What are good treats to reward my pup with?

[mattinky]

Title says it all... just wondering what the best treats are? I've never used treats when training the BCs I've had in the past but I'd like to try it with my new pup

[pammyd]

Anything the dog likes

I have different levels of treats

Kibble and shop bought treats for normal stuff and cooked meat for new work and really good behaviour

also pats on the head, smiles, games, and toys are all treats

[Dal & Mad's Mom]

For working and learning I agree I love to use meat. Chicken livers are a good example I pour in the blood too. For bedtiem we always use milkbones. The dogs love them and their teeth stay clean.

 

If you cant use meat as in too messy or gross. Ive used small pieces of mosit and meaty but, in a small quantity. They can cause diarrhea. cat treats. I cant remember the company name but, they make smoked lamb patties to break up. Dogs think they are killer.

[Root Beer]

I generally use one of the following:

 

Chicken

Liver treats (home made)

Cheese

Natural Balance Roll - cut up into tiny squares

Hot Dog

 

At home I do use Taste of the Wild kibble, but my dogs all understand what a reward is and it's function. I wouldn't start with kibble unless I were using a meal to train or I was positive that the dog found the kibble of extremely high value. Once the dog understands the function of the reward in training, I find that kibble is usually fine to use at home.

[NC_Y2K9]

For teaching new stuff, I use meat like the above posts. Cheese works too. For everyday training and reinforcement of commands they've already learned, what never fails for my dogs, for some reason, is Blue Dog Bakery peanut butter and molasses treats. I buy the large cookies, wrap them in a moistened paper towel heat them in the microwave and cut them into small pieces. I do this weekly so I have treats for the week. The company uses actual peanut butter, not peanut butter paste, and they weren't involved in the recent peanut butter recalls. The treats are all natural and I have to shamefully admit I've tried a cookie myself and found it quite tasty! LOL

[WildFlower]

You do have to find out what your dog likes. Everybody has different tastes!

 

I use Zukes training treats (but I acutally cut them into 4 pieces despite there already small size) and string chees cut up into tiny pieces. I like to reward heavily in agility and Daisy only needs tiny pieces as a reward.

[Jack & Co.]

This thread was from last month: http://www.bordercollie.org/boards/index.php?showtopic=22425

[JohnLloydJones]

The treats are all natural and I have to shamefully admit I've tried a cookie myself and found it quite tasty! LOL

 

For general training treats, I use home-made sour rye w/carrot and flaxseed. When I make them, my wife actually grabs a portion for herself!

For agility, I have also used diced Nature's Balance rolls (mixed with a small amount of liver paste).

[Ms.DaisyDuke]

It's funny, my dog acts as though she is STARVED all of the time. Quite sad actually, she is well fed. So you'd think that I could give her anything as a reward. Unfortunately she knows kibble is not a "treat" and will only eat it at meal times. Things that work well for us are cooked chicken, chicken livers, browned stew meat, hotdogs (to my dismay), but the standard I use is Natural Balance food roll. I use them according to the situation. Most training is the food roll, but high stress environments I will bring a few different selections and let Daisy pick which one she'll work for. Somedays the hotdogs motivate her more, others it's the chicken livers. I would find what your dog will go totally ga-ga over, make that top reinforcer.

[BustopherJones]

When Annie went through Puppy Kindergarten training, the trainer suggested that the best training treats for puppies were all-natural bologna cut into small pieces, and/or small pieces of all-natural Italian meatballs. Now that Annie is older, we use (with our vet's blessing) Old Mother Hubbard Training Bitz. With that said, we also use some of her prescription kibble as treats as well.

[sweet_ceana]

All of mine will do anything for kibble as long as I use a clicker.

[urge to herd]

I make a trail mix, kind of. In a big plastic container, I empty a box of cheerios. To that, I add any smelly thing that is dry that a dog loves - dried liver, lamb lung, or chicken pieces, some regular kibble, etc. The smelly stuff makes the cheerios smell more enticing. With older dogs who aren't as active, every calorie counts.

 

For training in situations where I know the distractions will be high, especially for the first few times, I dehydrate grated cheese in the freezer. It takes a week or so, and is a bit of an effort. You spread the cheese on a cookie sheet, stick in the freezer, and stir every couple days. In a week or so, you've got dried out cheese shreds. They don't get all greasy in your pocket, they're easier to feed a bit at a time because they don't stick together, and they last a good long while out of the fridge. And the dogs absolutely do not care that their cheese treats are dry.

 

You can do the same thing w/cutting up the Natural Balance rolls into tiny bits, makes them last longer if they spend a couple days in the freezer.

 

Ruth

[Ms.DaisyDuke]

I forgot, Daisy likes plain cherrios too. Putting something smelly on them is a good idea Ruth!