I use Wellness Core Reduced Fat for our 3 doxies. They love it. I have tried other brands before, but the girls all seemed to be starved all the time. With the Wellness Core they seem to be satisfied and have normal stools. They still get a carrot a day cut into small pieces as treats. I have them on maintenance amounts since they are not overweight and I want to keep them that way. You can usually find it at a feed store. Good Luck. Linda

I also use Wellness Core Reduced for my shepard mix. She's always hungry anyway ...

Thanks! I will try to fid this brand & see if they like it. All the dogs now know when I say either 'din-din' or now the word 'carrot' what it means & they get all wild! They also like apples but haven't learned that word yet! They love raw cabbage & hear when I get the chopping block out; no, being mostly outdoor dogs the 'gas' hasn't been a problem from the cabbage! And those 'pig ears' at Costco or Sam's.... they luv them! But why are pig ears that are left-overs x the packing houses so $$$ ? Someone sure saw $ in those cast-offs!

Something I just recently learned about carrots (and cabbage too for that matter) is that intestinal parasites are rather intolerant to them- so there may be a small added benefit of those snack foods!

Our lab loved the ribs out of romaine lettuce- that, along with carrots, was probably her favorite snack. She also loved air popped popcorn. If she was sound asleep DH would make a trail around the house right up to her nose and then we'd wait to see how long it took for her to wake up and chase the trail all over the house! I've read a few places that many people don't like to feed dogs popcorn, the main health concern being hard kernels, salt and butter, but also that some dogs don't handle corn well. We felt that a little bit of plain, air popped popcorn was okay for our girl and she loved it so much.

I've never offered cabbage but my dog eats raw carrots, bell pepper, cucumber, broccoli, cauliflower, sugar peas, apple, pear, bananas and just about any other fruit & vege I offer. When strawberries are in season he and his Boxer friend love harvesting those straight from the garden!

Dogs can't process the nutrients in whole raw vegetables. No harm. But if you feed them as part of a complete diet, they need to be pureed in a blender or cooked to break down the cells so that the food is available for digestion.

No, cynthia ... we don't feed the carrots & cabbage as part of their regular diet but only as a 'filler' to make their tummys feel less empty while on their diets. They have pretty much lost the excess weight they needed to lose so will gradually increase their adult low calorie dry Iams dog food. They even feel so frisky with the added pounds off of them!

They LOVE corn nuts (as do I!) & I can't even try quietly to chew on a couple but what they hear me & come running ... even from a deep sleep! Lovable crazy critters !!

I appreciate everyone's suggestions/input!

Wellness Core here too. The peke gets a couple of small baby carrots every day or two also.

The thing to watch out for with popcorn (in my experience at least) is not letting them eat the unpopped kernels. DH makes popcorn with parmesan cheese. He used to let our dog clean the leftover cheese out of the bowl which also meant she ate the unpopped kernels. They did this for years.

One day she was sick, I think she threw up everything for a couple days. When I took her to the vets, during the exam he found some "seed-like" "items" she seemed to be having trouble passing. After trying to figure out what she possibly could have eaten I realized it was unpopped popcorn. Witheld food & water for the rest of the day, her system had a chance to settle and she was fine. The dogs don't get to lick the bowl anymore (unless of course DH picks out the kernels first...)

I'm actually searching for this answer too. I have started using chopped up carrots as treats to train my dogs. One is beginning agility and the other is brand new to our house so they are eating LOTS of treats and I needed to find something cheaper than the lil peanut butter treats I was using. They are both about 38 pounds and eat...a lot of chopped up baby carrots this weekend. So far so good. And the training is going GREAT.
But I did have a lil advice to help your dogs lose weight. PUMPKIN. Canned pumpkin like you would use for thanksgiving pumpkin pie...just give them the same amount as the amount you are substituting for and enough to make the rest of the food wet. And don't worry, your dogs will start to eat green beans when they get hungry enough!!

I was wondering if the canned pumpkin might have too much sugar in it for the dogs? I will chec the label! I have been giving them the fresh things hoping it would also help clean their teeth when chewing it. They also seem to like Dannen's Activia yogurt which I guess would be healthy for them too. We have a pecan tree in the back yard & they have taught each other to chew open the shells & eat the nutmeats ... I don't like for them to do this as pieces of the shells might be swallowed but hard to keep the nuts all raked up so they can't get to them; I read some nuts (?walnuts) are bad for them too. We have been getting bags of the small seedless tangerines & they LOVE slices of them & swallow them w/o even chewing the slices! Not easy to eat when those critters watch as our hand picks up a goody & goes to our mouth ... instead of their's! Can't open a bag- no matter how carefully- without one of them in another room hearing it & come running for a hand-out :)

Canned pumpkin is also good for dogs with diarrhea. Our vet had us give it to one of our peeks. I think we had to get regular canned pumpkin, not the pumpkin pie filling kind with sugar.

Does anyone know if the water from a tuna can is okay for dogs? Our pekes come running when they smell it. They love it in their food.

Canned pumpkin is good for both constipation and diarrhea. Go figure. Just be careful to use straight pumpkin, not the pumpkin pie filling.

If your dogs don't like green beans, try giving them the frozen green beans. My dogs think they are a real treat.

I recently learned that if you have a dog who tends to vomit foam or bile in the night or early morning, you should give them a bit to eat before bed. The vomiting may be from having an empty tummy.

My Toby will eat most veggies and fruit. He loves green beans, carrots, asparagus, banana, berries, citrus, apples....

Just remember that grapes and raisins can be toxic to dogs and should not be given.

Peke, tuna has a lot of mercury in it, so I would assume the water it's packed in would have it too. Canned salmon is a better option for dogs, although a little tuna is probably okay once or twice a month.