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Dog treats are special types of dog food given...

Dog treats are special types of dog food given as a reward, not as a staple food source. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Treats are a good way to teach dog new behaviors without the use of choke chains, pinch collars, or electronic shock collars.  Some treats are better than others for training.  For example, soft treats are better than hard treats for training.

 

Soft treats are better because:

 

  • They can be consumed more quickly
  • They make less of a mess
  • They can be broken down into small pieces more easily, which is important because you want a smaller treat since you will be using them frequently. We don’t want your dog to gain weight because of training.

 

You want your treat to be about the size of a pea.  The size of the dog doesn’t matter as far as the treat size.  You want a treat that is just large enough to work for.

 

Some possible treats to consider are:

 

  • Authority Liver Treats (available only at PetSmart)
  • Bill Jack Little Jacks Training Treats
  • Bill Jack Liver Treats
  • Bill Jack Peanut Butter Treats
  • Canine Carry-outs (various flavors)
  • Nature’s Recipe Training Treats
  • Natures Recipe Venison Training Treats
  • Nutro Natural Choice Training Treats
  • Pet Botanics Rolled Meat
  • Pet Botanics Training Treats
  • Pup-peroni
  • Snausages
  • Starmark Every Flavor Dog Treats
  • Baked Chicken
  • Lunch Meat
  • Other meats cut into small pieces.

 

All treats should be cut into pea sized pieces.  You may want to purchase a treat bag at your favorite pet store or at Karen Pryor’s website: http://www.clickertraining.com.

 

Some treats must be refrigerated after opening or baking.  Please read the treat’s bag to make sure that you don’t need to refrigerate them.  We don’t want your dog getting sick from spoiled treats.

 

If your dog is not motivated by food (most are) you can use something that does motivate your dog like a favorite toy, a ball, petting and affection.

 

Plan on using about 50 to 100 treats per hour long training session.  Have that many prepared for each and every official training session.

 

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