Training treats?
 

We are trying to find the training treat that works best for our pup. So far, we have noticed that treats are often larger, and require a bit of chewing (and then looking for the crumbs and such), which interupts the flow of the already short training sessions.

The things that work best for us so far are freeze-dried liver broken into smaller pieces, or kibble. Today we found out that non-salted smoked salmon is an ultimate treat too. She's getting less interested in the kibble (Orijen large pup) because we're feeding her raw, and she seems to consider kibble 'inferior' or less preferable. We have also tried freeze-dried chicken (crumbles too easily, so not easy to take along in a pouch) and Evo treats (too large, need to be broken up, takes away from the speed of praise by food). The salmon was very easy to break up into the 'slices' of fish meat, and she just looooves it. But yeah - kinda pricey!

What do you use for training treats for pups? Why do you use that particular one? What could you recommend for us?

I use small pieces of cut up fruit, specifically frozen raspberries and blueberries. I don't put very much fruit or veg in the RAW meals I serve twice a day, so I use training as an opportunity to do this.

I personally don't use treats to train puppies for my own personal reasons, but what about some cheese cut into little tiny cubes? (Just make sure you switch it up because too much cheese isn't great for them.)

Or you could use carrots. Sliced up, these make a great healthy snack for dogs. :thumbs up

We don't use them much either - we prefer love/praise or a little bit of play to 'celebrate' the behaviour. But now, at 15 weeks, we're asking for a slightly longer attention span. Bo is very food-driven, not very prey-driven, and the lessons we're using it for are for instance 'heel' and 'follow'. But 'follow' doesn't work very well if we need to stop so she can crunch on something, or if I need to use two hands to break a treat into smaller sections.

Pup doesn't have very much interest in fruit/veggies as treats; she doesn't mind them if they're mixed in with her food. She likes the occasional blackberry or piece of plum, but it doesn't motivate her to the point of strong focus like the salmon did. Maybe it's an aquired taste? (Or I just have a rags to riches pup?)

The cheese sounds like a good 'special' treat. I'll definitely give that a try. :D

Keep 'm coming!

My dogs LOVE these:

[url]http://www.zukes.com/woof/mini-naturals.html[/url]

Those look perfect Chaser - I'll see if I can find those! I love that they're no grain, no corn, no filler. Thanks!

Just looked at their retailer thingy on the website, and I can get them pretty locally. :D

[QUOTE=Marcha;822418]Those look perfect Chaser - I'll see if I can find those! I love that they're no grain, no corn, no filler. Thanks!

Just looked at their retailer thingy on the website, and I can get them pretty locally. :D[/QUOTE]

Hoped you'd like them. Very good quality.....and the peanut butter ones actually smell good so your hands won't stink like meat! :thumbs up

I use the one's that Chaser posted. They're very small and don't leave crumbs. Plus, they're peanut butter. Jack loves them.

Thanks Jazzy, glad to hear a second voice on them. :) I like that they don't leave crumbs too!

We've used the Zuke's mini naturals too and I like them. I've also used cheese and something that's a super cheap soft treat is hot dogs. You can usually get a package of chicken wieners for about $1-$1.50 and slice them up into little bite-sized pieces. I don't normally feed treats like that now, but when I was doing agility lessons with Lightning I used the hot dogs.

Thanks Gail! I'd be worried that the hot dogs have too high a nitrate/sodium level... is that a misconception? Or is it that they're not getting enough of the hot dog that it's something to worry about?

Hot dogs are definitley high in sodium, but - it won't hurt your puppy if they're few and far between. I generally try to remember the general rule "high in protien, low in salt" for the human food treats I feed my gang and even for some of your average packaged treats made specifically for dogs. What about some hard boiled egg, not the yolk but the whites, cut also into cubes like the cheese? Again, you'll have to try these out and see what your puppy likes, but if he's interested in salmon, he may also like the taste of the egg. :thumbs up

(And of course my favorite treat, lavish with affection and praise!! It's low in fat,calories, and doesn't cost anything! heehee! Okay, yes, I'm cheesie.)

I find either plain cooked chicken in tiny bits or grainfree cat kibbles one at a time to be the easiest training treats. I take leftover chicken, cut it up tiny and freeze it--so I usually have little packages of "treats" available. There is not much packaged as treats that I like, and if I won't eat hotdogs, I won't feed them to my dogs either--somehow seems wrong.:laughing:

For long walks away from the fridge, the cat kibble in a pocket is great for recall training!

