Helen@helshounds.co.uk +44(0)7356 072133
The Hierarchy of Dog Needs (HDN)
What is it?
The HDN is a wholistic guide to animal, (canine in particular) needs.
It is however important to note that every dog is unique and their needs will be as unique as they are! The HDN sets the needs of dogs in a system of levels, similar to the common way of displaying the needs of humans.
Looking at this we can hypothesise that anything considered a biological need, such as food, water and shelter, must be met before we look at the dogs emotional needs and these met before we can successfully meet the social needs of the animal and so on.
Biological needs: Nutrition
I have another blog post about assessing the weight and physical condition of your dog, so I wont go into that again here. What I will say is that a large amount of dogs are overweight or obese and this can have a huge impact upon on thier health. I will also say that obesity in dogs can be a result of a number of factors, for example, did you know that a neutered female Labrador is more likely to be overweight than an intact male husky?
Nutrition is a massive word, it is such a big thing to find the right food for your household and your dog, the questions many pet owners are asking themselves and the advice you find online can be so contradictory. I hope to give you some tips to ease the process and make things just that tiny bit easier. Now, please bare in mind that I am not a vet nor am I a veterinary nutritionalist, what I say here is simply advice based on my own experience and what I have learnt from the variety of books and courses I have taken in. Do not put my advice above that of your vet, and please talk to your vet before making huge changes to your pet’s diet or if you think they may be suffering with allergies or intolerances.
Things to consider
Some, more educated professionals argue that poor quality food can invite allergy and illness in dogs.
It is also said that much of the research supporting pet diets is not peer reviewed (for those who have never had to consider publishing a journal article, this means that the research has not been critically evaluated by other, 3rd party, independent scientists), it is also rarely published in full journal form. However it is relatively easy to patent the intellectual property.
It is agreed that poor nutrition is one of the biggest obstacles to canine health.
Home cooking
Home cooking can be a fantastic diet for your dog, you know exactly what they are getting this way, nothing sneakily added in that might make them ill.
That being said, meal prep for a family is hard enough, adding in meal prep for a dog too may be one step too many.
Reliable sources for receipts can be found online, I will post a link to a site called balanceit, this can take some of the work out.
However, it is important to feed your dog quality ingredients to make sure that they are getting quality food.
So what do I do?
Your dog deserves a nutritionally balanced diet.
This means selecting quality ingredients from reliable sources, that cover all essential vitamins, minerals, amino acids, macro- and mincro- nutrients.
Your dogs diet should include most vegetables and many fruits.
Dogs need a protein rich diet rather than a carb heavy one. The protein should ideally come from animal rather than plant sources.
You can supplement your dogs protein intake by adding some meat or fish to their meals.
Raw
Despite the regular debates about the merits and pitfalls of feeding a raw diet there has been a huge increase in the number of commercially produced raw meals/ diets.
Should you choose to feed raw, your dogs diet should include meat, organ meat, fruits, veg, ground and raw meaty bones and appropriate supplements.
I would say you should always do your research, and any commercially produced product has the possibility to have added nasties, equally, making your own meals means that you can miss things that your dog needs. The added worry with raw feeding is the infection risk for the whole household.
What are the options?
There are many different options for feeding your pet.
Remember to take into account any known allergies or intolerances, and feed your dog any prescribed foods as prescribed. If you want to add in other foods or have concerns about the prescribed food not meeting all your dogs nutritional needs, talk to your vet before you make any changes.
- Raw food
- Dry food (Kibble)
- Home cooked
- Commercial wet foods
- Combinations
Kibble/ Dry foods
It is important to note that dry foods often need to have added fluids because they do not provide any fluid during a meal; also chewing the food does not clean the teeth, you still have to get up in there with a toothbrush!
Look for foods with organic ingredients if you are able too. These are the kinds of foods that will have the biggest issues with grains and carbohydrates, on the other hand, these are easy to substitute for treats in training so there are pros and cons.
Sometimes it is recommended to keep foods refrigerated to prevent oxidation, as this may degrade some essential nutrients.
When looking at the calorific ntake, it is important to take into account any added wet foods or gravy’s. An alternative to this is to add some water to the biscuits.
Using commercial pet foods
While commercial processing of pet food can impact digestibility, and some would argue that feeding the same food with no variation may create allergies and nutritional deficiencies, this is not to say that commercial pet food is bad for your dog!
Infact, a balanced nutritional diet for many dogs will look like a combination of different brands of pet foods with different protien sources fed on a gradually changing cycle.
When selecting a food, you should always look at the ingredients list, avoid foods with high percentages of:
- unspecified “meat” or “meat meal”
- vague ingredients such as “by-products”
- lots of grain or cereal (opt for healthier whole grains or lower percentages)
- Artificial colours and flavours
Look for specified protein sources, such as chicken or beef as the top ingredient. Whole grains are much healthier carbohydrate sources for dogs.
Other considerations are the safety record of the company, their customer service, their longevity, marketing strategies, transparency and response to investigations and complaints.
Other options
Other types of food include:
- Wet foods
- Air-dried
-Freeze-dried
- and Dehydrated
Assess the foods as you would any other commercially produced food and if in doubt seek advice from your veterinarian or a more qualified nutritionalist.
Allaboutdogfood is a website which takes some of the hard work out of picking food brands by reviewing 100’s of them for you, interpreting nutritional information, additives and even publishing recall notices. I will add a link on this page for you!
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