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Training treat suggestions

7K views 19 replies 18 participants last post by  JunYue97 
#1 ·
Hi,
I am looking for advice on what is the best for treat training. Currently I am using packets bought at the local pet store but to much of them couldn't be good. Any ideas/ suggestions would be appreciated.

Stephen.
 
#2 ·
I like red barn food rolls. Of the food rolls I have tried it seems to have the best consistency once you have diced it for training, meaning it doesnt crumble or turn to mush as bad as some others I have tried. I will dice it and put it in ziplocks and freeze and whole mess of them and then just take them out day by day as needed. It is a complete food so you can substitute for some of your pup's daily rations if you are using a lot of food in training.
 
#3 ·
Hi Stephen,

How old is your dog? I ask because mine is still a puppy, 15 weeks. I can get away with just his regular dry kibble for the most part. I have just started to train 'stay' and for that have introduced a higher value treat, Stewart's Liver treats, I have used both chicken and turkey, and break into small bits. My recommendation would be to use his kibble for as long as you can still get him to work and only go to higher value treats for the harder stuff.

If he is an adult dog, you might not be able to get away with that.

Lorraine and Cairo
 
#5 ·
Depends on the dog!

Generally, use something decently healthy but a small piece of something your dog will "work" for. The piece has to be small enough that the dog can eat it quickly and continue with training. Not too small, or they lose interest.

But some real life examples:
I had one dog who would eat anything - I could use bits of apple, carrot, etc. as a reward. So with him I tried to use a variety of (healthy) foods to keep his interest, as having something new to eat was also motivating to him.

A few of my dogs have been picky, so I then have to base my choices on what they will work for.

My puppy goes insane by just using kibble for training treats (for now)!

Generally with my dogs I use a fancy kibble for most training - I buy one of the Orijen sample bags and use that. For my puppies, I just use their food with a random jackpot of a bit of meat so that I can generally not mess up their nutrition too badly. Or at least I think I'm helping :|

Small pieces of meat are pretty high up for most dogs. I try to keep an eye on the sodium content though.
 
#8 ·
Ziwipeak dog food. It's an air dried raw diet that's 95% meat and organ. Instead of being a kibble it is like little pieces of jerky (think the healthy version of pupperoni texture wise). The pieces are PERFECT sized for training. Its a complete diet so you can feed a bunch. As training treats it is WAY more cost effective then the treats they sell at the store.

I also like K9 natural freeze dried green lamb tripe. It's pieces I feel need to be broken in half to be training sized - but a really good high value reward.

My guy is also find of blue berries and mango. I sometimes buy freeze dried blue berries to mix in his treat bag.

And of course just good old cooked meat lol.
 
#16 ·
We've used this too, with good success. The only issue is that the small pieces crumble something awful. They are high value and I don't worry about them causing stomach upset, so they do make it into my rotation.

For just at home: String cheese is great, as is cheddar, but both lose their luster when they travel (and because I face an hour in the car to get to training, they're out of the fridge for a pretty long time). Same with bits of chicken or steak.

The dog also likes Sojos (freeze dried meat, single ingredient). They travel okay, not wonderful, but at home they are good.

For durability, I've really liked Wellness Wellbites. They're soft squares that you can pull apart, and they travel very well. They do get a little hard if they're out of the bag for awhile, but if you pop them back in with the rest and reseal the bag, that helps.

We use hot dogs or turkey pepperoni cut into tiny pieces for Nosework. She doesn't get either type of treat at any other time.
 
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