# Healthy Soft Training Treats?



## NateDieselF4i (Sep 14, 2010)

I looked over in the training forum, but most people cut up jerky and/or hotdogs it seems.

Here is mine and Kane's situation. He's almost 8 weeks now, and we're working on basic commands. Come / Sit. And working on him being on the lead.

I got some all natural organic Sammy's Treats (I think) that he likes but they're crunchy and tough for him to get down in one go. Same with the CHeese Please 100% cheese treats I got.

So we found these soft ones called Gooberlicious or something ridiculous at PetSMart that didn't appear to be too bad on the nutrition scale, so I figured i'd try those and see how he likes them. I break them into two and he can woof them down easy and fast. 

Well he LOVES them. they do however have a horrible, terrible, side effect.

Gas. Horrible putrid, wretched, peel paint type of gas. 

So those are gone.

Any other suggestions?


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## LadyRampage (Apr 11, 2009)

Hmm I use carrots alot... course they are crunchy but the dogs love them and they know they are the treats they get during the show season..lol


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## NateDieselF4i (Sep 14, 2010)

Interesting - like halved baby carrots and/or carrot slices?


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## LadyRampage (Apr 11, 2009)

I give them those mini carrots..lol I carry a bag with me on the road trips..lol On the road I randomly give them all a whole carrot to munch on.


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## MY MIKADO (Apr 7, 2006)

If I want to use treats mostly with DaVinci( my toller cross) I use bil-jac. They come in two sizes you can break them in half easily so you can very small treats that are easy to eat in a bite. Great for training.


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## Runthru (Sep 22, 2010)

Pinkie loves Pet Botanics healthy omega treats.
I know they sound really pricy, but actually pretty cheap and I cut them in half.


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## Sadie (Jun 18, 2008)

My dogs like apples LOL I use sliced apples and they really love them.


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## truepits92 (Nov 23, 2010)

Tractor supply has a few nice soft treats for training. "Retriever liver bites" and "chicken bites" I don't have the chicken in front of me ATM but the liver ones are - Liver, Corn Meal, Chicken Meal, Wheat flour, Weat Startch, Animal Fat. simple and easy to use. I use real food normally tho these were just somthing I use to mix it up a bit  Another FAV is peanutbutter when my guys were all younger it was a quick reward hope any of this helps.


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## k8nkane (Jul 9, 2010)

My boy has allergies, so I use _Zuke's Mini Naturals_. They come in all different flavors (salmon, peanut butter, chicken, etc) and they're a great, small size. They're just enough for my Kane to get excited about, but not too much for him to get fat on. They're only 2 calories each. They also have no by-products, artifical colors or flavors, and are completely wheat, corn, and soy-free.

Here's their website, if you want to read more about it.

Zukes Mini Naturals - Dog Training Treats, The Perfect Training Treat for Dogs

I can grab them at pet supplies plus and, I believe, Petsmart.


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## performanceknls (Apr 4, 2009)

when you are working on training a dog and giving lots of treats you need to be mindful of a few things.

They need soft treats so they can eat them quickly, crunchy treats they have to drop their head to chew and they get all over and the dog will start sniffing the floor.

You can give your dog pancreatitis by giving too many treats! for this reason you need to give small amounts not whole treats.

You need to use power treats not boring old dog treats that may smell good but really you want "to die for" treats.

My favorite training treats are hotdogs (you can also use turkey dogs)! They are super cheap, smell good, easy to chew, and easy to make small. When you use hotdogs you do not use one hotdog per training session you only use 1/2 to 1/4 each session. What I do is cut the hotdog in half length wise the roll it over and cut length wise again and you have cut it into 4 long strips. Then cut along the width the make 4 small pieces all along the hotdog. One of those small quarter pieces is all they need for one treat when training. You can see that makes a ton of pieces and why 1/4 or 1/2 of the hotdog is more than enough for a training session. You can also use string cheese, lunch meat, boiled liver, or any type of cooked meat. This should help with your pocket book and with training. Training should be fun and using great treats help the process along.


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## NateDieselF4i (Sep 14, 2010)

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I'll give them a try and see what works best for Kane.

And yes Performance, those are great reasons for the soft chews, and is why I was asking. Hard to train a dog that is too busy crunching on his delicious treats! 

We're only doing small training things as of right now. He's just around 8 weeks old so nothing too intense yet.


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## performanceknls (Apr 4, 2009)

If you want something healthier than hotdogs get some liver at the store. Boil it and chop it into small pieces that will have no additives, it's soft, and the dogs love it.


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