IF you are looking for a cheap and easy training treat for your dog, you have come to the right place. I give a treat bag and a container of treats to all of our sitters so they can have treats for the dogs we take care for. We have found Red Barn rolled food, cut up into 1/4 inch cubes work great.
What Makes A Great Training Treat
When you are training your dog it is best to use lots of small medium to high value treats. In addition treats should be
- Healthy for your dog – even if they eat a lot!
- Should be able to replace a meal, if you have a long training session
- They should be very simple to make
- Should not take very long to make
- Keep your dog’s interest though an entire training session
- Have limited ingredients that are well sourced
- Be Easy to make and Convient
I like using a treat that is really just a high-end dog food. This way I can feel good about replacing an entire meal with a training session.
Cutting Up The Treats
Cut the treats into little pea sized portions. The key to a great clicker training treat is to keep the size of the treat small while still having a flavor that is “High Value” to your dog. This will get your dog to work hard for each little nibble.
You can cut up a whole roll, put them in a snapware container, and keep it in the refrigerator.
Be Sure To Refigerate
The rolled food must be refrigerated once you open the package.
I found that refrigerating the treats is a worthwhile trade-off for the good price and healthiness of these treats.
After I thought about it a bit, its a bit weird that almost all pet food is not refrigerated!
Some Treats To Avoid
When I first started learning about training, I bought some treats such as Zukes and Pet Botanics that were marketed as “Training Treats”.
I found that these brands, and a lot of the shelf stable treats were not so good. They are often very expensive, dogs are not very interested in them (especially if they are a couple weeks old), and they contain lots of extra ingredients that can make dogs sick.
