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Old September 4th, 2009, 06:04 PM
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Marcha Marcha is offline
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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?
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Old September 4th, 2009, 06:31 PM
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Macomom Macomom is offline
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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.
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Old September 4th, 2009, 06:54 PM
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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.
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Old September 4th, 2009, 07:28 PM
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Marcha Marcha is offline
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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.

Keep 'm coming!
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Old September 4th, 2009, 07:41 PM
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My dogs LOVE these:

http://www.zukes.com/woof/mini-naturals.html
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Old September 4th, 2009, 07:48 PM
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Marcha Marcha is offline
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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.

Last edited by Marcha; September 4th, 2009 at 07:52 PM. Reason: to add that I found where I can get them.
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