Can Diet Affect a Dog’s Behaviour?

In the same way that a poorly balanced diet lacking in adequate nutrition can make humans feel sluggish and tired, food that doesn’t properly nourish dogs can cause them to deviate from natural dog behaviour.

Although there is a lack of significant research around this topic, leading vets, breeders, behaviourists, and groomers have observed a direct correlation between poor quality dog food and behaviour problems.

Read on to learn more about the connection between dog diet and behaviour.

How Does Nutrition and Diet Impact Dog Behaviour?

Every metabolic process and cell in the body, brain and nervous system depends on the right nutrition to function correctly – if the central nervous system and brain aren’t performing as they should, it’s no wonder that a dog’s behaviour will be affected.

Here are a few common behavioural problems your dog might experience as a result of a poor diet.

Rancid Fats and Dog Behaviour

Processed bags of kibble go stale after a week or two and the fats within the food become rancid and toxic. This is why you may have noticed your dog loses its appetite for kibble halfway through the bag.

Rancid fats’ toxicity reaches every cell in the body, impacting energy production and contributing to premature cell-ageing, including in brain cells.

High Hydrolysed Protein Diet and Dog Behaviour

The protein in processed dog food is hydrolysed, a process which causes chains of amino acids to be broken down into single amino acids. On the surface this can seem like a good thing as it means the amino acids can be absorbed more easily by the digestive system, however, this does mean more of the amino acid glutamate is absorbed.

Glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter, an abundance of which can cause excitable behaviour, poor focus and volatility in dogs.

High Carbohydrate Diet and Dog Behaviour

Processed foods typically contain large quantities of carbohydrates like wheat, corn or corn meals which cause dogs’ blood sugar levels to spike. This leads to extreme hyperactivity for some time, followed by a period of lethargy as the body attempts to compensate for the imbalance.

Processed dog foods that contain a lower ratio of protein to carbohydrates also result in lower levels of tryptophan which means less serotonin and melatonin are produced to calm dogs down.

Raw Feeding and Dog Behaviour

As we’ve explored throughout this article, processed and poorly balanced dog food and behaviour problems go hand in hand.

A dog’s natural diet would consist of raw meat in the wild which is what their bodies are geared towards digesting. Many dog owners are able to bypass common behavioural issues by switching to raw feeding, as it means their dogs are avoiding excess carbohydrates, hydrolysed protein and other unhealthy additives.

Some more benefits of feeding dogs balanced a raw diet include:

• Cleaner teeth from chewing bones
• Better smelling breath
• Glossier coat
• Firmer, less smelly stools
• More balanced energy levels
• Stronger immune system

Raw Dog Food from Kiezebrink

At Kiezebrink, we supply a wide range of high-quality raw dog food products to customers across the UK. All of our raw food is either made by ourselves or sourced from our reliable, accredited suppliers, using the best ingredients possible.

Visit our FAQ page to learn more about how a varied raw diet benefits dogs or get in touch with us for any other queries you may have.