Best treats for training

[Dahliasrule]

In the videos about training dogs, the trainers seem to use an inordinate amount of treats. Our dog already has a weight problem. I do try and break the treats into little pieces to make them go further. Is there a special type of small, low calorie treats that dogs go max for that I don’t know about?

Mad for not max!

Yes. Buy some ox liver, (it's really cheap) cook till it's a leathery consistency and cut up into tiny pieces.

@Dahliasrule I find the higher the value of treat (in my dog’s opinion) the more calorific it is. At the moment he values turkey which isn’t too bad, but I have to switch things around to keep the value.

Depending on how many treats I have used I will adjust the amount of his normal feed. When he was a young puppy I would use his kibble ration to train. Unfortunately that’s not high enough in value for him now!

JR pate can be cut up really small, is fairly high value for most dogs, and is a complete food so if you reduce food allowance you don't have to think about the balance of food to treats so much.

@CyberStrider that’s a really good point about the complete food. I’ve not used JR pate- will check it out

I agree with the dried liver. Or dried sprats. (🤢)

@Nella68 - I remember having a panic when I read a packet of dog treats which said a 10kg puppy could have one a day and wondering how on earth I was going to manage to train anything with 1 treat! JR pate saved my sanity with a dog who wasn't prepared to work for kibble.

There are a few pates on the market now that can be cut up small and tend to be high value.

What a lot of people don’t realise is that the amount you feed your dog needs to take into account if they are fed anything outside of that bowl. So if you’re feeding your dog a handful of treats a day, cut their food down.

Same for chews and other bits dogs often get fed.

I train most days, so instead of feeding 100g of food, I feed 75-80g of food. The treats and chews will make up the loss.

If your dog is already overweight then you need to reduce the food even further. Low calorie treats won’t stop them getting fatter if it’s fed on top of too much food anyway. The back of the pack is usually a guide for a very active, fit dog. Most dogs need much less.

better yet, if you feed kibble, use their dinner to train with. No extra calories.

I change the treat depending on what I'm doing - for training inside the house I use kibble or chopped up carrot or cucumber (my dog loves veg!), for recall training out and about I use a really high value treat. Training treats only need to be the size of your little finger nail (I always break shop-bought ones up too) and if mine's getting a lot of training treats I cut down his dinner.

Thanks for input. Have ordered some Jr pate to try as kibble doesn’t cut it for training. ( I don’t really know how she is overweight as she never finishes her kibble and her treats are usually only a few chicken wraps left over from her dinner.). The pate sounds good as it is a complete food.

Scraps not wraps. A few wraps would be fattening!

I would reduce the amount of kibble. I also agree that training treats can be very small. My wolfhounds get no more than a fingernail sized bit. And sometimes they get praise or a cuddle instead!

I'm another fan of JR Pate, you can slice or dice it and freeze it, then just defrost what you need each day

I am an agility trainer and train my own dog who is a 6 Kg terrier! I use pate - whatever I can get - cut up very small. I adjust her closest meal to a half and feed the pate as the rest. She is really lean (she is spayed) and fit. If I can't use the pate say, it's too hot to keep safely, I use 90% fish treats (I buy mine from Millie's Wolfheart where her food comes from) and adjust her meals if I have or am aiming to use more than a few. I also break them in half.

You need very little food for training. Most people give them WAY too much IME. Last night I was teaching and I broke the treats given to me into 6 - 7 pieces. The dog just needs to taste it and want more. Having and training small dogs the treats HAVE to take the place of at least some of the meal so not to gain weight. I have always used loads of treats for my dogs and none have been overweight.

We use sprats which our girl loves despite not being very food driven and you can break them up into smaller pieces to make them go further. They do have a rather pungent smell though

How much dog experience do you have?
With the help of a good trainer you could look into clicker training....
I also often use a rope toy or ball as reward- but my dog has a ball obsession!