Food Rewards and Canine Weight Loss

Remember back when the girls first arrived and I talked about how chunky they were and that I was going to get them on a portion controlled diet? Some of you may be scratching your heads now after my recent posts about them and all of the food rewards they are getting. I mean, how is it possible to have a dog on a weight loss plan and at the same time train them using food treats?

Salinas and Chima are proof that it is possible though. We are nearing the one month mark of the time they've been in foster care. When I weighed the girls early this week Salinas had lost a little over 1/2 pound and Chima has lost a whooping 1.5 pounds!

Chima and her new waistline

Salinas is starting to get a bit of a waistline too. She's tougher to  photograph since  if she isn't right at  your feet, she's rolling around and goofing off. She's not one for standing in place, sedately like Chima is.

Because we are doing a lot of counter conditioning work the treats are really flowing here so to make sure the girls don't stop losing weight (or worse, start gaining) they get about 1/2 of their daily food at their mealtimes and the other half of the kibble is given out as rewards throughout the day. Luckily they are highly food motivated so even plain old kibble is super rewarding for them.

Right now I'm feeding them Orijen Regional Red kibble - a high quality grain free food. However, the kibble size is much larger than what I want to give out as a treat. I'd probably only have 15 treats to hand out if I used the Orijen for training. At work a rep for Addiction gave me a bag of their Viva la Venison grain free puppy kibble. It's a fully balanced food but since puppy food has some extra fat it's tastier than your average kibble. The other great thing about it though is that Addiction kibble is tiny. I mean really, really tiny. One of the Orijen kibble is equal to about 4 of these puppy kibbles.

Some people have candy bowls on their table. We  have kibble bowls.

Teensy, tiny Addiction puppy kibble

So when the girls go in their crate when they are asked - they get a couple kibbles. They get kibbles tossed when they follow the cue to sit. Salinas gets kibble for keeping her feet on the ground and not jumping and mouthing when she's excited - kibble for calm. Chima gets kibble for doing the touch desensitization work we do.  Kibbles for potty breaks outside. Kibble, kibble and more kibble. And yet still they continue to lose weight.

It's not magic, though. The treat kibble is measured out in the morning when I get their meals ready and I ration that throughout the day. So all those treats and meals added together equals the correct amount of calories a dog at their goal weight should be eating.

I know this sounds like a lot of work but once you get the amounts correct, it's just a matter of one extra bowl that sits out in a handy area (out of the dog's reach) with the kibble in it. You can do that, right?  My dining room table's centerpiece happens to be a square stainless steel dish with kibble in it. Some people have candy bowls, I have kibble bowls. What can I say?