licking the wound, thinking it will clean the wound and lower the pain.
In fact, in ancient Greece, dogs at the shrine of Asclepius were trained to lick patients. In the Middle Ages, Saint Roch was said to have been cured of a plague of sores through his dog’s licking. The French even have a saying, “langue de chien, langue de médecin,” which translates to, “a dog’s tongue, a doctor’s tongue.”
Don’t cancel your health insurance just yet. While a dog’s saliva does have some possible bactericidal properties against some types of bacteria, it can put you at risk of exposure to others. Too much licking can also reopen the wound and cause further infection. With modern medicine, you’re much better off hitting the first-aid kit. And that myth about dogs’ mouths being cleaner than humans’? Not true — both contain over 600 types of bacteria.
While an occasional canine kiss is “aww”-inducing, some dogs can overdo it to the point of annoyance. When this happens, the best thing to do is “completely ignore it and give no attention,” suggests Dr. Jo Gale. “When they stop, provide them with attention.” This acts as a form of positive reinforcement. Over time your dog will learn to scale back on the smooches. Another thing you can try is training them to cut back on the licking. Remember to use positive reinforcement in this case too - reward them with treats or toys when they display good behavior.
If you're looking for the perfect dog for you, try our Dog Breed Selector today and enjoy a lifetime of tail-wagging joy.
