Recommended Training Treats

Treats are ESSENTIAL for training! You won't need them forever but for now, you'll needs lots and lots of soft, yummy treats to train your dog. Here are some things to consider:

• Delicious Your pup must love the treats you use! Many pups love kibble enough for you to use that put also include really special treats like small pieces of steak, chicken, and cheese.
• Not too rich Your pup is going to get a lot of treats so be sure they aren’t too rich for your pup’s GI tract.
• Size. The size of your puppy will determine the maximum size you want to use. but think about treats being about ½ the size of your little fingernail. They must be small enough so the pup can eat a lot and not get full but large enough that they can be seen when tossed on the bottom of the crate floor.
• Healthy You are going to be using a lot of treats so you want most of them to be healthy for your puppy.if you have black crate pans, use light-colored treats like pork or chicken

Be a Sleuth–What Does Your Puppy Love?

To keep your puppy motivated, you may have to do a little sleuthing to find out what treats your puppy loves enough to keep working for. Most dogs love meat and cheese but which are your pup’s favorites? Does your pup like variety or does it prefer one specific treat?

We like to think of treats as having dollar values for our puppies. Some treats, such as a piece of kibble, might be worth only $0.05 to your dog, while a piece of steak might be $100! So if your pup likes variety, use a mix of low, medium, and a few high-value treats to keep him guessing during each session.

More is Better Puppies are smart, too! Most know that bigger pieces or more small ones are better than just one. So vary the size of the treats you use from teeny tiny, half the size of your little fingernail, to larger, say the size of your thumbnail. Most of the time, give the tiny treats but when your pup is doing really well, trying super hard, or getting tired during an exercise, hand him a bigger treat as a surprise. You will need more treats than you expect so load up now and before every training session. You don’t want to run out!

Here are some of our favorites.

• Diced cooked chicken, beef, turkey, pork, or fish. This is a great use of leftovers!
• Diced hard cheese or string cheese
• Real Meat Dog Treats Zuke’s Minis Smear some plain yogurt or rehydrated peanut butter on the inside of a coffee mug and then freeze it.

Let your pup lick the mug clean while you do the exercises. We recommend PB2 dehydrated peanut butter because it has no xylitol in it. If you use other peanut butter, you MUST make sure it does not contain xylitol, which isn’t always on the label. If you are unsure about feeding meat or cheese, sometimes known as “people food,” to your dog, please read this blog post.

Watch Your Pup’s Weight Although puppy fitness is not a weight-control program, we don’t want to make our pup fat so cut back on his mealtime food and give him more calories while doing Fit For Life Puppy and other training. Not sure your pup is at the right weight? Learn to do the Tissue Test Test in our Youtube video.

Salmon Treats 

• 1 large can salmon
• 3 eggs
• 1-2 cups oat flour

Mix salmon and eggs in a bowl. Stir in a cup or two of oat flour. Spread out on a cooking sheet. Cover the dough with plastic wrap to help with spreading but DON’T forget to remove the plastic wrap before baking.

Bake at 400 F (204.4 C) until golden and cooked through. Use a cooling rack to cool, and then cut into small pieces. Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks for the best results.

Note: You can substitute peanut butter or liverwurst for the salmon.

Cheesy Garlic Treats

• 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 cup tapioca flour
• 2 eggs
• about 15 ounces of canned meat or fish in water 1/4 cup
• Parmesan cheese
• 1-2 tsp garlic

Mix and bake at 350 F (180 C) for 20-30 minutes in a 9″x13″ pan, a cookie pan that has been greased and lined with parchment paper, or silicone mat.

Cool and cut with a pizza cutter to the desired size and freeze in baggies. Try with salmon, tuna, sardine, clams, anchovies, and chicken.  

Salmon Cookies

• one 14-15 ounce can salmon
• one cup potato flour or one cup plus enough to make a stiff dough of another flour (oat, etc.)
• 2 eggs

Mix and either roll out and use cookie cutters, or press onto a cookie sheet.

Cook to desired firmness at 250 F (121 C).

If pressed flat, you can cut with a pizza cutter halfway through into bite-sized pieces. This also works with silicone grids to make bite-sized cookies.     

Baked Liver

• One package of calve’s or beef liver

Line a baking tray with parchment paper, place the liver on the paper-lined tray and bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 350 F (180 C) or so.

Cut into small cubes, distribute into small bags, and freeze.

You can also dice before baking.   

Dehydrated Beef Liver

• One package of calf or beef liver

Dry beef livers in a dehydrator.

You can also dehydrate sweet potatoes and kale sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.

You can also dehydrate chicken breasts, beef heart, beef tripe, sweet potatoes, chicken hearts, fish, etc.

Keep a tub of these in your freezer.  

Tuna Treats

• Large can tuna
• 2 eggs
• coconut flour canned or cooked pumpkin
• optional ingredients: blueberries, spirulina

Mix a large tin of tuna with eggs, a small amount of coconut flour, cooked pumpkin, and add things like spirulina and blueberries mashed in a Nutri Bullet or other blender.

Spread the mixture into silicone 160 grid trays and bake them 10-15 minutes on medium heat.

Watch them closely.

Once cool, freeze in small batches.