By Dud Eddy
There are many reasons that people say that they use Natural dog treats for their dogs.
Many of these have nothing to do with understanding the nutritional value of the treat. Or at least, the nutritional value, for people in the know – not from the manufacturer.
That is the main reason that I got into selling natural treats, but as it’s a small niche of the market, there are not always a lot of suppliers or buyers for this. And then there is the low margins. But why not buy treats that are actually good for dogs, a genuine reason. If you are interested in this, then by all means, read on.
Some owners think that maybe dogs are being over fed with grains, and that gluten-free treats are only half the answers, since wheat is often replaced with other non-gluten grains or vegetables.
Others might consider the allergen issue of commercial dog treats and commercial dog food. Since these dog foods often have twenty plus ingredients, it can be very difficult for owners to track down what specific food their dogs are actually allergic to.
If we combine all of these as pre-filters to what genuine ‘Natural dog treats’ can be, it would look like this.
Natural dog treats would be single ingredient animal/ meat-based foods that dog’s ancestors would naturally have eaten in the wild. Considering that the intestinal tract and jaw structure of most dogs are very similar to the wolves they evolved from, this makes sense.
More than that. Natural dog treats would have no additives (ie no coloring, added sugar or oil or colors). Sometimes when additives are a small percentage some manufacturers can still claim the treat single ingredient or even bizarrely, ‘natural’.
Next level natural treats are organic single ingredient animal treats. While this isn’t mandatory to get the benefits of the treat, some owners want certified organic chews. You should note that unless a fish is farmed and over processed, most fish from seas should be considered the same as organic.
What do natural dog treats provide
Our number one benefit is a high level of quality protein – something that is typically missing from commercial dog food that only needs 18% protein from ANY source.
But this article is about the more intangible but equally important. Most people know that dogs are very social creatures. It is true that a hunting dog or ‘fighting dog’, unsocialised will not be friendly to other dogs, but a dog allowed to socialise from a young age, really enjoys it. They are a major pack animal that really mentally benefits from association daily with their own species.
The overlooked factor that natural dog treats provides is fulfilling the mental stimulation that is equally important for their overall well-being.
The treats provide engaging challenges that promote cognitive development. They do this by triggering a dogs natural hunting instincts and behaviour. They promote mental engagement as the dog learns to shred the meat, or how to best remove the meat from between bones in such things as kangaroo lumbar.
Truly natural dog chews prevent boredom, reduce stress, and counter the development of behavioral issues. Issues that occur when a dog isn’t able to do natural things that it was designed to do.
In this way the natural whole treats foster exploration, which engages problem solving skills and sensory stimulation.
All of this leads to the goal of increasing the overall happiness and quality of life of your dog
Dog Treat Anecdotal evidence
If you have ever seen how a dog eats a kangaroo tendon, you will automatically get this. A roo tendon isn’t a big treat, but it is a whole treat. It is very prized by big and small dogs, and the scarcity of this resource and difficulty in making leads to a high price.
Dogs typically will work out which end to start with, and mostly start chewing on the meaty bulb. They get their fast high value morsel immediately. And then they spend the rest of the time working out how to best tackle the stalk. The long stalk acts like hard dental floss that is ideal for cleaning their teeth. A small to medium sized dog can’t easily bite through this, so instead they have to wet one end with saliva and chew off the pieces as they become wet and easy to break off.
The older kelpie cross dog I saw today.
Today I had a person and dog walk past the open door of our shop. The dog strained to go inside while restrained by a lead. It didn’t succeed, but the owner allowed the dog to go inside about half an hour later when they came back past the shop.
We always love watching the joy that dogs get when let lose in our shop and explore all of the NATURAL smells available. They are so much more potent than kibble, or any plant-based treat. Dogs sense of smell is by far their most dominant sense, and usually they get around 40% absolutely max ground down poor-quality meat in their commercial dog food.
So today this dog was so excited, the owner asked if she could film her dog exploring all of the yummy treats on the bottom rung shelves. I had no idea what kinds of meat or treats her dog had been exposed to in the past, so I gave a few suggestions, but it was interested that both of them were most interested in the most natural of our treats. That is, they avoided the combined training treats (that have some flour or sweet potato in, and avoided all of the biscuit isle.
Their dog was quite old, but still a good chewer, so the owner was most interested in something that would clean the dog’s teeth, and would give a protein boost.
They originally were considering the kangaroo rib singles treat, but since they didn’t know how much they could trust their dog to properly chew any kind of smaller bone before swallowing, they settled on pork and kangaroo leg bones as a preoccupier treat and teeth cleaner (chewing on the ends). They also selected 100% single ingredient beef liver because its economical, very smelly and high protein. Then they bought a new product of kangaroo jerky cubes. While roo jerky strips are a very popular natural dog treat, smaller dogs would probably get the best value out of a small cube version of this (easier to shred pieces off, but still cleans teeth well.
CONCLUSION
It’s funny how truly natural dog treats are now considered to either be exceptional, or wrong, depending on what a vet says. And the reason mostly is, their profit margin, not what a natural treat can do for your dog.
We hope this article guides you into choosing wisely.
