Do you feed treats to your dog?

[Tinyplanets]

I think Muffin would appreciate tuna so I might give them a go.

Louise I cook a livercake which is just liver, wholemeal flour and egg. It does smell pretty bad when cooking but I make a big load, cut it into little pieces and freeze bags full of it so it last ages. It is very popular and most helpful for training.

[Eden Holistic Pet Foods]

I use a dehydrator, I've done chicken, butternut squash, liver, heart and lung so far. You dry meats at 70°C so little damage to the proteins, you do have to trim as much fat as possible though as it doesn't dry well.

No smell while drying, even with liver which is a bonus, and the dogs love it, but be sparing with rich offal like liver as too much can cause loose stools.

[Eden Holistic Pet Foods]

To be fair, I'd heard about liver smelling bad too, so first time I dried it I put it in the garage out of the way, I think its when you actually cook it it smells bad

[Indie]

Mine get a variety of things such as fish4dogs  sea jerky whoppers, beef pipes,  raw chicken feet,  raw sprats (although my gsp won't touch raw fish)  and the occasional raw hide chew or pigs ear.

For training treats I use cut up pieces of cooked chicken or sausage or the millies wofheart 80:20 training treats. 

[louisecragg]

Mine get a variety of things such as fish4dogs  sea jerky whoppers, beef pipes,  raw chicken feet,  raw sprats (although my gsp won't touch raw fish)  and the occasional raw hide chew or pigs ear.

For training treats I use cut up pieces of cooked chicken or sausage or the millies wofheart 80:20 training treats. 

We got some of the Millies 80:20 treats yesterday in a little red bag with merry christmas on from the team lovely surprise and another example of their customer services, will use them at training tonight. Indie have you tried their fish skin chew sticks yet? im being a softy as floss is so fab on ranger im so scared to introduce things again. They look good wonder if they would last.

will dig the dehydrator out over the holidays and try some things thanks david did think of putting it in the garage will be brave!

 lou x

[Indie]

Hi Lou

No I haven't tried many of their treats as they seem a bit expensive compared to others such as fish4dogs or zooplus especially as my lot are big dogs who get through them pretty quickly.

[Greg]

You could look at Skippers Pet Products for fishy treats, their sea jerky squares for example are about £10 cheaper than Fish4Dogs and they're air dried too rather than cooked, they have lots of bits Fish4Dogs don't do as well.

I might have to look into one of these dehydrators you guys are talking about,  what's a fair price to pay for one and how much room do they take up?

[Roger Tyldesley]

I use Natures Menu chicken treats when out on walks and to persuade my younger border terrier to handover the ball! Find that it has to be a high value treat to get them interested.

Have also found myself giving packets to Max the Rottweiler outside London's Euston Square station as he has a wheat allergy  and his owner who lives on the streets tells me she has now totally switched to grain free food and he has lost 2 Kg already (he was a bit plump!). 

[Supawpetfoods]

I always feed treats to my dog as it is an integral part of rewards based training. However, I make sure that I reduce her daily allowance of dry food to counter this.

The treats I feed Maja depends on the training and what I want her to do. If it is simple come, stay, sit, shake, down etc. then I'll use her dry biscuits if I can get away with it. However, if she's cottoned onto the fact that she's being conned or we're doing more advanced training such as emergency recall, blind recall, tricks etc. then I'll use pieces of dried venison, naturesmenu freeze dried treats, thrive dried chicken, liver, duck and for the ultimate training I use the ultimate treats Orijen freeze dried treats.

All of my foods and treats have to be grain free and hypoallergenic as standard so it costs a fortune but are well worth it.

[LS25Lee]

I feed treats generally after a walk. I do tend to have biscuits in my pocket if we're taking him to the pub

I tend to buy the pets at home markie equivalent and gravy bones.

He loved the peanut butter sticks from pets at home.

I give him a fairly big piece of carrot once a day which he loves.

He's just had a walk, some carrot and is now asleep on the rug

[silverb19]

Some super healthy home made treats that I make are a variation on a popular treat with added ingredients and my dog loves them.

It's a super enhanced Tuna loaf treat which I make into 1cm cubes (just right for training treats) in silicone mould.

I use 3 cans of Tuna in oil,  Turmeric Paste (or golden paste as it is known),  ground Chia seeds and Linseed,  Diatomaceous Earth (natural de wormer), 1/2 tsp of minced garlic (also a natural de wormer) and wholewheat flour mixed in equal quantities to add up to 160g, and finally two eggs.

The silicone moulds are great and make 160 1cm cubes which I bag up and put in the freezer just taking out a handful at a time to take with me on walks.  They take 4 mins to cook in the microwave.  If you are interested in the moulds just look up 160 cube moulds on eBay. Just under £2 each.  Mine took 2 weeks to arrive from China.

[Schnauday]

Oooh thanks for the tray tip they look really good. I home cook and cut it up to make a kibble type food to put in food balls, empty bottle etc. They'll be great for getting them the same size.
How sad am I getting excited about making dog food cubes

[silverb19]

LOL not sad at all. It's great fun. And the moulds are useful. I know of others who use bone or paw shaped moulds for making doggie biscuits.

[KatrinH]

Since mine has so many intolerances but we use loads of treats to work on tricks but also with his dog reactivity issues, I buy strips of 100% meat. They sell two or three different brands of those in Germany, but none here in the UK (at least not at pets at home), so I order frm zooplus. They only have Dokkas, which are a bit pricier, but oh well. It's just on the safe side as it is only meat. I cut the stripes in small pieces.

He does not get any other "treats" really. I tried pig ears for a while but he did not tolerate them well. I may try and buy some rabbit ears or something and try that, but I think it's the fat that is causing troubles.

[Dottie]

Katrinh - have you tried sea jerky? Mine get one or two Tiddlers from Fish4Dogs each day - it helps keep their teeth clean.  This week it's treat time as they have a packet of sea jerky wraps - they have a piece of sweet potato in the middle and are seriously crunchy.  There are other companies that sell it - one that I know of is Skippers in Grimsby.