# Best Dog Training Treats?



## Mcunnin4

Hi All,

Bentley is starting his first puppy class today! I am curious as to which dog treat would be best to train him with. I do train him at home and teach him tricks but sometimes he gets too excited and swallows them whole and chokes when going onto the next trick. I heard moist dog treats are better at going down and are breakable to get more treats out of a single treat.

I was thinking liver treats and breaking them into the pieces.

Any suggestions? Don't want him to keel over during training from a dog treat stuck in his throat! (kidding of course I would never let that happen to my baby!)


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## hobbsy1010

I like chopped up hot dog 

So does my V 

Hobbsy


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## candi30

We use the liver treats (in small pieces). And the dried out lungs.
Both are pretty dry so make sure there is water around.


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## datacan

Liver, great idea, but get ready for some runny stools if you feed too much at once. ;D 

Whole liver cubes are too rich and you'll go through a bag like in one session. 
What I did was, pinch just enough for the boy to lick my finger tips. That way a treat lasted a long time. 

Anyhow, a training session is short, usually 10 min/day every day will yield amazing results.


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## Mcunnin4

Thanks guys! and thanks for the warning about the liver treats and some stools  

I normally only do about 10 minutes training sessions, however this dog training class is an hour. 

Wish me luck on keeping my V's attention for that long!  He definitely has ADD!


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## Rudy

HAVE 100'S EARNED

IF YOUR BUYING NOTHING FROM "CHINA"

DEATH ON A STICK AND THE OTHER GOOFS 

TEAM USA NEW ZEALAND AND A FEW MORE

MINE EARN DEER ELK MOOSE AND SALMON JERKYS


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## datacan

Dried lung is hard to pinch, need a hammer or a dumbbell to bring them down to size :-\

Dried fish ;D and recall will be 100%.


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## Rudy

;D


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## datacan

;D for training bears, Rudy?


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## KB87

We found that our boy's kibble was a good treat to start out with but he lost interest pretty quickly when he realized it wasn't anything special 

We love Zukes for training. They're made in the USA and are small moist treats that have worked really well for us. We've used the rabbit formula and our boy has always seemed to love it. It gives off a nice scent too which helps keep our boy interested in the treat and focused on us instead of the other dogs in the class. We've also used the Blue Buffalo Blue Bits for training but found that they caused our boy to be a little gassy


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## Rudy

I SUGGEST NOTHING FROM BLUE BUFFALO

AND HAVE PAGES WHY

AND LIKE ALL WE DO I RAISED BUFFALO LIKE GRAPES

REAL ONES ;D

BIG SKY COUNTRY CAME IN BUNCHES FOR MY DNA 

HE GAVE FREELY

ALL PROTEINS ;D

'GARY WEST' SMOKED MEATS HAS SOME OK TREAT MEATS ALL USA 100 PERCENT GRAIN FED 

www.garywest.com

no hormones or steroids or antibiotics


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## marathonman

From having gone through training with our pup, there are a couple things to think about.
1) Have several types of treats. Low value such as his kibble and higher value like hot dogs, dried or deli meat, and string cheese. (That's if you want to feed your pup cheese. Some members here suggest not to.) As you start the class, use low value treats and move to higher value as the class goes on. It keeps your pup interested in training and not burnt out on eating only one thing. (i.e. you may really like ice cream, but after a certain point you're tired of it and want something different.) Later in the class you can use the low value if he performed the command, but he took his time or didn't do it exactly right. (You're telling him "you did that, but not good enough for the good stuff")

2) Bring something to distract him while the trainer is talking. We usually will bring a Kong or empty PB jar stuffed with natural peanut butter. (Find some real stuff that has just two ingredients. Peanuts and salt. ) Keeps him busy while the trainer is talking.


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## R E McCraith

4 PIKE the only treat he gets is when we get home - in the the field - it is voice and body language - MR WONDERFUL - a BIG HUG - this is all he needs !!!!!!!


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## KB87

I should have clarified- we used Blue Bits which seemed like a nice size treat but I will not use them again. It did a number to our pup's digestive system.

There are much better quality items on the market. Or, as always, make your own.


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## maplevizsla

I use RollOver dog food rolls (product of Canada) in all flavours. They are soft and easy to swallow for the dog. Even better they can be chopped up into pea-size pieces and easily fit into a vest pocket or fanny pack for training classes. I use approx. 3/4 - 1 cup of chopped RollOver pieces per 1-hour class. The even better part is that it can be cut up into pieces and frozen in a container then you just pull it out and thaw the day of training class.
RollOver also makes its own training treats too.


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## SMG

BilJac Little jacs.......goes crazy for em


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## mlwindc

We use lamb lung and I do use string cheese as my super high value treat... Like when my hubby needs to work late and I have both the preschooler and the dog to walk. Mostly lamb lung for training. String cheese is my secret weapon for getting both small people across the atreet


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## brendano

This is what I use


LIVER BREAD


1 kg liver, liquidized. (chicken livers are the easiest)
3 cups cake flour
2 x-large eggs, or 3 smaller ones.
About 20 mls oil.

Mix together well and spread onto a baking tray, the size of a normal roasting tray.
Bake at 180 C for approx 20 mins. Do not over cook as this makes it crumbly when cold.
Slice into squares when cool. Keep in the fridge. Can freeze.

Can add garlic, Bovril, marmite etc for a different


my dogs will do anything for one of these !


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## Mcunnin4

UPDATE:

We went and bought some liver treats (all natural) and also these chicken bites (also all natural) and LUCKILY this trainer has had 6 vizslas of her own previously. The first thing she did was send all the dogs (about 5 of them) into an open area to run and play and get out energy. Bentley was the only one still running around wondering why the other dogs had been leashed and gone inside again LOL! 

He did great with the liver at first. About a quarter through the class he lost interest and wanted to go see the other dogs. Eventually, the trainer came over with some ham and string cheese. I typically don't give him human food, but he LOVED these and it kept his attention the entire time. The string cheese especially. I kept an eye on him that night as my dads dog turned out to be lactose intolerant and cannot each cheese and doesn't digest well. It seemed to do alright with his systems though so we have continued with the cheese and more-so ham. Liver is a good backup but he does lose interest easily.


Thanks everyone!


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## candi30

Variety in the treats really helps.

We usually get Darby out for some offleash time before training.
She is a lot less crazy when we do. 
Note "LESS" crazy........but still crazy.

She has a very strong play drive.


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## KB87

My personal favorite thing in puppy class with our boy was getting "oh, he's so beautiful! What breed is he?" right off the bat. Then by the end of class when everyone else's dog was calm and tired we would get "is he really energetic like this ALL the time?" with a sideways look. As I've said before, for anyone interested in getting a V I will loan mine out to them to test drive. I would put money on it that they will bring him back within an hour and say they changed their mind on the breed. ;D

You're lucky that your trainer has had Vs before and knows how to handle them. We had dealings with a trainer who hadn't had experience and let's just say that those dealings with limited. The trainer that we primarily used has a weim so she gets it and understood what the crazy was about.


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