???Not sure if this is healthy enough for you??? I use the charlee bear treats. They are freeze dried liver inside of a crunchy shell. Not greasy and very pocket friendly. Reasonably priced, made in america and not low calorie.

For real serious training I would also use chopped up pieces of hot dog. Dogs will focus and do whatever you want for a piece of hot dog.

I like to use liver treats...or small pieces of cheese.

I've bought those authority liver treats and I slice them into much smaller pieces than they come in the bag.

I've also cooked up chicken livers, refrigerated them and sliced them into small pieces also.

I use really, really small pieces. Just finger tip size...They just need a small taste for incentive -- rather than something to eat.

Charlee Bears are good and I think are only 3 calories each. If you could alternate the dried liver bits and cheese pieces, that might make it easier on the tummy. The other trick you could use is put some cheerios in a ziplock bag with some more smelly treats and they will pick up some of the smell (and thus be more high value than just normal cheerios). This also lets you vary the reward - use a cheerio for a regular reward, and the smelly treat for a great one.

I also like the Natural Balance food roll - it can be used as a food, so it's not that bad (although it has nitrates). You slice it in disks and then break those into teeny little bits. I usually keep some of the disks for immediate use but freeze the rest - they thaw very quickly when you need them. Another healthy (and yummy) treat that I use is Zuke's Minis - my dogs particularly like the salmon variety, and the Minis are a great size (about like a pinky fingernail). The new Wellness treats (the Pure Rewards jerky ones) are great also, and very healthy.

My dogs also love fishy smelling things, so one of the things that I always have is a small bag of fish-based kibble (I buy like the smallest bag, usually around 5 lbs, and get a resealable one to keep it fresh). You can even get the cat fish kibble, since they usually make it more smelly to appeal to cats. Since it's just a regular food it is fairly healthy and really inexpensive too.

Using little treats is the key though so you don't overload. One tip I got from a trainer is that when you want to give a "jackpot" reward (for something really, really great that the dog did) to give 5-6 small treats in very quick succession, with some enthusiastic praise. It has a bigger effect on them than one bigger treat (which my dogs swallow just as fast as the little treats). Good luck with your training!

Lexie,

The tastier the treat, the better the training. I use hot dogs, cut up really small (one hot dog makes about 20 tidbits). I also use cut up boiled chicken (1/2" pieces) and teeny cubes of cheddar cheese. I use cheese sparingly.

For a really healthy treat, I sometimes make tuna brownines...

Tuna Brownies
2 cans of tuna drained
2 eggs
1 tsp garlic powder
1-1/2 cups of flour (I use whole wheat)

Mix together well. Press or roll on a cookie sheet to about 1/4" thick.
Bake at 250 degrees for 30 minutes. Cut into 1/4" cubes.
Note that baking tuna brownies make your house smell like a tuna factory. For variety I sometimes add 1-2T of parmesan cheese to the dough. Store them in the fridge. You can freeze these, too.

I meant to say the charlee bear treats are low cal. not "not low cal". Originally that was "not high cal" You get the picture.

I feed my dog Nature's Variety Prarie dry food, which comes in tiny bits of kibble. The pieces are so small that they work well for training. I also use them for treats when we go for long hikes, so as not to upset his stomach by giving him too much of a different food source.

I use Charlee Bears, string cheese, turkey hotdogs(lower in fat) and Timberwolf Organics Black Forest formula dog food. I usually try to alternate treats to keep things interesting.

Lisa

What we've found to be effective with Capone is the Pet Botanics brand 'dog food in a tube'. He enjoys the lamb, but the are beef and chicken options as well.

I would also recommend sticking with the softer treats - you want pieces small enough to gulp down quickly. Crunchy treats are Capone's ultimate preference, but he doesn't stay as focused because he takes too long crunching away on his carrot or whatever. In addition: we save one very special treat just for his recall - in his case, turkey hotdogs. This is the only time he gets these hotdog bits, so the idea is that when we call him, he is supermotivated to haul his butt as fast as he can to where ever we may be, and plant himself front and center.... after all, his recall signal indicates hotdog time and that's got to be better than whatever he's sniffing.

Are your dogs food motivated and not picky? When I trained Fynne the lab, I used his dry food as treats, since he would eat anything happily.

Wow, thanks everyone for your suggestions!
Maybe I didn't make clear that I am not taking MY dog to classes, but that I am assisting a trainer with other people's dogs. (quick look... nope not clear at all!)

I love the suggestions you have put out already.
What about a "recipe" that has a variety of things, maybe similar to a bone recipe but it doesn't have to get crunchy? With so many great ideas so far, I know there's a great bone recipe or two out there!!

My hope is to get a basic recipe that I can then play with to add different flavors. Then I can mix them all in a bag so that I have something the owner doesn't have, for when their treats lose value.

As my contribution, your dogs may like baked hot dogs with cheerios. I mix about 5 parts unflavored, unsweetened cheerios with 1 part hot dog (cut into thin rounds, then quartered) and bake at a very low temp until the hot dogs dry out. Mix every 15-30 minutes to spread the hot dog fat onto the cheerios. I worked in a dog shelter, and I didn't meet a dog in three months that could refuse them!