How to Get Your Dog to Eat their Vegetables

As dogs, we’re designed to be meat eaters, but did you know that adding vegetables to your dog’s diet can help them in many ways?

How to get your dog to eat Vegetables // Ammo the Dachshund

My mom’s favorite pet nutritionist, Rodney Habib, has lots of great information on why it’s important to add fresh vegetables to your dog’s daily diet. With the simple addition of veggies to your pet’s food, you could help prevent cancer! Now that’s pretty cool.

Lucky for me, I’m actually a vegetable lover, but many dogs out there hate them.

How to get your dog to eat Vegetables // Ammo the Dachshund

Not to worry, today I’m going to share with you one of my mom’s favorite recipes for getting picky dogs (like my pal Trooper) to eat their vegetables.

*this is not a sponsored post, but does contain some affiliate links

How to get your dog to eat Vegetables // Ammo the Dachshund

Here’s what you’ll need:

How to get your dog to eat Vegetables // Ammo the Dachshund

Add a small amount of The Honest Kitchen to a bowl and add water as per the specifications on the package. The sample packs are great for making about 3 – 4 stuffed toys.

How to get your dog to eat Vegetables // Ammo the Dachshund

Add some fresh vegetables to the bowl, broccoli is great diced up into smaller pieces.

How to get your dog to eat Vegetables // Ammo the Dachshund

Then stuff a few mini carrots into your toys. These are great at making it harder for your dog to get the treats out quickly.

How to get your dog to eat Vegetables // Ammo the Dachshund

Fill the rest of the toy with your vegetable mixture until nearly full.

How to get your dog to eat Vegetables // Ammo the Dachshund

Finish off with a dab of peanut butter to really get your dog interested.

How to get your dog to eat Vegetables // Ammo the Dachshund

You can then either feed these veggie treats immediately to your dog, or even stick them in the freezer to give to them later (no need to thaw first).

How to get your dog to eat Vegetables // Ammo the Dachshund

Every night when my parent’s eat dinner I get my own special vegetable treat inside my crate. My parents are happy knowing I’m getting a healthy dose of veggies, and I’m happy because it tastes oh-so-good!

How to get your dog to eat Vegetables // Ammo the Dachshund

Not sure what vegetables to feed your dog? Check out this handy list for some ideas.

Do you feed your pet fresh vegetables on a daily basis?Ammo the Dachshund // Blog Signature // Celebrity

Throwback Thursday: Training Day

Ammo the Dachshund // Let's Get Tricky // Teach Your Dog to High-Five

To become as skilled as I have in performing and learning tricks there is also a lot of behind the scenes training that goes on. Since I was just 8 weeks old mom has been helping me learn cues and tricks. Consistency is key, and also having a pocket full of treats!

Check out my Throwback Thursday video of one of my short training sessions at the farm in 2010:

Does your dog love to learn as much as I do? Ammo the Dachshund

Let’s Get Tricky! Teach your Dog to Army Crawl

Being a super hero I need to have certain tricks up my sleeves and on my tool belt. Tricks that can get me out of sticky situations, help me combat evil, and well, make me quicker and more agile when shimmying down groundhog holes! It’s because of this that I have learned to army crawl!

Let's Get Tricky! Teach your Dog to Army Crawl with Ammo the Dachshund

Teach Your Dog to Army Crawl

Learn to be stealth, agile and quick on your feet! Most importantly, fit down those groundhog holes with ease.

What you need: A handful of training treatsclicker

Let's Get Tricky! Teach your Dog to Army Crawl with Ammo the Dachshund

Step 1: Place a high value treat (something your dog really loves) in the palm of your hand, making sure that he knows it is there.

Let's Get Tricky! Teach your Dog to Army Crawl with Ammo the Dachshund

Step 2: Ask your dog to lay down by placing your hand on the ground in front of him.

Let's Get Tricky! Teach your Dog to Army Crawl with Ammo the Dachshund

Step 3: Slowly inch your hand away from your dog, encouraging him to shimmy across the ground after the treat. As soon as he moves closer to your hand (without lifting his front legs out of the lay down position) click and reward. If your dog pops up out of his lay down, ask him to lay again, and repeat the process until he does it properly.

Let's Get Tricky! Teach your Dog to Army Crawl with Ammo the Dachshund

Step 4: Continue asking your dog to inch along the ground until he understands what is wanted, you can then begin adding a verbal cue, such as the word “crawl”, and asking him to shimmy across the ground several times before getting his reward.

Let's Get Tricky! Teach your Dog to Army Crawl with Ammo the Dachshund

Congratulations, your dog can now army crawl. Now meet me at the groundhog holes, we’ve got some shimmying to do! Ammo the Dachshund

Disclaimer: The Let’s Get Tricky blog feature is designed to provide general information, instruction, and techniques that may not be suitable for everyone. Please note that we are not liable for any of your activities while attempting to teach your dog the techniques listed on this blog. Please train responsibly.

Dachshund Certified Therapy Dog

If you follow along with my adventures on Facebook, then you probably already heard that on Sunday I became a Certified Therapy Dog! Yippee!

ammo the dachshund takes his cgc and tdi tests

For the past 6 weeks I have been taking classes at the Dog Training Center of Chester County to prepare to take my Canine Good Citizen and Therapy Dog International tests. One of my goals this year was to pass both tests and my Mom was super happy when I did so on my very first try!

As you can see in my testing video I was SUPER excited to be performing. What can I say, I’m just an overly happy guy! I may have forgotten a bit of my heeling a few times, but I was just so pumped to be meeting new people.

ludwigs corner horse show

One of the hardest parts of the Therapy Dog test is to walk past a pile of cookies and not eat them! Do you know how hard that is when your nose is 2″ off the ground!? I was very tempted to eat those cookies when I walked by them in the beginning of my test, but when my Mom said leave it I happily obliged and didn’t eat a single one. (Phew, close call, because mom said I would have failed had I eaten one).

ammo the dachshund valentines day treats

Even though I’ve passed my tests, my training will never be done. Mom and I continue to take agility classes and I know I’ll never stop learning and improving. I’m excited to see what comes next for me – I just hope that for any future tests they let me wear my Super Hero Cape – because we all know I look WAY cooler with my cape on!

ammo the dachshund super hero

If you would like to check out all the requirements to pass a CGC and TDI test, you can check it out here.

P.S. Thanks to all my pals on my Facebook page who congratulated me on passing my tests, you guys totally make me blush!

 

My Friend Leo

ammo the dachshund and his friend leo

Have I told you about my R.L. (that’s “real life”) Dachshund friend Leo?

ammo the dachshund and his friend leo

He lives down the street from mom’s shop and is a feisty 7 month old black and tan mini doxie dude! (Although I hear he won’t be a “real dude” for much longer – sorry pal).

ammo the dachshund and his friend leo

Arguably Leo is a lot younger than me (I’ve got 3 years on him), so I’ve decided to teach him the ways of the World. Don’t tell him I said so – but his hunting skills need a lot of work!

ammo the dachshund and his friend leo

I’ve got a lot of work ahead to make Leo into my sidekick.

ammo the dachshund and his friend leo

But I’m pretty sure with an excellent teacher like me he’ll have to turn out Super Awesome.

ammo the dachshund and his friend leo

Homework assignment #1 for Leo: Eat all of your veggies so that you can “leap tall buildings in a single bound” just like me!