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Great training treats?

4K views 35 replies 25 participants last post by  24kgsd 
#1 ·
Anyone have any recipes or names of fabulous/can't miss training treats? Nyxie is not motivated enough by what I have tried so far. I need to get her to do faster "downs" and the food I've been using is just not yummy enough to make her drop to the floor.

I've tried: dried chicken/duck/salmon, Bil Jac, hot dogs (plain and with cheese in it), turkey slices, cheese cubes. I would have thought she would be all over one of these things but nope. She likes them but they do not excite her - and I need her to be more excited!
 
#13 ·
My dog is nuts for Pupperoni, it is easy to break up into small pieces.
 
#3 ·
What about not using food all the time and mixing up the reward with a tug or ball?
Build the drive, don't reward her til she does the command quicklike!
Leerburg | Streaming Video

I use natural balance rolls, string cheese and cooked chicken~ my dog is hungry when we train and has huge food drive. I still mix up the toys and treats.
 
#10 ·
I use natural balance rolls
These can be found at Petco or PetSmart or probably any other pet store. Pimg goes absolutely crazy over cubed pieces of them. They are much higher value for her than even hotdogs.

I agree with others though. If the dog isn't food motivated, then try different toys. In my very strict agility school (seriously- there are all kinds of crazy rules), they had no problem with me bringing a tug and playing tug with her during class. And Pimg is definitely the biggest, "scariest" dog at the school. Most of them have little agility dogs like Shelties and are clearly a bit weary of my GSD next to their little toy dog. Anyway- point being- your obedience school may not have a problem at all with you bringing a toy to class to use as a reward.
 
#5 ·
She eats twice a day and I don't feed her the evening meal when it's a training class night, but she still just doesn't act all enthusiastic in class about her food (nor at home). She has a couple favorite toys that I may try. She's been acting so comatose and sleepy (or bored maybe?) in the last few training classes even though I make sure not to overdo or work her that day. Tonight she nearly fell asleep on the down stay! The sit stay turned into a down nearly every time that I tried tonight. Maybe the class was boring her to sleep!
 
#6 ·
I think some dogs do get bored with obedience. Use a toy that is high value for training only, that may help. And act like a fool with it to engage her!
 
#9 ·
Lakota doesn't usually have enthusiasm and sometimes she is in slow motion.
How about steak? I use london broil, slice & cut into small pieces a little bigger than pea size. If you concider the price of designer treats its a lot cheaper.
When I make liver brownies, the dogs go crazy for them. They stink up the house when your baking them but my dogs would do cartwheels for them.
 
#12 ·
Karlo isn't a fan of hot dogs, either....he would leave them on the track when I used them as bait. I've recently bought a bag of the charlie bear cookies. At training, my instructor had some and Karlo took them from her readily...now when I use them he hacks and acts like he doesn't like em. I'll just use them randomly to add variety.
I wish the bil-jac frozen was available in MI, the dogs do love that stinky stuff.
 
#15 ·
Yeah, the Natural Balance rolls are like doggy crack. I would also try switching to a favorite toy, and only let her have it when you are training (make it lots of fun!).
 
#18 ·
Anyone have any recipes or names of fabulous/can't miss training treats? Nyxie is not motivated enough by what I have tried so far. I need to get her to do faster "downs" and the food I've been using is just not yummy enough to make her drop to the floor.

I've tried: dried chicken/duck/salmon, Bil Jac, hot dogs (plain and with cheese in it), turkey slices, cheese cubes. I would have thought she would be all over one of these things but nope. She likes them but they do not excite her - and I need her to be more excited
Did her food drive just decrease recently? I thought this pup was food motivated? Or at least that's the impression I got from the other thread?

Have your tried liver? Steak?
 
#19 ·
When I know I'm going to be training or showing that day my dogs get a much smaller breakfast.
 
#20 ·
I was very disappointed to find that the Natural Balance rolls, except for the duck and potato, all have WHEAT. I thought the company in general had the no wheat/soy/corn thing going. Hank can't do grains. The duck and potato I found to be very crumbly.

