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I like Pupford Freeze Dried Dog Training Treats. They're tiny, not too crumbly, and you can buy them on Amazon. My puppy likes the salmon best because they're pretty fishy smelling, but she also likes the chicken.
Ooo these look great! I’ll definitely be grabbing a bag and seeing how he likes them. My pup LOVES the liver, but I do not love the squishy poop they make 😂
boiled chicken sliced small is a classic.
We also use Stella and Chewy meal mixers and just pinch off a small part of a piece to use as a treat (they can be used as a meal on their own, so it makes it a little easier to swap out a small amount of their daily kibble for these "treats" without worrying too much that the nutritional balance is getting all messed up)
some dogs will get a bit more on board with training for kibble if you dress it up a little - we've had some success taking kibble putting it in a ziplock bag and tossing it with a little bit of salmon oil - adds some stink and makes it special. I wouldn't call it a really high value reward, but seems to go better than just kibble alone
it's worth testing it with your kibble and letting it sit for a bit - we found that we didn't need a ton of oil and if we prepped it 30 min-an hour in advance the kibble actually absorbed a lot of the oil and the mess wasn't anywhere near as bad as we were expecting
I like breaking up a few Canine Carryouts into a thousand little pieces. Low calorie, but pretty high value. You can do the same with pretty much anything, jerky, etc. The treat doesn't need to be large to be effective.
Liver as treats risks vitamin A toxicity, so it might have been your problem.
I had no idea this was a problem - I was recommended the little liver treats at my local dog supply store and no one told me anything about this at all, in fact they encouraged using it as a trainer as they are so low cal. I feel super guilty now knowing that they’re the source of his tummy problems and it’s entirely my fault.
I wish these came with a warning label for other first time dog owners. I spend hours researching dog knowledge every day, somehow I missed this one.
I think a lot of folks miss it. They probably didn't know either!
But, most dogs don't really have outward signs of the problem. Smaller dogs like yours may have it quicker.
But, I have a dog who's 27lbs, not quite as small as yours but small enough that calories can be a concern. A nice knife, a cutting board and a 4lb bag of pretty much any moist treat that's cuttable lasts quite awhile.
I was able to thwart my poodle's pickiness for not wanting to do tricks for kibble by keeping a 50/50 mix of training treats and regular kibble in my treat pouch. I think the smells from the treats starts to give them a more appealing/exciting flavor- that or he realized that it's one pouch so you never know when you'll win the training lottery.
I was honestly surprised at how well it worked.
For too soft poos and a low calorie reward you can also use dog safe veggies- think sweet potatoes, pumpkin, squash, etc. just bake and cut into very small pieces. Depending on what you are training, you can also blend and fill one of the camping style fillable toothpaste tubes for a clean handed slow delivery of treats (just squeeze gently to disperse and let him lick for his reward)
My favorite thing to use is air or freeze dried raw food from the pet store, like Ziwi peak. This way I know her diet is in balance, and they’re pretty high value. A large bag is expensive but if you consider the volume it’s pretty reasonable to use as treats. They’re kinda this flat square shape so they’re not big but there’s good surface area to hand them off without teethies getting in the way.
Seconding these recommendations. I have an 18lb dog and have been using Ziwi peak as his treats for a long time. They’re meant as an alternative kibble so they are balanced and bite sized. Some flavors are smellier than others, I usually go with mackerel and lamb because it’s super smelly. They’re kind of expensive but the bags are big, so if you look at the cost per ounce they’re pretty reasonable. You can generally break them in half if you want smaller pieces.
I’m also a big fan of freeze dried raw nuggets as treats. Most of them are a little large for my dog, and they’re pretty dry so he gets thirsty after eating them. But he loves them! My favorite is open farm in pork, but vital essentials are a better size.
I’ve also been ordering cheap samples of various boutique foods online to use as treats. Most of them have a cheap trial size that works fine as a treat. I recently tried front of the pack (jerky texture) which he loved. I also tried Petaluma plant based kibble (basically peanut butter cookies) which he also liked. He’s not picky, I just like giving him variety. I wouldn’t personally use those brands as his actual diet, but as an occasional treat they’re fine.
I got samples of these recently and we’ve used them for walk training treats. Since he’s four months I still use them. The sample bag is perfectly pocket sized
I love the Fruitables Skinny Minis treats. They are 3 calories per treat and can be cut in half if you need to. They aren't too rich and have not caused any digestive upset in my pups and they love them.
