Caretakers sometimes tend to give too much affection and attention to those who are seeking their care. This may apply to dogs, cats, children, or anyone else requiring special help. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it can lead to adverse behavior that is difficult to manage, especially as they get older. Owners of pets are much better off bringing up their dogs correctly and teaching them discipline to avoid stress down the road. The earlier in dogs’ lives rules are set, the smaller the chances of the dog becoming spoiled. Here are five reasons to avoid spoiling your dog with gifts.

1.  Your Dog will not respond to your Commands

Having a dog who does as he pleases without listening to the owner is not only annoying, it can be dangerous. Obedience training with gifts or treats provides dogs the necessary skills to obey their owner. If a dog is overwhelmed with treats or gifts with no positive reasoning behind it, they have a smaller chance of realizing good behavior from bad behavior. Training dogs is critical when it comes to creating a healthy relationship with your dog and ensuring that he or she is a socially compatible pet. Using treats only to teach and reinforce the basic elements of training, such as sit, stay, down, heel, and come help create a dog that will respond to the owner’s commands.

5 Reasons To Avoid Spoiling Your Dog With Gifts

2.  Misbehaves Around Guests

Dogs taught with gifts or treats to lie down when visitors arrive are more likely to be seen as a welcomed member of the family. They are less likely to be isolated from people. If a dog is spoiled too much with gifts or treats to not realize this is an important thing, then their manners become bad, as they are expectant or gifts no matter what their behavior is towards house guests.

3.  Begs at the Dinner Table

If your dog is constantly granted the gift of human food, they will always expect to be given food during a mealtime. Having a begging dog is annoying at best, and can be distracting to guests and even disrupting. If your dog is expecting to be able to eat anything you do, there is no stopping them from jumping on tables or helping themselves to food that is within their reach. This can also lead to the loss of your meal if your back is turned to the dog and he or she sees the food, expecting it to be theirs.

4.  Growls or Bites when you or a Guest Touches his things

A dog who is constantly spoiled with treats or gifts will come to believe that everything belongs to them. With that understanding, they get possessive over their things and try to protect their belongings. This can lead to violent behavior towards people who may be threatening something that a dog believes belongs to him.

5.  Obesity

A dog who is given treats too often may develop health problems. Treats are meant to be just that – a treat as a reward for good behavior. They are not meant to be given at every time of day, which therefore adds calories to the dog’s diet on a daily basis. Too many treats is not healthy for dogs and their weight, so it is important to keep them on an as-needed basis.

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