Premier dog training in Northern California serving Sacramento,
   El Dorado and Placer counties. Licensed and insured.
Association of Professional Dog Trainers Pet Partners Therapy Dogs Style Magazine Award to Kevin Limm
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Nutrition and Training
     Nutrition plays a big role in the training of your dog. Why? Because nutrition not only has an effect on the physical aspects of your dog, but also affects his or her mental state. This means that if your buddy is not receiving proper nutrition, he or she can have a hard time focusing on the task at hand, as well as can easily be distracted, which makes training more difficult.

   Quality food manufacturers spend many dollars researching nutrition for dogs, and it shows in the wide availability of quality foods on the market today. In addition to the low-grade dog foods found in grocery stores and supermarkets, pet specialty shops and feed stores often carry a wide range of foods designed to address everything from specific activity levels to food allergies.

   It is important to feed the right type of food to your best friend. For example, if your dog spends its typical day hanging out in the back yard and lounging around the house, and goes for walks around the neighborhood 2-3 times a day, that's not really an active lifestyle, for a dog. If you feed a food designed for active dogs, your dog will have an abundance of energy that isn't burned up, and will likely have a hard time focusing during training, not to mention will quickly become overweight.

   On the other hand, if you feed a low-protein diet to an active dog that goes on hikes or is involved with rigorous activities on a daily basis, the low nutritional value of the food may leave your pal mentally drained, so he or she can't focus during training, even if he or she wants to.

   Quite a few dogs also have food allergies, and common food allergens are grains, which is not surprising given the fact that a dog's natural diet does not include grains, yet many dog foods include grains in their ingredients. If your dog is allergic to grains, symptoms commonly manifest themselves as digestive tract issues and/or skin irritations. Imagine how tough it would be to try to learn something while you had an upset stomach, or while you kept having to lick your paws because they itched so much.

   If you suspect that your dog may have a food allergy, you might want to consider switching to a grain-free food. While you might experience "sticker shock" when you first see the higher price of grain-free foods, take comfort in the fact that most grain-free foods are typically manufactured using higher quality ingredients. Because nutritional values in these foods are significantly higher than lower-quality foods, you would feed less of a high-quality food to maintain balanced nutrition. Thus, the higher price per bag is largely offset. An added bonus is that the higher quality food is better assimilated by your dog's digestive system, so he or she will excrete less, which results in less clean-up for you!

   While we're not saying that nutrition is the answer to all training, it only makes sense that proper nutrition results in a healthier dog, which can make a difference in your dog's ability to learn what you are trying to teach him or her.

   From what we've seen, it's surprising how few trade professionals know what's good and not good when it comes to nutrition for dogs. We've found the folks below to really know their stuff when it comes to nutrition.

   In El Dorado County, Bark Avenue in El Dorado Hills.

   In Sacramento County, sBarkles in Folsom.

   In Placer County, The Doggie Bag in Roseville. 

   To find out more about how we can help you, contact us today.

 
 
 
 
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321 Iron Point Rd.
Folsom, CA 95630
or
2201 Francisco Dr.
Suite 140-102
El Dorado Hills, CA 95762

 

 
Quick appointments available for Sacramento and surrounding areas including Fair Oaks, Citrus Heights, Rancho Cordova, Granite Bay, Roseville, Loomis, Folsom, El Dorado Hills, Cameron Park, Shingle Springs, Placerville, Lake Tahoe and more. We are available for travel to other areas of California and Nevada on a case by case basis. Contact us for details.