# Recommendations on packaged dog treats?



## Lilith (Sep 29, 2010)

Hi all,

I recently spent about $25 on a couple of boxes of dog treats for training, and my spoo doesn't even seem to recognize them as food. They're baked Honest Kitchen 'pecks', with ingredients that make _me_ want to eat them. But Lili carries them around like a rock and deposits them throughout the household.

So then I ordered some Zuke's salmon bits. Moist ones. Lili seemed to love these - for a day. I gave her a few on a Thursday when they came in the mail, but Friday at puppy classes I might as well have been trying to feed her pennies. 

So before I keep wasting money on dog treats, I'm wondering - what do you use? Have you found any that your dog seems to consistently like, or do you end up switching around all the time to keep the interest level up? I'm in the thick of serious training on things like "stay" (outside of home), "come here" (when distracted), "OFF!" (jumping!), and "leave it!" (when talking about my underwear or some other seemingly irresistable no-no). These are commands she really, really does not want to do. I need some serious bonus at the end!

I do sometimes use baked chicken meat pieces, canned hotdogs or sausage bits, and beef jerky - all of which work wonders, but they are time consuming (baked chicken), messy (hotdogs), and too salty to be healthy (beef jerky), and none of them are all that great for carrying around in my pocket so that I can offer random rewards throughout the day. Would love to find a packaged treat that she likes. 

I just looked around on www.fidodogtreats.com and am simply overwhelmed by the options. So am asking first - any recommendations? Thanks!


----------



## Banjo's Mum (Oct 25, 2010)

Hi Lilith

my Banjo loves dried liver treats - there is a local company that packages air dried liver treats that I purchase from the local pet store or vet.

I only used liver treats during training and he loves them. Now if I put one under his nose he sits automatically and stays until I give it to him 

I have also found he loves sweet potato treats which I buy from Dr Chews, I tried these 
because I had to try a different diet!


----------



## Feralpudel (Jun 28, 2010)

My favorite pocket treats are Merrick's lamb filets. They are dry but tear easily into pieces, and Dexter loves them. I rotate those with string cheese and slow cooker chicken or beef. I also buy the little rolls of Natural Balance and slice and dice for tiny little treats. Those are dry enough to put into my treat pouch but moist enough to be high value. 

I generally don't bother with anything that isn't all/mostly meat or cheese. But I sent my sister a bag of Charlee Bears to plus up an Amazon shipment and she said her dog was turning cartwheels for them.


----------



## partial2poodles (Feb 11, 2010)

Lamb "filets" sound better than lamb lung, but they're the same thing. I buy NOTHIG BUT treats....lamb lung, beef lung, lamb and beef heart, chicken feet and pork heart. I buy them for $3.50 and sell them for $7 which is such a bargain compare to some stuff I see at vets and pet shops. My dogs do NUTS for those dried chicken breast strips from Costco

My toy poodle hated those Zukes salmon bits. 

Even though I carry treats at my shop, I still buy and try other things. I look for pureness of ingredients and enticing taste.


----------



## JE-UK (Mar 10, 2010)

I don't like the contents of most packaged dog treats. They seem to be full of crap that I don't feed him in his kibble, so don't want to feed him in his treats.

I give air dried chicken filets and treats from Fish4Dogs as home-alone or go-lie-down treats, and for training I use either kibble (Acana) for established stuff or super yummy stuff for training new/hard stuff ... hot dogs cut into tiny pieces, bits of cheese, bits of leftover roast, or (jackpot of all jackpots) bits of duck after we've had a Crispy Duck takeaway. Vasco will stand on his head for Crispy Duck.

For emergencies, I have a few packets of these: Puppy food - Natural puppy foods from Natures Menu Junior dog food range


----------



## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Tuna/salmon/liver cake all make good training treats - healthy, high value, moist enough to eat easily but dry enough to keep in your pocket. Make a batch, cut it up and loose freeze it - then you can just take out what you need. It defrosts in no time. I do the same with cooked chicken, sausage, leftover meat, cheese, etc - they all get cut into tiny pieces, frozen, and added to the treat box in the freezer. That way it is a bit of a lucky dip as to what the next treat will be!

Other ideas - squeezy cheese, squeezed straight into the dogs mouth; a small jar of baby food - a couple of licks = reward; small jar of peanut butter - same idea.


----------



## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

Mine LOVE those zukes treats you tried feeding. I also feed Solid Gold lamb jerky as a treat (only to Henry though, they give Millie diarrhea). Luckily mine are ecstatic over any treats, so I don't have to worry about that.