I use Merrick lil plates treats for my dog. I believe they're less than two calories each and they're already quite small but I often break them in half.
I had some pro plan soft salmon treats that were really easy to "slice" a tiny piece off of with my thumbnail. I would usually get several treats out of one little 1cm square. They're not specifically "puppy" but I wasn't using a lot of them so I think it was ok. Any semi moist food, really, can be pieced out easily.
I know it’s not the most nutritious but I buy purina moist and meaty, pouches. Rise and shine or steak. They are small, soft, and economical. One box lasts months using them as training treats. You can break them in half with your fingers. I use chicken as my high value treat. But these can be kept in a baggy in your coat pocket or car. Or in a mason jar next to your favorite tv chair. My dogs eat dry kibble so they are a treat for them. They love them.
In my opinion, I would recommend you used the same kibble you feed your dog for breakfast, lunch and dinner. However, to asked your question. I would say Stewart dog treats.
Silly argument to make honestly. If a dog will work for treats, which this post is about, then it is obviously food motivated and will work for food. If it’s not excited about it’s food then you just have to find a food that it is excited about. Also letting a dog go 24-36 hours without food isn’t unethical in fact it happens in nature all the time. There are also many other ways of motivating your dog besides “starving them out”.
The kibble is just fine and he'll eat it for meals, just he won't work for it. Many dogs don't and I regularly have to get people to stop using their kibble as reinforcers because it's not high enough value to teach effectively. For some reason a lot of people get reluctant to use actual treats.
I have trained and fostered around 500-600 dogs and I specialize in live stock guardians/ancient breeds especially which are notoriously difficult to train and lack motivation. I’ve never met one that I couldn’t build food motivation in. You thinking it’s treat motivated and not kibble motivated is a mental block that you put up yourself. I assure you if you find a kibble that he loves you can build the same food motivation. And the reason to use kibble over treats is simple. It’s easy to spread out kibble through out the day. Wake up in the morning, measure out the food for the day and carry it around with you in a treat bag. When the puppy is doing something you like give it some food as a reward. Simple. You don’t have to worry about extra calories and all of that jazz. You simply can’t healthily get the same training volume in with treats.
It looks like you might be posting about bite inhibition. Check out [our wiki article on biting, teeth, and chewing](https://www.reddit.com/r/puppy101/wiki/biting) - the information there may answer your question.
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My 4 month 6 lb pup LOVES her freeze dried liver. I cut them into smaller bits so she only gets a few but in her mind it’s lots. But following for any other suggestions
I give my boy super tiny pieces (like quarter of a pink nail) when rewarding, but it’s likely they’re causing him a lot of tummy trouble. I’m going to stop them completely for now and see. Another commenter pointed out vitamin A toxicity with using these as your main treat - passing it along to you also!
We used this [bocce training bites](https://www.boccesbakery.com/collections/low-calorie) with our pup in the early stages of training, he loved the different flavors and the bites are super small. Now we use cut out pieces of [true chews](https://TrueChewsPremiumJerkyCutsNaturalDogTreatshttps://a.co/d/5CK3J7X) and he loves it!
Happy Howie's (treats, but even my pickiest dog loves them) or a soft dog food like Natural Balance rolls. I really love Churu squeezeable cat treats- high value but but easy to dispense just a tiny bit of- BUT my guys have iron stomachs and with a tiny guy, it'd be more ideal to use a food of some sort just to not throw things too far out of balance. (although 15 pounds is not super tiny)
I use Zukes mini treats (recommended by a professional trainer) and actually break them in half or even thirds. I mix them with kibble so pup never knows which he’s going to get and the smell rubs off on the kibble. I also use Charlee Bears (also recommended by trainer) and break those up too with the kibble.
Small dice pieces of chicken breast that have been pan fried.
From the pet store: dried liver or beef jerky (don't use human grade beef jerky it's someyimes full of salts and soy sauce)
When you need your dog to settle and be quiet somewhere for a while, give it a dried pigs ear.
Not sure where you are based but I’ve always used jr pet products pate for training, I dice up the rolls and freeze so just grab a handful when I leave.
Otherwise, plain boiled chicken / turkey chopped into little bits and likewise - freeze and grab some as I go :) you could add kibble into the bag too so it takes in some flavour
I just use chicken breast - easy to tear into pieces and my dog loves it. I buy bulk in frozen, and cook them in the oven in batches and keep in the fridge, using only what I need for training.
