# Training treat suggestions



## Stephens (Aug 31, 2016)

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.


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## Thecowboysgirl (Nov 30, 2006)

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.


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## Lorrie (Jun 13, 2016)

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


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## cdwoodcox (Jul 4, 2015)

I use anything I can find that is freeze dried and has 1 ingredient. Liver, tripe, lung, etc...


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## Irie (Aug 31, 2016)

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.


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

The most creative one I had was a friend who used rabbit poo. Her dog was not food motivated but loved that stuff


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## Stephens (Aug 31, 2016)

She is 12 weeks old and the kibble doesn't really get her interested. I was thinking some chicken cut into small pieces. Pic below Sadie.


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## voodoolamb (Jun 21, 2015)

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.


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## maxtmill (Dec 28, 2010)

I have just learned to make beef jerky in my dehydrator, so I will be making some dried beef strips for training treats, cut into tiny pieces. My dog is not very food motivated, and turns away from bits of hot dogs, etc.


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## zetti (May 11, 2014)

We use Natural Balance cut into small pieces. The dogs love the stuff.


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## Stephens (Aug 31, 2016)

I've been messing around with different treats and she absolutely loves cheese, will just about do anything for it.

Would cheese be OK say every second or third day?


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## Dunkirk (May 7, 2015)

I cut up a cheese slice into 36 little squares into a ziplock bag. I weigh raw mince into ziplock bags, and chopped up kabana.


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## gsdluvr (Jun 26, 2012)

Stephens said:


> I've been messing around with different treats and she absolutely loves cheese, will just about do anything for it.
> 
> Would cheese be OK say every second or third day?


String cheese is a very handy treat. You can do some lured heeling and let her bite off pieces from the long piece.


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## Slamdunc (Dec 6, 2007)

String cheese works well as a training treat.


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## kast2L (Aug 23, 2016)

I personally use chicken breast, boil em, cut em up, my mali loves em


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## WateryTart (Sep 25, 2013)

zetti said:


> We use Natural Balance cut into small pieces. The dogs love the stuff.


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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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

FreshPet Vital nuggets. It's not as saltly as the rolls and already in the right size for training.


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## cloudpump (Oct 20, 2015)

Dried chicken liver, chicken, and string cheese.


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## GatorDog (Aug 17, 2011)

Redbarn, natural balance, blue buffalo, or happy howies food rolls, or boiled chicken breast.


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## JunYue97 (Aug 17, 2016)

Raw meat works the best for my pup.


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