# Extra special treats??



## Claire (May 21, 2012)

Hi again, sorry for the many posts but it's still very early days for me and Liesel and I have many questions!!
I was just wondering, what are your V's favourite treats?? I need a 'high value' food that'll help me along with crate training - preferably something she can chew on for more than just a second... I tried peanut butter in her kong, and she was surprisingly unimpressed... licked it for a while, then lost interest. Today I tried little pieces of plain chicken which she adored (and I was able to leave the room without her howling in the crate for the first time, as she expected more chicken on my return) but it's not the kind of long lasting thing I was looking for. We have bully sticks and pigs ear type chews - she likes them both, but not quite enough to keep her busy for long, especially not in the crate with the door closed when she'd rather be with me!


----------



## MilesMom (Jun 21, 2012)

Miles loves duck breast jerky! We have had a hard time getting it lately bc of the recalls so he is currently eating lamb jerky, which he also loves. For training classes and training at home we use the jerky, treats made of rabbit, and "Thinkers" treats (some sort of freeze dried treat.) He also really likes the Newman's sweet potato hearts. 

We use our highest value treat when we are off leash trail running, as he really needs to come when called when on the trail. We use hot dog bits for our high value treat which was an idea from threefish. Miles' recall on the trail with hot dogs is excellent. 

In regards to leaving Miles at home with something to do, we use a Kong (full of peanut butter or sweet potato), the Orka cube looking toy with treats inside, the Kong goodie bone with jerky in it, and antlers. That antler was the best 20 bucks we ever spent.


----------



## Claire (May 21, 2012)

Great advice, lots to try there thank you!


----------



## hotmischief (Mar 11, 2012)

Claire,

Bully sticks are good and here isa link for ebay where you can get a box a lot cheaper than in the pet shops and these ones are none smelly!!!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bulls-Piz...3?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Dogs&hash=item4161bc6bfb

I wouldn't feed pigs ears or hide chews as the pigs ears are often tried with chemicals and the hide chews are extremely dangerous. You can find a thread on this forum about how dogs have choked and died when lumps of hide have gotten stuck in their throats.

If you want something healthy that will keep be healthy for her, get her a nice big marrow bone, or lambs neck. If you find a good butcher a lot will give you these bones for a donation to charity.

Training treats - get a packet of frankfurters from the supermarket. Cut them up into small pieces and they will last for ages.

Depending on what you feed, she probably isn't old enough to have developed any allergies but if she does become grain intolerant as so many vizslas are - Tescos do gluten free frankfuters.


----------



## Claire (May 21, 2012)

Ah ok more good advice there, thanks. I'll ditch the pigs ears, she wasn't overly fond of them anyway.


----------



## BaxtersMum (Oct 6, 2012)

Baxter isn't interested in his kong either! 

I have just bought a pigs ear to try :-\ Wasn't going to leave him unsupervised with it though!

Baxter's favourite treats for training and recall are frankfurters and cheese!


----------



## Denaligirl (Aug 28, 2012)

Denali will do ANYTHING for some freeze dried liVer treats (beef or chicken). I think they sell them at most pet stores.


----------



## Denaligirl (Aug 28, 2012)

I just realized you were asking about longer lasting treats. Freeze dried liver treats are gone in seconds, sorry about that! Peanut butter does the trick for us...we freeze it in the kong and it lasts about 20 minutes. I've also seen others suggest freezing wet dog food in the kong. Good luck!


----------



## SteelCityDozer (Aug 25, 2011)

Long lasting is canned dog food frozen in the kong. Or many other things frozen in there.


----------



## Claire (May 21, 2012)

I'll give the canned stuff in the kong a try too. So far she just doesn't seem particularly interested in her kong in general, even with chicken in it, and chicken seems to be by far her favourite thing.


----------



## Denaligirl (Aug 28, 2012)

She may just not have figured it out yet. When we first introduced Denali to the Kong when she was around 9 weeks old, she wasn't impressed either but I think she didn't quite understand it at first. After a few times, she warmed up to it and now LoVes it! Let us know how it goes.


----------



## littlelulu (Jun 21, 2011)

Although they're not as high value as meat containing treats, you can make your own sweet potato chews by slicing sweet potatoes thinly and putting them in the oven on a low temperature (like 200/250 deg F) until they're dried out. Takes several hours though. You can also buy chicken or beef baby food, spread that in a kong and freeze it. Dogs love pureed meat baby food!  I use it to to make yummy cookies for Lu. You can also use it in treat recipes that require you to cook and puree liver (not my fave activity lol). She goes crazy for them.


----------



## Claire (May 21, 2012)

Brilliant, I'll try a few of those! She's got a bit of an upset stomach at the moment so I'm not trying anything new right now, it'll have to wait. One of her littermates was having the same problem and her owner has switched her to raw food, and it's fixed... so that's now something I'm considering. That's a whole other forum topic I suppose...