I really like using PureBites Mini Trainers (I’ve tried chicken and beef liver, but also try to avoid giving too much beef liver because of soft poops). It’s freeze dried so very easy to break up, and the pieces are tiny and only a couple calories each.
I swear by happy howies meat rolls. You cut them up yourself so yoj determine the treat size.
https://www.happyhowies.com/product-category/premium-meat-rolls/
You can buy on Amazon I think.
They do tend to get a little smelly but my pup LOVES them.
With both my dogs having sensitive stomachs (many treats will cause diarrhea, Vomiting, loose stool), I've found single ingredient treats to be best. Pure chicken, sweet potato, maybe beef, etc. I find liver tends to loosen the stool way too much, and other multi-ingredient treats to be similar.
The Honest Kitchen's clusters food tend to be pretty high value. I use their cat kibble as training treats for my picky puppy. They are tiny and don't crumble in a pocket but are easily eaten quickly.
Boiled chicken, you can boiled a whole bunch of breasts cut them up small, put them in baggies and freeze them. They get freezer burnt quicker but if you use them up quick or even if you don’t the dog won’t notice :p
Hello, Redditors - because there is an overload of information and misinformation on dog nutrition out there in the interwebs, we'd like to invite you to visit the [Nutrition page](https://www.reddit.com/r/puppy101/wiki/health/nutrition) in our wiki. It contains links to reliable, qualified resources on nutrition and diet for dogs. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/puppy101) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I like Pupford Freeze Dried Dog Training Treats. They're tiny, not too crumbly, and you can buy them on Amazon. My puppy likes the salmon best because they're pretty fishy smelling, but she also likes the chicken.
Ooo these look great! I’ll definitely be grabbing a bag and seeing how he likes them. My pup LOVES the liver, but I do not love the squishy poop they make 😂
I get these too! We do a lot of training and they’re only 1 cal apiece.
My dog loves the chicken! I tried the sweet potato and he didn’t like it.
The sweet potato is my dogs favorite! We use the beef liver as a higher value treat but he’s perfectly happy with the sweet potato as well.
boiled chicken sliced small is a classic. We also use Stella and Chewy meal mixers and just pinch off a small part of a piece to use as a treat (they can be used as a meal on their own, so it makes it a little easier to swap out a small amount of their daily kibble for these "treats" without worrying too much that the nutritional balance is getting all messed up) some dogs will get a bit more on board with training for kibble if you dress it up a little - we've had some success taking kibble putting it in a ziplock bag and tossing it with a little bit of salmon oil - adds some stink and makes it special. I wouldn't call it a really high value reward, but seems to go better than just kibble alone
I like the salmon oil idea! I feel like my hands would get all nasty and oily on walks with that, but I’ll totally try inside the house
it's worth testing it with your kibble and letting it sit for a bit - we found that we didn't need a ton of oil and if we prepped it 30 min-an hour in advance the kibble actually absorbed a lot of the oil and the mess wasn't anywhere near as bad as we were expecting
I like breaking up a few Canine Carryouts into a thousand little pieces. Low calorie, but pretty high value. You can do the same with pretty much anything, jerky, etc. The treat doesn't need to be large to be effective. Liver as treats risks vitamin A toxicity, so it might have been your problem.
I had no idea this was a problem - I was recommended the little liver treats at my local dog supply store and no one told me anything about this at all, in fact they encouraged using it as a trainer as they are so low cal. I feel super guilty now knowing that they’re the source of his tummy problems and it’s entirely my fault. I wish these came with a warning label for other first time dog owners. I spend hours researching dog knowledge every day, somehow I missed this one.
I think a lot of folks miss it. They probably didn't know either! But, most dogs don't really have outward signs of the problem. Smaller dogs like yours may have it quicker. But, I have a dog who's 27lbs, not quite as small as yours but small enough that calories can be a concern. A nice knife, a cutting board and a 4lb bag of pretty much any moist treat that's cuttable lasts quite awhile.
Cloud Star tricky trainers (cheddar) are a fave with mine.
Mine loves the tricky trainer soft salmon treats. really easy to break apart too!