----------



## RedPoodleFamily (Aug 22, 2010)

The first treats I ever got Max were liver treats and he loved them; he would almost drool! Unfortunately they gave him gas and made his poop runny so I threw them out. I got some Blue Buffalo Blue Bits in chicken; he loves these just as much and there are no unwanted side effects
I've also started baking my own crunchy dog treats. He loved the first flavor, which was just cheese. I just gave him one made apple and carrot and he gobbled it up too! 
Good luck!


----------



## Beach girl (Aug 5, 2010)

I mix them up, using a variety of things. String cheese, air-dried chicken bits, some treats from the Petco "treat bar" that are small, hard, treats, roughly the consistency of dog biscuits but they are about the size of the fingernail on your pinky.

Also use "Pupperoni" from the supermarket, cut into tiny little bits. Probably not great nutritionally, but both Pippin and Casey really love them.


----------



## penny_ann (May 29, 2010)

Penny absolutely loved small pieces of the pupperoni during training. She also liked the Charlee bears for awhile but once teething started she only wanted soft chews, hence the introduction of the pupperoni.


----------



## Beach girl (Aug 5, 2010)

Yes, I cut those into pieces about the size of a pencil eraser. They are very easy to use while training, and tasty, apparently. You can get a lot of treats out of one "stick" of the product.


----------



## Karma'sACat (Jun 1, 2010)

I use treat called Natural Nibbles which are meat only treats. If you go to their website, they have a link to get a free sample of them. I have yet to meet a dog who didn't treat it like doggy crack! Even my mom's picky eater loved them.


----------



## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

I have some new favorites to add to my list!


Fruitables Pumkin and Apple mix Deliciously Healthy Dog Treats

WildSideLamb'n New Zealand Lamb and Fuji apple dog treats


----------



## jazzi480 (Sep 19, 2010)

The girls new favorite, is Pet'N'Shape Chicken Liver Plus, the girls absolutly love these! Come in different flavors Peas & Carrots, Pumkin and Apple Ect. They also like any type jerky, chicken, lamb ect.


----------



## penny_ann (May 29, 2010)

ChocolateMillie said:


> I have some new favorites to add to my list!
> 
> 
> Fruitables Pumkin and Apple mix Deliciously Healthy Dog Treats
> ...


I bought Penny some of the Fruitables Pumpkin & Banana Mix and she refused them! First, time I've ever seen her refuse treats.


----------



## JE-UK (Mar 10, 2010)

Penny probably doesn't like banana. Vasco certainly doesn't. He will take a bit of banana from my fingers very very delicately, just using his canines and curling up his nose so none of it touches his tongue, then drop it on the floor.


----------



## penny_ann (May 29, 2010)

JE-UK said:


> Penny probably doesn't like banana. Vasco certainly doesn't. He will take a bit of banana from my fingers very very delicately, just using his canines and curling up his nose so none of it touches his tongue, then drop it on the floor.


You're probably right! I have bananas all the time but Penny never seems interested in them. Maybe I'll try to see if she will take one.


----------



## Lilith (Sep 29, 2010)

I love this forum. 

So many fantastic ideas. I already received some of those rolls of food that you break off into little bits - they are perfect to give to my dog walker/trainer when he goes out with her. And dried liver pieces - definitely a favorite. We're using them just for potty training (she's been 100% for over 2 weeks now, but we're still not to where I trust her by herself, so we're keeping up the very-best-treats-come-when-you-pee-outside routine for the foreseeable future).

I have a few other things on order that were suggested by you all. My pup does back-flips for bananas, so I definitely need to try those treats. She loves apples, too, so they might really be a winner. Got her some powdered purina gravy-mix stuff that I thought would be fantastic to extend her interest in her kibble (that she is growing tired of), but the ingredients are appalling. Ack. I guess soft drinks and chocolate spread on white bread aren't the best for me, either, though, but we all indulge every now and then.


----------



## JE-UK (Mar 10, 2010)

If her weight's okay, try olive oil instead of gravy mix. Vasco ADORES olive oil ... we call him Vascolini sometimes because I'm convinced he wants to be an Italian dog. :smile:


----------



## Lilith (Sep 29, 2010)

JE-UK said:


> If her weight's okay, try olive oil instead of gravy mix. Vasco ADORES olive oil ... we call him Vascolini sometimes because I'm convinced he wants to be an Italian dog. :smile:



Really? I never would have thought of olive oil,... will have to try that.


----------

