Treats For Your Dog

[Mobasser]

We have three dogs at our house. Two terriers, and one dachshund. They love theyre treats, and they're treats are what motivates part of they're behavior.                                                              They like Milk Bones, and especially like the darker " gravy" brand Milk Bones. Generic brand bones they'll ignore much of the time. They're very favorites are soft chewy treats. Wavy Bacon, Pupperoni, and Milk Bone dental chews, which I break in half for them.                                                                     I try and dole out treats as a reward for them. And, dogs are smart. They learn quickly exactly how to act to get another treat.                                          Because our dogs are not large, I can often break the treats in half for them. They don't seem to mind at all.             What treats do you give your dogs? Are there any brands or types that they like especially well?

[gim]

My dog is a 12 year old British yellow lab female.  She is a bottomless pit.

 

My wife is more generous with the treats than I am.  We also use milk bones in the medium size.  When we are gone for a longer period of time, I will give her a rawhide bone or strip to chew on.  It takes her longer than 1 second to chew/eat it and its good for her teeth.

 

 

[Eric 26]

We also have 3 dogs at my house and they get a treat when they go to the pen first thing in the morning. Our male gets a large milk bone biscuit and the 2 ladies get a medium milk bone biscuit. Years ago when we got our first German Shepherd my wife took her to training class and for a reward we used bil Jac liver treats. 

[A-Jay]

Been feeding our pack dry dog food for years.

Moisten in advance for a few minutes with H20 and they inhale it.

We are also fans of positive reinforcement training using 'treats'.

But what works for us, is to simply use the same brand of dry food they are eating,

just a different flavor as 'treats'.  4 or 5 little pieces of food is all it takes to get the job done. 

Sometimes it takes a while to find 'the right one' (flavor) especially if you have several dogs.

Less expensive than 'treats', easier to keep (inside or outside) in any weather, 

and while many folks don't want to hear it, far better for the overall health of any dog. While actual Milk Bones seem OK ingredient wise,

many off brand Treats are REALLY bad news.

 

We keep these 'treats'  all over the place in small containers.

At every door leading outside, in side & outside the kennel, and most of all,

In Our 'Dog Coat' Pockets. 

The dogs ALL Learn very quickly where each and every one is.

All we need to do is 'shake it' and they come running - full speed. 

Works wonders for "Leave It" and "Come".

Recall is a big deal in the woods. 

A 40 lb bag lasts 'a while'.

Finally, doesn't always work with foster dogs, especially early on.

That's when we resort to one of the no doubters - pieces of bacon or hot dog. 

Only do that to gain trust, then we make the switch; especially if the re-home takes several weeks or months. 

A-Jay

 

 

 

[VolFan]

Similar to AJ,  I use our cats’ dry food as treats for our lab. She’d do the taxes for that stuff. Heading for an open gate? Stops her like she got sniped. All you have to do is grab the ziploc and say treat and she’ll show off every trick she knows. 

[Skunkmaster-k]

Sam gets a fresh chicken egg every morning. Saturday when the wife goes to get groceries, she picks him up a new bone at Tractor Supply . 

[TOXIC]

Lots has been written lately on the good and bad for dogs.  I have a friend in Michigan who’s wife runs a store called Pupper Budder and they have done massive research and started out making dog treats at home and got so overwhelmed, they had to go to a commercial kitchen and open up a storefront.  They only sell healthy treats.https://www.pupperbuddertreats.com/  With our past 2 Weimaraners we gave them all the bad rated treats like Milk Bones and Rawhides and never experienced any ill effects.  Our last weim found a deer shed and chewed on it for a number of years.  I am a currently living vicariously through my daughters 3 dogs.  The 2 GSD are Shutzhound trained and the third is a Malanois/cattle dog cross.  She works all 3 from horseback so they are in peak shape all the time.  There are only a few people these dogs will respond to and luckily I’m one.  I’ve known them since they were pups.  

[roadwarrior]

Well, those guys look like my friends, but I would not like being an enemy!

[J Francho]

Coltrane gets kittens and precocious children for treats. High protein and totally natural. 
 

JK, we like Buddy Biscuit PB and Greenies. 

[Choporoz]

4 hours ago, VolFan said:

Similar to AJ,  I use our cats’ dry food as treats for our lab. She’d do the taxes for that stuff. 

We've caught Bruno with his nose in the bowl we put out for the barn cats, but I never thought about using it as a treat.  Great idea

[A-Jay]

Cat food has a designed higher protein content vs dog food.

Feeding cat food to your dog over the long term 

might not be the best plan.

Look it up.

A-Jay

[GreenPig]

My girl Bailey(Dachshund) that thinks she's a cross between a Greyhound/Bull Mastiff/Draft Horse/Great Dane is highly allergic to any chicken. So she gets a few special mass produced chicken free treats but really loves a plate of baked Spotted Bass, dices tomatoes, matchstick carrots, and shredded cheddar.

[Mike L]

The 2 Great Danes get a variety of things.
We prefer to buy treats from the same manufacturer of their food. 
They don’t seem to care. 
 

I also mix a very small amount of bacon grease in thier food once in while which keeps thier coat shiny, especially the Blacks 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[Mobasser]

12 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Cat food has a designed higher protein content vs dog food.

Feeding cat food to your dog over the long term 

might not be the best plan.

Look it up.

