The best training treat for your dog!
One of the questions we get most frequently at the store is - what’s your best treat for training?
While there is a whole bunch of different ways to answer this question we like to focus on a few factors:
Ingredient list - our experience tells us dogs prefer treats with a smaller ingredient list. Over half of the treats we sell in store are single ingredients and many more have just 2 or 3. Having a low ingredient treat means we don’t have to worry as much about limiting the amount the dog gets. Yes we call them ‘treats’ but if they’re healthy, single ingredient foods there is almost no limit to the amount we can use to reward the dog.
Some low ingredient treat companies include: Crumps, Open Farm and Green Juju.
Here’s an example of a great, Canadian souced and produced training treat from Great Jacks.
Processing - how ‘cooked’ are the treats? How much processing and steps are involved in making the treat? The less processed and cooked the treats are, the higher value they tend to be for dogs. This again enables us to treat the dog more liberally without the concern of it being unhealthy for the dog. We can even use dehydrated and freeze dried foods as an economical option as well.
Some low processing treat companies include: Yappetizers, Rawbone and Wild Vibes
Format (size and shape) - when we’re doing lots of training and treating having appropriate size and easy to break up treats can make it much easier to reward the dog on a regular basis. Having large, or hard to break apart treats means that we will either struggle to break them up and miss good training opportunities or use larger pieces and go through our treat stash too fast. Having the right format of treats can go a long way in making you as a trainer smoother in your delivery of rewards.
Some training size treat companies include: Great Jacks, Bocce’s and Iti.
Sourcing - Where the treats come from and how they are made is also an important factor. Whenever possible we try to choose local and low ingredient treats. This helps us support other smaller businesses as well as keeping money in our local economy. And during times when supply chain issues arise, local companies always perform better.
Some of our fav local treat companies include: Nammy, Only One and Puppy World.
Having the right treats for your dog training can make a big difference in your dog’s success. The right treat can really speed up your training goals with your dog. If you need any help picking the right treat, contact or come by the store and we’ll show you some of our top pics.
Check out these and all of our favorite treat choices at Discover Dogs website.
