Training Treats

I wanted to get an idea of what treats you guys use for training. I would like to get some my dog is more into to try to get him to want to train. right now he will work for them untill it gets a little difficult and he just walks away.

I use liver (boiled until no longer pink, rinsed, patted dry, then baked at 200 degrees until it looks like leather; you can cut it up into tiny pieces that won't crumble and freeze the extra). I also sometimes use beef roll.

Depends on what we're doing. For simple things they already know, it could just be pieces of kibble, for harder things it could be pieces of a cut up natural balance roll, pieces of meat, cheese, etc.

When trying to get the attention of a dog who doesn't rally care about simple little treats like kibble, try to entice them with something really yummy like liver or other meats.

Try to also see if your dog is driven more by toys than food.

I mostly use Starmark's Every Flavour treats, but I've also used Zukes training treats in chicken and peanut butter flavour before. I like those a lot, the size is nice and they don't crumble. I break the Starmark treats in half.

I've used dog treat jerky and cut it up into small pieces, NB rolls cut into small pieces, hot dog, cheese... Auggie's special agility treat was Cloud Star soft buddies in Peanut Butter but I can't find those around here, so I've switched to only using the Zukes PB treats at agility trials.

I use lunch meat or leftover meat we had for dinner that's in the fridge.

Mostly leftover meat and cheese, or deli end cuts that I cube myself, or turkey meatballs if I need some serious attention. For "dog" treats, I like the Zukes a lot, but they have nowhere near the power of real meat.

I use whatever works. Cut up raisins, slivers of cheese, kibble when I have it, bits of leftover meat. I also switch from treats to tug of war for routine cues like sit, down, heel, stay, kill. For a dog that enjoys tug, having him do a sit for a couple of seconds, then giving the "kill" cue brings the new cue on the road. Tug a bit, then "give", a cue, then, kill again. I start with making the dog wait just a couple of seconds, then gradually have him hold the sit, down, stay longer and longer. And praise, of course.

Depends on where we are and what we're doing. If we're at home, kibble. At an empty park, or at class, I'll use diced cheese, hot dogs sprinkled with garlic powder, and homemade tuna treats. For keeping her attention in really distracting areas (pet store, busy walking trails, dog park etc), I have a food tube that I fill with either canned dog food or peanut butter.


You've just gotta find what works for your dog. Lucy would sing the Pledge of Allegiance for a Beggin Strip, but for Juno they only keep her attention under low distractions. Usually, the stinkier the better.

No raisins please; both they and grapes are toxic to dogs! There was a thread just recently discussing it.

One thing to keep in mind that after meals is not a good time to train with treats; right before meals, though, is pretty much the best time.

thanks for all your suggestions!

I have never had any problems with WHAT to give the dog.

It is mostly just something you can use to keep their attention and what will be rewarding.

Try to make it healthy if possible.

Greetings! Brand-spanking new here

I'm working w/my new dog, several yrs old; new to me for approx. 3 mos, and it seems like the higher-value/easier treats (cut up pupperoni, f/d liver, beggin strips, cheese, etc.) cause sloppy poop. I've been using honey nut cherrios, but I start losing him after a short while ... and there's no way he'll respond to emergency recall for a handful of cereal It would be nice to find something easy, rather than having to cook up meat all the time. Anyone in a similar situation find anything quick & easy? Thx!

Yup, the cheapy treats will do that to a lot of dogs' systems. They have a lot of fillers and additives that really hurt digestion.

Easy treats in my house = string cheese. It doesn't mess with Lucy's system the way most meats do (hot dogs and chicken and pepperoni make her sick ), it's not slimy, and its super easy to cut up into tiny pieces or tear off if i don't have time to slice it.

String cheese! Will give it a try! Thx.

Canned chicken also works well if you don't want to cook chicken all the time.

Also make sure that you're using very small pieces of treats - like the size of a pea - which will help make sure that you're not giving too many. It's also a good idea to mix different valued treats up so that your dog doesn't know what he will get next - cheerios, dog biscuits, string cheese, chicken, and a little bit of dog treats would be a good mix. Then he's not getting bored with the same treat over and over (even the best treats get boring after a while), and you're stretching out the treats that cause diarrhea where he's not getting enough of them to cause a problem.

When I was first encouraging Abby to tug, I used a sock full of baby food. Every now and again I pull out some baby food for a jackpot. Other than that, I try to keep it simple and use what works for my dog. I find a variety works better for her than the same 'ol thing, but this isn't too hard as I use a lot of leftovers (meats). But I have used some not so obvious things, peanut butter, sausage roll meat etc.

I use Mini Zukes and EVO treats. The EVO ones are big and not very good for breaking up, but the Mini Zukes are the perfect size.

String cheese failed

Well, it worked great for our emergency recall ... but quickly turned to sloppy poop.
RATS!!!

How much did you use? How big is your dog?