Healthy Training Treats For Puppy?

[nigwheats]

What kind of treats would be good to use for training a 9 week old pup? I hear squeeze cheese,yet I would think that wouldn't be very good for a pup.
Any suggestions on healthy pup treats?

[laurlitt]

I like to use Natural Balance Meat Rolls... or the Roll Over Brand. This comes in a 1lb, 2.5lb, or 4lb roll (looks like large sausage) and you can cut it up into small (jelly bean) sized treats. These products are soft like hot dogs but with much better nutritional value. When I train my dog and feed him a lot of treats, I don't feel bad w/ what's going inside his belly. They really like hot dogs, but I thinks that just crap!!!

I just got my 7 week old puppy and have yet to try out any training yet...

Good Luck.

[BarryMcD]

> nigwheats wrote:
> What kind of treats would be good to use for training a 9 week old pup?
>I hear squeeze cheese, yet I would think that wouldn't be very good for a pup.
> Any suggestions on healthy pup treats?

Cheese is not the best treat for a pup. especially for a large breed pup. because large breed puppies should have a low calcium diet to prevent and minimize a variety of bone problems that can be caused by too much calcium--including hip dysplasia later in life. You should avoid any calcium rich treats or supplements (yogurt, milk, etc.) in large breed pups!

I do clicker training, which uses a lot of rewards, and here is my personal secret for rewarding pups:

Buy some jars of pure meat baby food. The pure meat varieties will sometimes say "beef and broth" or "lamb and broth." The broth is OK, but make sure you get pure meat, not a mixture of other foods with the meat.

When you train, take one of theses small jars of meat baby food (tiny and convenient to carry) and leave the top off it. Each time you want to reward, dip your finger into the jar and just get a tiny dab of the baby food on the tip of your finger.

Advantages of this method:

-Although those tiny jars of a good brand of baby food are not cheap, you will get so many rewards out of one jar, that it will work out to be much cheaper than just about any other food treat.

-Human-quality food assures that the food is nutritious and purer than any dog treat.

-You can give many "finger dabs" of rewards and in the end, you have actually fed very little food, so you don't have to worry as much about overfeeding the pup.

-For pups still going through bite inhibition training, since the pup will be licking the food off your finger instead of biting at a treat, you will have less chance of getting nipped, but the licking of your finger will help enforce the no bite concept in general.

For an older pup or dog, I buy large containers of freeze-dried liver. The liver comes in small cubes, a bit larger than dice. I cut each cube into eight pieces.

Remember, whatever you use, you should reward with the smallest amount of food that the dog will accept enthusiastically. It is a common training mistake for people to give treats that are much too large!

Try the baby food. It really works great!

[CarolineS]

If you'd like to make your own treats, boil some liver just until the rawness is gone. Cut it into really tiny pieces and give it a little sprinkle of garlic powder. Cook it in a 200 degree oven for an hour or so to remove some of the moisture. This will make it easier to handle. Dogs love liver and a little taste goes a long way. ;)

[NikkiDeland]

I have used Roll Over too, the dogs like it. I have also cooked liver for the dogs, which works really well too. If I'm feeling lazy I just use pieces of sliced lunch meat from the deli. Both my dogs are pretty food motivated.

[Miabella]

I also love the Natural Balance roll for training treats. You can cut into really small pieces! I like to cut the roll into 2 inch wide sections, and then wrap individually and freeze them. Then I just use one of the sections at a time, cut up into little pieces. You do have to be sure to refrigerate it once you've opened the roll, or it will grow mold quickly.

[mark_sherry]

How about Nutro Training Bits? Do any of you guys have any experience with these? I picked up a couple of bags of them at Petco, and Brita loves them, but I'm not "stuck" to them. They're very small too and not that expensive, and a bag seems to go a long way.

[Miabella]

I've used the Nutro Training Bits before, and the only complaint I have is that they seem to dry out really easily. Those are the thin, flat, square ones, right? I usually break those up into 3 or 4 pieces when I use them, because I like to use really small treats so I don't have to worry about my dog getting fat.


I have been using alot of sliced turkey breast lunch meat lately, too. I slice it into little squares, and then I put it into a little training treat pouch I have. Does anyone else use one of these treat pouches? I got sick of having bits of meat in my pockets.

[mark_sherry]

Miabella,

Yea, those are the flat, square ones, and yes they do dry out rather fast! I find that I have to keep them Ziplocked after I open the bag. I also break them into tiny pieces -- it makes the bag last longer, and Brita doesn't seem to mind.

I've often wandered about those treat bags myself. My wife keeps yelling at me because my dirty laundry has chunks of meat and treats in them!! :D

Mark

[kaiser's mom]

Miabella,
I use a variety of treats too that includes turkey breast meat.. I chop it up small and freeze it in sandwich ziplock bags... then
I take it , mix in some carrots,greenbeans,peas,dried liver, solid gold kibble... and put it in a fanny pack... I slide the fanny pack off to my right side .....works well.... he never knows what flavor treat will be next..........

[Burnsway]

I have done almost all the suggestions above. Except I don't dip my finger in the baby food....:D I take baby carrot sticks and dip them instead.

[kaiser's mom]

Just tried the liver recipe at www.workingdogs.com
didnt even have to touch the liver!!! its basically liver,eggs,oil, oat flour...baked 15 min.. cut.,return to oven dry..
Max loves them the best so far ! going to try a chicken version today! he likes them better than the Pro Treats freeze dried liver that Petsmart has hiked the price to 18.99 for 14 oz! Yikes..looks like we will be baking!

[MissAlannah]

My baby is a picky one he WILL NOT eat any store bought dog treats (not even those pig ears dogs love). I have tried so many and was about to type up a call for help when I saw this post. I really like the baby food idea and think I will try that. I also was wondering if someone has some recipes for treats I could try out. I see Kaiser's mom mentioned a few from a site that I will check out in a few moments any more recipes will be welcomed. Thanks -Lanna

[nigwheats]

Thanks all who've replied, my pup loves baby food, beef, chicken, turkey, or lamb with broth, she goes crazy for it.

[DixieGrl113]

I can't remember if it was WorkinDogz or Angelbunny that suggested it to me...but fat free turkey hot dogs. I cut them into small pieces and dehydrate them so I have little baggies full at a time. I think it was originally suggested to me to nuke them but I can't rememeber at this point. I've also used freeze dried liver but it was too expensive to keep up a good supply with 4 dogs in training.