With over 30 years’ experience Owning, Breeding, Showing, Training and Working dogs, Robert Belobrajdic knows almost every trick in the book when it comes to raising and maintaining a healthy long lived dog. Here are his top 3 life enhancing tips.

1. “Feed Less To Increase
Your Dog’s Life Span!”

Lean Dogs Live Longer. Scientists completed a fourteen-year study using Golden Retrievers, a breed known for its tendency towards obesity. It was found that puppies and dogs maintained at an ideal body condition lived almost TWO YEARS longer than their littermates who weighed about 26 percent more. That’s the equivalent of your dog weighing, for example, 25 kilos instead of a more appropriate 20 kilos.

Food Portion Sizes Should
Change with Activity Level,
Climate, and Age!

Most people give their dog the same amount of food every day; this is an unhealthy way to feed and is most often the cause of obesity in family pets.
The correct way to begin determining portion size is to assess your dog’s condition. If, for example, you are feeding two cups a day and your dog is too lean, try increasing its portion to three cups for a week and then asses your dog’s condition again. Assess its condition every week until it reaches the ideal weight. If, after a month, you notice your dog is looking a little beefy, cut back slightly and keep assessing until it maintains an ideal weight.

If your dog is 20% overweight you may find you need to decrease portion size by 50%. Most people will struggle to do this but it is what is needed to get your doghealthy again. The correct portion size is the amount that keeps your dog at a lean healthy weight.

Want to spoil your dog? Take them out for a run. They’ll love you for it!

2. “A Healthy Stomach Is the Best Vet
Your Dog’s BODY Will Ever Have!”

70% of a dog’s immune system comes from their intestinal tract so feeding the wrong types of foods can really affect their health negatively.

Your dog is mainly carnivorous, this means that most of its dietary intake should be made up of animal protein and animal fats. That’s why I recommend feeding a high quality Grain-Free dry dog food to maintain intestinal health. Dogs were not designed to eat grains. Right?

So here is a quick rundown of what to look for. Keep in mind this is for healthy dogs and not dogs with medical conditions. Stick to protein levels Over 28%, fat levels between 16% and 20% (Low fat is actually bad for dogs, these levels are critical for good health).

In the ingredients section you want to see meat meals and animal source fats only. Choose fish oil and not flaxseed oil for the omega-3 source because dogs can’t use flax. They need the DHA and EPA found in fish oil to maintain healthy, eyes, brain, skin, coat and more so it’s very important for good health.

What you don’t want to see is protein and fats from plant sources. Things like pea protein and sunflower oil are not as digestible and healthy for your dog as animal sources.

3. Oral Health is Critical to your
Dog’s Health and Longevity.

About 20 year ago I tried feeding my dogs a totally raw food diet. It seemed good at first, however after many months I did eventually find my dogs looked a bit flat and dull on the raw food only.

One big benefit I noticed when feeding raw meaty bones was that my dog’s teeth were now really clean.

So what I eventually settled on, after decades of trial and error, was feeding my dogs raw meaty bones two times per week and a quality dry dog food the other days. This combo to this day gives me GREAT results in overall health, coat shine and longevity.

This was because my dogs were getting all the essential vitamins and minerals from the dry dog food and they were also getting extra animal protein and fats plus getting their teeth cleaned every week.

All raw meaty, fatty bones are great for your dog, however I find that beef brisket bones and lamb necks seem to do the best job at cleaning the teeth. This is very important because like humans, clean teeth are critical for good health.

I know some vets are totally against bones because understandably they may have seen some issues with them. Bones have been nature’s teeth cleaner for carnivores since the beginning of time and when done correctly, the benefits far outweigh risks.

Is this all I know about
caring for dogs?

Far from it…You can get more great FREE dog care tips when you join the Stay Loyal Dog Lovers Club. A monthly newsletter written by me, emailed to you every month. Plus everyone that signs up will immediately get the Dog Lover series which has tips on, How To Handle Common Dog Problems, A Home Health Checklist For Your Dog, How to Choose A Good Vet and much more… Go to Stayloyal.com.au to join the Stay Loyal Dog Lovers Club.

                                             

About the author

Robert Belobrajdic
Dog lover, co-founder and co-inventor
of Stay Loyal Dog Food. Robert has over 30 years
owning, breeding, showing, training and working dog experience.