A-Jay

I have read this also. I will say we've cut back on the number of treats we give our dogs. Too many is not good for them. They're like kids with a bag of candy. They'll eat the entire package if they can.

 

[Mike L]

13 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Cat food has a designed higher protein content vs dog food.

Feeding cat food to your dog over the long term 

might not be the best plan.

Look it up.

A-Jay

I was told the same. 
 

When we got our first Dane the Vet was emphatic to never give him cat food. 
( That was 30 yrs ago)

 

 

 

Mike

[Mobasser]

2 minutes ago, Mike L said:

The 2 Great Danes get a variety of things.
We prefer to buy treats from the same manufacturer of their food. 
They don’t seem to care. 
 

I also mix a very small amount of bacon grease in thier food once in while which keeps thier coat shiny, especially the Blacks 

 

 

 

 

Mike

Mike, my grandpa raised hunting dogs, and would add a raw egg to they're food on occasion. He said it helped they're fur look shiny also. I remember those dogs loving it.

[gim]

9 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

They'll eat the entire package if they can.

 

My dog has zero control over her appetite.  She would eat an entire 40 pound bag of dog food and her stomach would explode.  Food trumps everything else in her life.

 

One day in December, when I was pheasant hunting, we came across about a week old dead cow that the farmer had dumped in the field.  That thing was like finding a pot of gold for her lol.  She immediately forgot about me and the reason we were out there (to find birds) and started chewing on it.  I had to grab her by the collar and pull her away from it.  Luckily we were at the end of the spot at that point.  I have a feeling she would still be there if I had left her...

 

[A-Jay]

35 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

Mike, my grandpa raised hunting dogs, and would add a raw egg to they're food on occasion. He said it helped they're fur look shiny also. I remember those dogs loving it.

I did the egg yolk thing with all the sled dogs for a while.

But I gave it up as I needed a gas mask to get behind them on the sled.

Stink city !

Dog farts are no picnic but egg dog farts are just a whole new level.

Way back in the day, we took 3 Giant Malamute puppies to a puppy training class

inside a small pet shop with about 10 other dogs & owners.

They had several eggs before we left.

(Granted they were already 50 lbs and it was like a rodeo gone wild)

and they cleared the room.

By wife never let's me forget that one.

Same reason we don't feed fish based foods. 

They always come out smelling far worse than when they went it. 

A-Jay

 

[Mike L]

40 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

Mike, my grandpa raised hunting dogs, and would add a raw egg to their food on occasion. He said it helped their fur look shiny also. I remember those dogs loving it.

I heard that works also plus an egg once in awhile is good for them. 
 

 

 

 

Mike

[Way north bass guy]

2 hours ago, A-Jay said:

I did the egg yolk thing with all the sled dogs for a while.

But I gave it up as I needed a gas mask to get behind them on the sled.

Stink city !

Dog farts are no picnic but egg dog farts are just a whole new level.

Way back in the day, we took 3 Giant Malamute puppies to a puppy training class

inside a small pet shop with about 10 other dogs & owners.

They had several eggs before we left.

(Granted they were already 50 lbs and it was like a rodeo gone wild)

and they cleared the room.

By wife never let's me forget that one.

Same reason we don't feed fish based foods. 

They always come out smelling far worse than when they went it. 

A-Jay

 

I’ve commented to my wife many times how one of our two dogs can all of a sudden have the worst smelling gas for a day ( often at night when they’re sleeping in their beds in our bedroom!), even though they eat EXACTLY the same thing every single day! Same amount of the same food at the same time, same number of treats of the same kind every day, and they don’t roam out of our yard, so there’s not much opportunity to sample any new “stuff” when they’re outside. Seems like about once every two weeks or so we have to sleep with a window open, no matter what the outside temps are 🤢. 

[12poundbass]

Hank loves his carrots! We found a few weeks ago that he loves lettuce too.

 

 

[Woody B]

Dolly (our Yorkie) is diabetic.   She's on a strict diet.  Her vet  (I tell Dolly the vet is her "Dogtor) said to give her up to 4 "greenies" (the smallest ones) a day, but no more than 20 a week.   Sammy (our Beagle mix) get's a couple greenies a day too for his teeth.   

[steves191145]

I dehydrate beef heart and liver to use for treats. Deer heart and liver work equally well. I'm not a fan of the tongue either so the dogs always get those too.

[VolFan]

100% agree with everyone on not feeding dogs cat food. She gets maybe five kibble/day of it and both our dog and cats’ foods are made of pure salmon and unicorn tears 😀.  I’m not defensive you’re defensive…

Our go-to chew for her has been elk antlers, which has been great. Her interactions with rawhide have been short-lived and, shortly later, disgusting. It’s all about what works with you and your dog’s digestive sensitivities.

[Susky River Rat]

My dog is well special. He is on prescription food for food allergies and the treats he gets are prescription as well to follow that diet. I hate that we are very limited in what we can give him. He was diagnosed with HGE which is a stomach infection that makes the inside of their stomach bleed. It was terrible he was hospitalized. I really thought that was it and we were going to lose him. We practically had to nurse him back into eating using baby food to start.  They said although there is no real cure or true way to prevent it and very strict diet will help. 
 

he is on hills Z/D kibble and the treats that go along with that. We also use the prescription purinia gentle snackers. He does get a table spoon of boiled strained 99% lean beef to give his kibble more flavor as it is a very very bland diet.