"human" food

I need your expert opinions on this.

Feeding your dog "human" food is bad for your dog. Myth or fact?

Because my boyfriend goes completely b*tchy whenever I give Alexa anything other than dog food.

I see people on here feeding their dogs things like carrots, yogurt, pumpkin, etc. So I'm confused. All these people (including my local dog groomer/pet shop owner) get all mad at me whenever I give my pup anything other than dog food and special dog treats and all that.

But isn't good quality dog food make with pure ingredients like that anyway?

What do you guys think?

It is perfectly fine to feed your dog "human" food.

Obviously do not feed your dinner with sauces and fry or anything on it. However, I give my dogs chicken, salmon, tilapia, yams, ground beef and turkey, steak, veggies, etc. Some people feed only "human" food and if you are feeding a high quality dog food it is human grade anyway.

Just make sure if you are going to feed human food a lot, you ensure the dog is getting the right amounts of everything and not overdoing the calories.

Elissa

Kay, cuz I've been making her little 'stew' type things. With chicken, beef, veggies, etc. and she loves it. But people are yelling at me for it, and just grrr. Since I've been doing that, she's actually been gaining weight, which is awesome, cuz she was real skinny.

"Human food" is what dogs need! Healthy stuff though like meat, veggies etc. Feed clean whole foods, not junk food. It's a total myth that dogs should only get kibble. Variety in a dog's diet is a more natural way of eating and so called human food is better for them anyway. Heck you could cook for your dog and never feed kibble and you would have one healthy dog - you would just need to learn how to do it properly.

Tell your boyfriend he's lucky to have someone who takes such good care of both him and the dog

Have they read the ingredients on a bag of dog food lately? Chicken, various grains, vitamin supplements.
I'm no expert but the jist of what I've read and learned from people like Mordy is that food is food-- you can eat junk or healthy food, same goes for the dog. The only thing about "dog food" is that it's cooked and preserved in the form of kibble so that it can sit in a bag for a year and not go bad. That in itself comes at a price. The other thing people get hung up on is dog food being "totally balanced" as if dogs need the exact same amount of everything at every meal. Gimme a break. Is every meal you eat perfectly balanced and exactly the same? The only party who benefits from that is the dog food company.
It's great to supplement you dogs diet with fresh food, pulped or cooked veggies, meat, yogurt, salmon etc. As the other poster mentioned you can avoid high fat stuff, sugar and salt just as you do with your own diet. If you are going to go to a totally homecooked diet you do need to know what your doing and make sure the dog is getting the right balance of certain nutrients but I don't even think that is as difficult as people think.

It is great to give your dog healthy food! I always give mine fruits, veggies, and meat

Sam is absolutely right - it really depends whether you give the dog pizza crusts, hamburgers, potato chips and other junk food, or leftover meats and veggies that actually have nutritional value.

Keep in mind that commercial dog food hasn't been around for all that long yet, especially kibble has only really been widely available and affordable since after WW2, but people have owned dogs for hundreds of years.

The first dog foods sold commercially were canned horse meat and dry, hard biscuits, even that has only been around since the late 1800s and at the time was mostly fed by dog breeders, not by pet owners.

The pet food industry has grown into a multi-billion dollar a year business, so of course they are going to put much of their energy into brainwashing people that anything not "especially made for dogs" is bad and will kill your dog.