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Third, you should provide a rotation of foods that you might reasonably expect the dog's forever family to provide.
 
Third, you should provide a rotation of foods that you might reasonably expect the dog's forever family to provide.
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Here's what I mean: I, personally, am a dog food nut. I obsess over this stuff to the point of being a Saturday Night Live character. But most people are not that crazy. I cannot expect an adoptive family to go to similarly crazy lengths (although it did happen once, I'm pleasantly amazed to say). So when I have a foster dog, I rotate through the high-quality kibbles that can be purchased at PetSmart and PetCo, since those are the major retailers that most people can get to in our area, and I make notes about which kibbles seem to work the best for that particular mutt. Then I have some useful recommendations that the adopters might be willing to follow -- and I can be a little more confident that my foster dog won't spend the rest of her life eating Beneful.
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Here's what I mean: I, personally, am a dog food nut. I obsess over this stuff to the point of being a Saturday Night Live character. But most people are not that crazy. I cannot expect an adoptive family to start smashing up eggshells and buying organic calf livers for their dog (although it did happen once, I'm pleasantly amazed to say). So when I have a foster dog, I rotate through the high-quality kibbles that can be purchased at PetSmart and PetCo, since those are the major retailers that most people can get to in our area, and I make notes about which kibbles seem to work the best for that particular mutt. Then I have some useful recommendations that the adopters might be willing to follow -- and I can be a little more confident that my foster dog won't spend the rest of her life eating Beneful.
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== Finding A High-Quality Food ==
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== When to Feed ==
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So how do you identify a good, healthy food? It is exceedingly unlikely that you'll be able to find a high-quality food in a supermarket or big-box store; you will probably have to go to a specialty retailer or order online. Fortunately, even if you don't have a local pet supply store in your neighborhood, big chains like PetSmart and PetCo are rapidly expanding their stock of premium brands, and online retailers such as Amazon carry just about every good brand in the U.S. and Canada, so it's easier than it has ever been to obtain quality food.
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I'm a strong advocate of feeding dogs two regular meals a day, one in the morning and one in the evening, rather than allowing free access to food whenever they want. Feeding two regular meals makes it easier to prevent overeating, helps with house training (regular meals lead to regular poopy times), and allows you to see exactly how much your dog is eating. If your foster pup loses his appetite, you'll know right away -- no small consideration, given that foster dogs occasionally harbor illnesses that don't show up until after they arrive at your house. That doesn't happen often, but it's not something you want to miss when it does.
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Regular meals are also important because they help create a sense of routine for your foster pup. Dogs like routines. Letting your foster pup learn the rhythms of the household -- including more-or-less consistent breakfasts and dinners -- will help him gain a sense of security and stability. This doesn't mean you have to schedule dinner and breakfast for 6:30 on the dot, morning and night, but it ''does'' help to set general mealtimes that might vary within an hour or so each day.
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And, finally, regular meals are one of the primary ways that you can reinforce your foster pup's good manners and establish a quick, strong bond with the dog. I'll talk more about this in the [[Socializing]] and [[Training]] sections, but tasty meals are a powerful reward, and mealtimes are a golden training opportunity. It's a waste to give that up by free feeding your foster dog.
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== What to Feed ==
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I'm going to preface this section by saying that, while I feel strongly about the importance of feeding your dog a healthy diet, I also recognize that it's not always feasible for everyone to provide premium kibbles for all their dogs all the time, let alone nutritious home-cooked or raw diets. Premium kibble doesn't come cheap, dogs (especially underweight foster dogs) eat a ''lot'' of it, and money's tight in rescue. Donated food is frequently of types that I'd consider sub-optimal. But a lot of times, that's what there is, and as a result it may not be possible for you to follow the standards outlined below.
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If it ''is'' feasible, however, the best practice is to provide the highest-quality food you can afford. This will not be the same food for every dog. You will most likely have to experiment with several different brands and flavors to find one that seems to suit your foster pup. Please be aware that results in the first week or so can be misleading: foster pups often have stress-related indigestion and diarrhea, which may cause you to think that they're not doing well on a particular food when, in fact, it's just the stress of their long journey catching up with them.
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So how do you identify a good, healthy food? It is unlikely that you'll be able to find a high-quality food in a supermarket or big-box store; you will probably have to go to a specialty retailer or order online. Fortunately, even if you don't have a local pet supply store in your neighborhood, big chains like PetSmart and PetCo are rapidly expanding their stock of premium brands, and online retailers such as Amazon carry just about every good brand in the U.S. and Canada, so it's easier than it has ever been to obtain quality food.
    
Don't rely on the price tag to tell you what foods are good. While there aren't any good cheap foods, there are some crappy expensive foods (hello, Science Diet!). Read the label and the ingredients list carefully.
 
Don't rely on the price tag to tell you what foods are good. While there aren't any good cheap foods, there are some crappy expensive foods (hello, Science Diet!). Read the label and the ingredients list carefully.
 
* '''Look for whole vegetables, fruits, and easily digestible grains.''' Again: simple labels are the best. "Carrots" and "apples" are good; "corn gluten meal" is bad (it is essentially the refuse left over by the milling of corn meal and the extraction of corn syrup -- i.e., another garbage ingredient). Grains are a little trickier, as not all grains are equal in dog food. Barley, oats, and rice are fine for most dogs. Corn, wheat, and soy are indicators of low-quality dog food.
 
* '''Look for whole vegetables, fruits, and easily digestible grains.''' Again: simple labels are the best. "Carrots" and "apples" are good; "corn gluten meal" is bad (it is essentially the refuse left over by the milling of corn meal and the extraction of corn syrup -- i.e., another garbage ingredient). Grains are a little trickier, as not all grains are equal in dog food. Barley, oats, and rice are fine for most dogs. Corn, wheat, and soy are indicators of low-quality dog food.
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* '''Avoid "byproducts," "digests," and unspecified ingredients like "animal fat."''' A heavy reliance on "byproducts" is a surefire indication of a low-quality food. That's slaughterhouse waste. Not only is that a substandard ingredient in and of itself, but "byproducts" are often handled sloppily -- they aren't kept clean and cold, and are thus more likely to be contaminated with things you don't want your dog eating. A "digest" is even worse -- that's just chemically- and heat-treated "materials" (the FDA doesn't require them to be specified) used to create a meaty ''flavor'' with zero actual meat content. As for deliberately vague labels like "animal fat," that encompasses everything from rendered roadkill to the remains of euthanized shelter pets... yes, other dogs and cats who suffered the same fate your own foster pup narrowly escaped. Please avoid these ingredients. The "food" in that bag is literally garbage.
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* '''Avoid "byproducts," "digests," and unspecified ingredients like "animal fat."''' A heavy reliance on "byproducts" is a surefire indication of a low-quality food. That's slaughterhouse waste. Not only is that a substandard ingredient in and of itself, but "byproducts" are often handled sloppily, and are thus more likely to be contaminated with things you don't want your dog eating. A "digest" is even worse -- that's just chemically- and heat-treated "materials" (the FDA doesn't require them to be specified) used to create a meaty ''flavor'' with zero actual meat content. As for deliberately vague labels like "animal fat," that encompasses everything from rendered roadkill to the remains of euthanized shelter pets... yes, other dogs and cats who suffered the same fate your own foster pup narrowly escaped. Please avoid these ingredients. The "food" in that bag is literally garbage.
  
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