I use any of the suggestions above depending on the dog and the situation, including the Zukes. However, check the price per pound of any store bought treat and then compare to a cheap cut of beef or pork. Outside round was $1.66/pound, C$, a few months ago and I bought the smallest roast I could, which was 15 lbs. Cooked it up, cut it into little bits and still have several freezer bags left. No preservatives or additives, just pure beef. It was surprisingly good too, we ate a bit ourselves. As someone else said, I found chicken crumbles too easily. I use the roast beef frozen, it thaws quickly enough in my treat pack and I put unused bits back in the freezer, until they get too grungy. In my cost comparison I did not include the cost of cooking. I now find myself very attractive to the neighbourhood dogs. :)

These are all great ideas! Thank you so much! :D

Feelgood Treat Co. from BC also has some great dry treats [url]http://www.feelgoodtreatco.com/drytreats.htm[/url] as well as frozen ones :)

Thanks Growler, I think I've seen these at our preferred pet store. I'll have a good look at them next time I'm there. :D

I'm also a fan of zuke's. I only use treats when training for agility things, and he will do anything for a zukes! Plus I like the ingredients, and they are easy to cut up, with no crumby mess.

Yay! I found a store that sells Zukes within walking distance of the house. They're not all that pricey either. I was pleasantly surprised. We're taking along the zukes to puppy training this evening. :D Thanks for the recommendations, everyone!

I'm a bad mom, I used cashews (ultimate treat for brina), cut up weinners and cheese curds

Let us know how it goes Marcha!

I just tried these and Dweezil seems to like them; i'm not great at knowing what is good and what isn't for ingredients but it didn't look that bad to me and they are made in Canada [url]http://www.waggerspetproducts.com/rockymountain.php[/url]

I think training treats are just like treats for us. anything is ok as long as it is in moderation and there are no allergy issues.
Just like you would not want your kid living on mars bars or mcd's food, you would not want training treats to be a major part of their diet.
So use whatever works for your furbaby IMHO

Melei's favorites are frozen peas and bits of lowsodium tostitos.
I also use those soft treats like snausages or bacon strips and I cut them into little bitty peices and put some in a ziplock baggie for training treats on the go.

That's exactly my thoughts about it Melei's Mom. We're not a very 'treaty' family though, so our tolerance for what constitutes treats is rather limited. For my boys, having a slice of cheese, a strip of fried bacon, a boiled egg, a handful of cucumber or carrot is as pleasing and rewarding as a lollipop or a bag of chips (they often leave the sweet stuff half-eaten too). My oldest son and I don't like cakes and pastry (though we love whipped cream, even though we're slightly lactose intolerant) but we love fresh fruit pies. My youngest son is in heaven when he gets feta with capers or olives to school. None of us like wiener sausages or hot dogs (but we love salami) so perhaps that is part of my reluctance toward wieners. We don't have any ideological issues with treats (we're not religious about it), it's just a personal preference and taste.

I will definitely try the frozen peas. We always have some - for our goldfish, who eats them as part of its diet instead of commercial flakes :laughing:

Next time I have bacon in the house I'll see how Bodhi responds to that as a treat. Thanks for the tips!

Home made liver cake. My pup with do cartwheels for the stuff!!

500 g liver
half bag of any flour/ own choice if dogs has allergies
2 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of oil

cook the liver in a pan with garlic then blend until puree with meat juices
add flour and oil
oil a microve dish
cook till firm usually about 6 mins - watch it though!

turn out and cool and chop into as small ot large training treats as needed. This lasts ages and cam be frozen.

you can do this with tinned tuna or any meat

[QUOTE=zoohotel;825655]Home made liver cake. My pup with do cartwheels for the stuff!!

500 g liver
half bag of any flour/ own choice if dogs has allergies
2 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of oil

cook the liver in a pan with garlic then blend until puree with meat juices
add flour and oil
oil a microve dish
cook till firm usually about 6 mins - watch it though!

turn out and cool and chop into as small ot large training treats as needed. This lasts ages and cam be frozen.

you can do this with tinned tuna or any meat[/QUOTE]


Sounds good but what size bag of flour are you talking about? :shrug: Half a bag of the smallest size is vastly different than a large bag.

Its a 2lb bag i use but as long as the mixure is a thick paste it works so dont worry about measurements.Slightly softer than bread dough :)

Thanks for the tip zoohotel. :)

My 3-year-old works well for the Zuke's treats and I highly recommend them. They seem to have high quality ingredients and don't cause allergy issues with my girl. We started a beginning agility class this week and she was drooling for her Zukes. I will say though, the group before me left a "Beggin' Strip" on the A-frame and Cass got it and seemed in heaven. In fact, she bolted up that A-frame each time in pure optimism that she would find another one.;) Some of the "traditional" pet-store quality treats are about the equivalent of a Pop-Tart. OK in very small amounts, but not something you would want to give every day.

I also like the soft Pampered Pet treats
[url]http://pamperedpett999.corecommerce.com/Premium-Dog-Cookies-c2/[/url]
These are a round (about 1 inch size) soft cookie. For training I cut them in 1/4 but my pooch is small. We've tried the Pumpkin and the Peanut Butter flavors. You can mail order from Drs. Smith and Foster or Amazon.

I hope it isn't bad that she is so food obsessed. I do praise her like crazy when training, but I always feel she is sniffing the air to see if I have a treat for her.

Old thread but hey..I really like Rollovers. I buy the chicken ones, they're around $4 here. I can slice off pieces and then cut them into small pieces. Bayley really likes them. I also use it to stuff her Kong.