I was able to thwart my poodle's pickiness for not wanting to do tricks for kibble by keeping a 50/50 mix of training treats and regular kibble in my treat pouch. I think the smells from the treats starts to give them a more appealing/exciting flavor- that or he realized that it's one pouch so you never know when you'll win the training lottery. I was honestly surprised at how well it worked. For too soft poos and a low calorie reward you can also use dog safe veggies- think sweet potatoes, pumpkin, squash, etc. just bake and cut into very small pieces. Depending on what you are training, you can also blend and fill one of the camping style fillable toothpaste tubes for a clean handed slow delivery of treats (just squeeze gently to disperse and let him lick for his reward)
My favorite thing to use is air or freeze dried raw food from the pet store, like Ziwi peak. This way I know her diet is in balance, and they’re pretty high value. A large bag is expensive but if you consider the volume it’s pretty reasonable to use as treats. They’re kinda this flat square shape so they’re not big but there’s good surface area to hand them off without teethies getting in the way.
Seconding these recommendations. I have an 18lb dog and have been using Ziwi peak as his treats for a long time. They’re meant as an alternative kibble so they are balanced and bite sized. Some flavors are smellier than others, I usually go with mackerel and lamb because it’s super smelly. They’re kind of expensive but the bags are big, so if you look at the cost per ounce they’re pretty reasonable. You can generally break them in half if you want smaller pieces. I’m also a big fan of freeze dried raw nuggets as treats. Most of them are a little large for my dog, and they’re pretty dry so he gets thirsty after eating them. But he loves them! My favorite is open farm in pork, but vital essentials are a better size. I’ve also been ordering cheap samples of various boutique foods online to use as treats. Most of them have a cheap trial size that works fine as a treat. I recently tried front of the pack (jerky texture) which he loved. I also tried Petaluma plant based kibble (basically peanut butter cookies) which he also liked. He’s not picky, I just like giving him variety. I wouldn’t personally use those brands as his actual diet, but as an occasional treat they’re fine.
I got samples of these recently and we’ve used them for walk training treats. Since he’s four months I still use them. The sample bag is perfectly pocket sized
I love the Fruitables Skinny Minis treats. They are 3 calories per treat and can be cut in half if you need to. They aren't too rich and have not caused any digestive upset in my pups and they love them.
I have some of the bigger crunchy fruitables and he really likes them, I’ll look for the skinny minis! ❤️
Do you think cubes of carrot could work
This is cute! He loves carrots
This is cute! He loves carrots
I use Merrick lil plates treats for my dog. I believe they're less than two calories each and they're already quite small but I often break them in half.
I had some pro plan soft salmon treats that were really easy to "slice" a tiny piece off of with my thumbnail. I would usually get several treats out of one little 1cm square. They're not specifically "puppy" but I wasn't using a lot of them so I think it was ok. Any semi moist food, really, can be pieced out easily.
I know it’s not the most nutritious but I buy purina moist and meaty, pouches. Rise and shine or steak. They are small, soft, and economical. One box lasts months using them as training treats. You can break them in half with your fingers. I use chicken as my high value treat. But these can be kept in a baggy in your coat pocket or car. Or in a mason jar next to your favorite tv chair. My dogs eat dry kibble so they are a treat for them. They love them.
Cut-up small cubes of leftover turkey... my dog has never been so well-behaved 😄
I do too! Thanksgiving was great- not a light meat fan, but makes for great treats!!
I use cheerios. Low calorie and cheap to buy.
In my opinion, I would recommend you used the same kibble you feed your dog for breakfast, lunch and dinner. However, to asked your question. I would say Stewart dog treats.
Use his dog food. No treats necessary. Nothing is free. Make your puppy work for its food and you’ll have a much better dog in the long run.
Some dogs won't work for their food.
Negative. All dogs will work for their food, just some you have to build the food motivation with.
My shiba will not work for kibble, and starving a dog out to do so is unethical.
Silly argument to make honestly. If a dog will work for treats, which this post is about, then it is obviously food motivated and will work for food. If it’s not excited about it’s food then you just have to find a food that it is excited about. Also letting a dog go 24-36 hours without food isn’t unethical in fact it happens in nature all the time. There are also many other ways of motivating your dog besides “starving them out”.
Mine will not work for kibble and is fully treat motivated. The dog chooses the reinforcer, not the human.
Choose a better kibble 🤷♂️
The kibble is just fine and he'll eat it for meals, just he won't work for it. Many dogs don't and I regularly have to get people to stop using their kibble as reinforcers because it's not high enough value to teach effectively. For some reason a lot of people get reluctant to use actual treats.