----------



## hotmischief (Mar 11, 2012)

I had the same problem with my pup - lots of pups get upset stomach when they go to a new home. Their immune systems have a lot to get used to.

I tried a few changes of kibble to try and sort his tummy out... but then changed to raw and bingo all sorted.

There are alot of posts for and against the feeding of raw, it works for my dogs and I like several other members of the forum who live in the UK feed Natural Instinct which is well balanced with fruit and vegetable mixed in. What ever you use it has to suit your life style and pocket.


----------



## Claire (May 21, 2012)

Hotmischief - I'm looking into raw feeding now, so much to read about it so it's a bit daunting - don't want to do it wrong and make her worse, etc. Definitely need to change her diet though, this food definitely isn't agreeing with her and I need to make a decision ASAP. I'm looking into Nature's Menu, as they do pouches? As I understand it they're supposed to be 'ready to serve', but would you happen to know, does this mean you wouldn't have to store them frozen?? 
The site is fairly informative but doesn't answer all my questions... I've done a search of the forum and found quite a lot but still not sure - I thought perhaps a good way to start her off on raw would be those pouches...
Oh, and also another pup from the same litter as mine has been having the same problem - I spoke to her owner about it, and she has moved the pup onto raw food. The puppy seemed to improve almost instantly, which is why it seems like the right way to go.


----------



## hotmischief (Mar 11, 2012)

I had a read up on Nature's Menu and Nature's Diet both look good. My only concern is, as they are in poaches and don't have to be frozen - hence good for storage - does this mean they have preservatives in them.

Don't let that put you off, just be aware - PM *Batersmum* as she is feeding it to Baxter and I believe she is very happy with it. She posted a thread about food which might be worth searching for as she went into in quite a bit of detail. I think she also feed some kibble and some wet food as he is a fussy eater.

I appreciate that storing raw meat is not always easy, so this may be a good solution for you.


----------



## Claire (May 21, 2012)

Just thought I'd add to this post... her deer antler just finally came in the post, and her reaction to it was pretty weird, and funny... she seemed reluctant at first to go to near it, maybe because of its unfamiliar smell. Then she started play-bowing at it, and barking. Now she's rolling around in her crate with it like it's alive... Oh well, whatever keeps her busy.


----------



## SteelCityDozer (Aug 25, 2011)

Claire - too funny. I literally laughed out loud. It she doesn't get the hang of it you might split it for her to expose the inside.


----------



## Claire (May 21, 2012)

She still seems a little bit weird with it, biting it slightly then jumping away... I'll give it another day or two then maybe try to split it!


----------



## hotmischief (Mar 11, 2012)

Good luck with trying to split it Claire!!! When i bought one for Boris at a similar age, the pet shop I got it from suggested soaking it in something like warm chicken stock(oxo cube and hot water). Apparetnly they don't have much flavour.

Despite all my efforts he really wasn't too interested in it. Just watch she doesn't crack a tooth on it.

Ah well, at least she enjoys bowing and barking at it


----------



## KB87 (Jan 30, 2012)

The place we get our antlers from suggested boiling the antler in chicken stock or smearing peanut butter on it to interest them at first. I was told they don't have much of a scent which
I'm not certain I believe after our boy rummaged through a whole bag of squeaky toys and bones, only to come out with the antler I had bought him.

Haeden did a similar thing with playing with it and jumping on it. He still does but will chew on it after he's done playing with it. They must just be fun toys!


----------



## Claire (May 21, 2012)

I'm not sure I believe that either, about them having not much of a smell - I could smell it pretty strongly when I held it up to my face... the smell certainly got her interest, but maybe she doesn't like the taste. I've recently got her into peanut butter so I might try putting some of that on it!


----------



## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

I didn't give Elza an antler until she was about 7 months old I think. But I have to say she absolutely loves them. She's been through a few already and I keep buying them since its a healthier option for her. Plus they're not that hard, or I just try to look for a smaller one, some are softer than others. 

My only problem is that Elza throws them around. She will pick it up then sort of flick it in the air and drop it then again and again with a lot of roorooing and barking and running around like a maniac (not the zoomies). Oh other times she will stand on it with one paw and slide around the room like that while trying to bite it. That also comes with lots of noise.  
Don't ask how much damage we've got on our oak flooring... :-[

Anyway Claire you might want to try the flexibone nylabones. Those are softer than the normal nylabones and better for your pups gums and growing teeth.


----------



## KB87 (Jan 30, 2012)

Adrino, Haeden does the same thing- sliding around with one paw on the antler. It's done a number to some areas of our hardwood too . Glad to hear he's not alone and not our of his mind!


----------

