# What sense of taste do Golden Retriever's have?



## Martin (Feb 21, 2011)

Humans also "taste" a great deal with their nose. As with dogs, they can taste sweet, bitter, sour, and salty. They can also taste umami, but I don't know if dogs can as well. However, food don't just have those flavors, and smell can out-rule the tongue. If you smell an onion and bite a potato, it will taste like an onion.

I find it odd that foods need to smell more strongly for an animal that has a better sense of smell. I would think they could go by on less scent rather than more. All the dogs I know do indeed like stinky things, foods that smell unpleasantly strong to me (though they also like some things with weak smells). So I don't doubt that dog food/treat manufactures are onto something with the strong smell; I just don't fully understand the mechanism.


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## RESCUE Dad (May 19, 2014)

When Teddy likes something he gives us what we call a "Snazola." He rubs his nose into the carpet covering with his paws, and kind of falls into his nose as his butt goes down. 

Olive Oil has excited the taste of chicken products, (which I am tired of also because my doctor took away beef). Teddy likes Avoderm and Natural Balance. The winners so far are duck and rabbit. It probably costs me an extra $10 a month, but at my age, food is one of the few pleasures I have left, why shouldn't Teddy enjoy the same. 

Main point is the two dog foods are ingredients are incredible for him. I did spreadsheets on dog food, and decided cheap dog food is like taking kids to MacDonald's every day, and then wondering why they get cancer.


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## Max's Dad (Apr 23, 2012)

I guess that sense of smell is why Max goes crazy for those salmon treats that just reek by my sense of smell.


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## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

I think it is so funny when the dog will eat goose or horse poop, but spit out Charlie Bear treats. They eat some pretty disgusting stuff. My dogs will all eat every flavor of Fromm, except Finn will NOT eat the Pork and Applesauce. Lushie will NOT eat Honest Kitchen Zeal, but Lush is the only one who will eat the supplement I want them all to have daily( Nature's Farmacy Newf Warrior Mix- Dogzymes Complete).


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## RESCUE Dad (May 19, 2014)

Recently, I heard that you should mix more water with your Golden's chow. Supposedly, it aids digestion rather than having the dog dump water into his stomach on top of eating. 

I have been giving Teddy 4 cups of food a day and 6 ounces of frozen/fresh veggies. His body is now nice and trim, and he dropped from 103 pounds last March to 84 pounds in September. RESCUE Teddy is only five years old. Now he can stand on his hind legs whenever he wants, and loves to run rather than sleep. It should also extend his life. It is not a fact yet, but there are suspicions that cancer (the first or second largest cause of death for Goldens depending on the study), may be linked to a lack of fresh vegetables. Commercial dog food cooks out the value of veggies, and, (as I understand it), just becomes another filler.

Teddy loves his stew of veggies with Salmon/Rabbit/Duck. With chicken, I have to flavor-enhance with olive oil and puree the vegetables in the blender. Olive oil, like Salmon oil pills keeps Teddy's coat silky smooth.


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## ssacres (Sep 29, 2012)

My girls love there vegetables and I feel it gives them some live food and enzymes. I plant a garden big enough so we can have organic vegetables most of the year. Do you puree the vegetables raw? My girls get raw at times but I do have to freeze a lot for winter. When I steam carrots for them they go crazy for the left over broth. I switch between coconut oil and olive oil. Got to do the best we can to keep them healthy and happy.


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## Melfice (Aug 4, 2012)

Rusty loves fruits, but I have not really tried vegetables yet. Also, I tried to feed him raw chicken wings and liver. He would not have anything to do with it.

As for the lack of vegetables in a dog's diet causing cancer...I don't think that is the case. Wolves don't go and eat vegetables, and they are designed for high amounts of meat. Now wolves do eat fruit in the wild, but I'm not sure about vegetables tho.

Anyway, our dogs are still a wolf even tho they are far removed from their wild kin. 

But, I'm more than willing to give my dogs some vegetables if they will eat them 

I always want to try and start cooking meals for my pups. Trying to leave dog food companies, and give them a much better food. Last Thanksgiving, I gave my pups a homemade dinner of turkey (boiled only), sweet potatoes and rice. Rusty threw it up after about 10 mins. The other two dogs were fine with their Thanksgiving dinner.


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