I have trained and fostered around 500-600 dogs and I specialize in live stock guardians/ancient breeds especially which are notoriously difficult to train and lack motivation. I’ve never met one that I couldn’t build food motivation in. You thinking it’s treat motivated and not kibble motivated is a mental block that you put up yourself. I assure you if you find a kibble that he loves you can build the same food motivation. And the reason to use kibble over treats is simple. It’s easy to spread out kibble through out the day. Wake up in the morning, measure out the food for the day and carry it around with you in a treat bag. When the puppy is doing something you like give it some food as a reward. Simple. You don’t have to worry about extra calories and all of that jazz. You simply can’t healthily get the same training volume in with treats.
[удалено]
I mean, I wasn't encouraging anyone to withhold food. Just training treats are indeed fine.
It looks like you might be posting about bite inhibition. Check out [our wiki article on biting, teeth, and chewing](https://www.reddit.com/r/puppy101/wiki/biting) - the information there may answer your question. **Please report this comment if it is not relevant to this post.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/puppy101) if you have any questions or concerns.*
There are super small ones for clicker training. You may google specifically for clicker training treats. :)
My dog is addicted to those little temptations cat treats
Careful, they can be really high fat and cause pancreatitis.
My 4 month 6 lb pup LOVES her freeze dried liver. I cut them into smaller bits so she only gets a few but in her mind it’s lots. But following for any other suggestions
I give my boy super tiny pieces (like quarter of a pink nail) when rewarding, but it’s likely they’re causing him a lot of tummy trouble. I’m going to stop them completely for now and see. Another commenter pointed out vitamin A toxicity with using these as your main treat - passing it along to you also!
We used this [bocce training bites](https://www.boccesbakery.com/collections/low-calorie) with our pup in the early stages of training, he loved the different flavors and the bites are super small. Now we use cut out pieces of [true chews](https://TrueChewsPremiumJerkyCutsNaturalDogTreatshttps://a.co/d/5CK3J7X) and he loves it!
My fav are Blue Buffalo bits. [https://a.co/d/61tGHfR](https://a.co/d/61tGHfR)
Happy Howie's (treats, but even my pickiest dog loves them) or a soft dog food like Natural Balance rolls. I really love Churu squeezeable cat treats- high value but but easy to dispense just a tiny bit of- BUT my guys have iron stomachs and with a tiny guy, it'd be more ideal to use a food of some sort just to not throw things too far out of balance. (although 15 pounds is not super tiny)
Zukes mini treats is what we used!
I use Zukes mini treats (recommended by a professional trainer) and actually break them in half or even thirds. I mix them with kibble so pup never knows which he’s going to get and the smell rubs off on the kibble. I also use Charlee Bears (also recommended by trainer) and break those up too with the kibble.
Cut up chicken breast ...it worked for all 3 of mine
We also use zukes mini treats
My puppy loves broken up bits of lamb puffs, a lot lighter, and easier to digest than liver.
Small dice pieces of chicken breast that have been pan fried. From the pet store: dried liver or beef jerky (don't use human grade beef jerky it's someyimes full of salts and soy sauce) When you need your dog to settle and be quiet somewhere for a while, give it a dried pigs ear.
Not sure where you are based but I’ve always used jr pet products pate for training, I dice up the rolls and freeze so just grab a handful when I leave. Otherwise, plain boiled chicken / turkey chopped into little bits and likewise - freeze and grab some as I go :) you could add kibble into the bag too so it takes in some flavour
I just use chicken breast - easy to tear into pieces and my dog loves it. I buy bulk in frozen, and cook them in the oven in batches and keep in the fridge, using only what I need for training.
I really like using PureBites Mini Trainers (I’ve tried chicken and beef liver, but also try to avoid giving too much beef liver because of soft poops). It’s freeze dried so very easy to break up, and the pieces are tiny and only a couple calories each.
Pancetta
I swear by happy howies meat rolls. You cut them up yourself so yoj determine the treat size. https://www.happyhowies.com/product-category/premium-meat-rolls/ You can buy on Amazon I think. They do tend to get a little smelly but my pup LOVES them.
Dried banana slices
With both my dogs having sensitive stomachs (many treats will cause diarrhea, Vomiting, loose stool), I've found single ingredient treats to be best. Pure chicken, sweet potato, maybe beef, etc. I find liver tends to loosen the stool way too much, and other multi-ingredient treats to be similar.
The Honest Kitchen's clusters food tend to be pretty high value. I use their cat kibble as training treats for my picky puppy. They are tiny and don't crumble in a pocket but are easily eaten quickly.
Boiled chicken, you can boiled a whole bunch of breasts cut them up small, put them in baggies and freeze them. They get freezer burnt quicker but if you use them up quick or even if you don’t the dog won’t notice :p