After a two day separation, my mother came home today.
I was so happy! I’m just a puppy, and even though I’m almost a year old, I still depend on my mother a great deal. The house has been too big, too lonely without her.
“Mommy, why hasn’t Oliver been running around like he normally does?” Olivia, my favorite seven year old asked her mother, Trudy.
“I think he must miss Schatze,” Trudy said. “He’s still a puppy and very attached to his mother. Dogs are like people sometimes, Olivia. They can sense when we are sad or if something is wrong.”
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Puppies are naturally predisposed to eat a lot of food very quickly; in centuries past, when many dogs lived in the wild, they were forced to consume their grub very rapidly in order to satisfy their hunger (before a predator came along and attempted to grab their hard-won sustenance). Today, puppies are served meals by their owners – they don’t need to fight for their fair share; however, the primal urge to overfeed and “wolf” down food is essentially “hard-wired” in many breeds.
Knowing how your puppy thinks- and getting a handle on his or her animal instincts- is the first step to understanding your beloved canine pal and controlling his or her appetite. So, yes, your puppy will overfeed if it is permitted, but there are ways to ensure that your young dog gets all the nutrition that he or she needs, without excess calories (or painful indigestion) that might lead to health problems later on…here are some things you need to know:
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