Just my two cents. :)
 
#21 ·
i use green beans for Dodgers high value treats, other than that I use freeze dried liver pieces, and/or Wellness treats cut in to fourths
 
#22 ·
Really? Dodger values green beans? Are they canned or frozen? That is great!
I wish my dogs would eat veggies like that. I toss carrots and make a big deal out of them, I just found one on the floor that one dog decided she didn't want! Banana's were yummy, now not so much. Because I have parrots, the dogs do compete to hoover the floor around their cages, so they eat the tossings of fruit and veggies. But to eat them while training is a whole nuther thing;)
 
#24 ·
haha they're canned I haven't tried fresh ones yet. He goes gaga over them anytime I pull a can out of the pantry he runs over thinking it's the green beans. He will do almost anything for a green bean, sadly it doesn't work on cats (snacks) though.
 
#23 ·
Steph, that's funny about the green beans! I decided to try it with Saber, gave her one cooked green bean. She is treating it like a toy, carrying it around with it sticking out of her mouth, throwing it in the air, spitting it around... lol.
 
#25 ·
haha that's funny, when I give him green beans in his dinner (not very often) he saves them for last like he's savoring them it's funny
 
#26 ·
She was/is - she loved the hot dogs but then I guess got tired of them so I've been switching it up trying to get her amped up more. She'll still do what I want for a treat but she is SO slow about it. Hoping finding the right treat will get her more speedy! I just need to find something to get her more excited about it and faster about doing it.
 
#27 ·
a mixture works too. sometimes i'll use a mixture of freeze dried liver, chicken, and kibble so he never knows what he's gonna get
 
#28 ·
Minka has a moderate food drive so I have to change up treats frequently because she gets bored with treats easily. I don't feed her the morning of training when I plan on using food. Actually, she is the type of puppy that sometimes doesn't even eat all of her breakfast or dinner, most of the time.

On Ted Turner's DVD "the ABC's of behavior blah blah blah" meaning I don't remember the entire name, he mentions mixing treats of various value together. The anticipation works the same as a random reinforcement schedule in that the dog will think "maybe next time my favorite will be presented."

But when I introduce a new behavior I always use her highest value treat and so far that remains canned Wellness Puppy food! Yep, she only gets this when I need to pull out the big guns. Fatty Ham cubes are a close second.

I have a leather ball holder that slips on a belt that fits the dog food can perfectly! So I can wear the can and just dig in with my finger. Only thing is remember to file down that tiny metal sliver that almost always occurs when you open a can with a can opener or you'll end up cutting yourself.

Minka is fetch crazy so I use that to build drive once she knows a behavior. And I use life rewards all the time. Before she can go outside, she has to do a heel position, on the left or right or she has to focus on my eyes, whatever, etc.

Tugging is incorporated during agility along with the mixed bag of treats. A squeaky ball, a tug, and a mixed bag of treats is used for obedience done outside of the outdoor fetching game (where I use a chuck-it and obedience and focus are always worked in.) If she is fetching, food barely draws her interest.
 
#30 ·
don't laugh at this one....

the highest value food I have ever seen with my dogs - all of them!!! is Brie cheese moldy rind!!!

They go into St Bernard mode if I get any out - drool a river!!!! I taught Kyra the dumbbells and send out with this for the reward!

Lee
 
#31 ·
A few weeks ago I managed to get a bull calf for cheap and when we went to training last weekend I used some veal~I blanched it (I think that is what it is called....drop into boiling water for a minute). Cool and bag it up. Nadia did her best ever track and Zisso was exceptionally well behaved during OB....all for the veal! It was super stinky and did the trick for us! I also made friends with a ACD that does not like people with it.
 
#32 ·
these are some of the brands of treats i've used:
> Pro Treats, freeze dried liver
> Pro Treats, Raw naturals
> Fruitables
> Darford Holistic
> Zuke's
> Instinct
> kibble (what ever i was feeding at the time)
> raw ground
> cooked boneless and skinless chicken breast
> Asian pears
> left over steak
> sometimes it was praise only and petting
 
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