Training for Tricks and Treats
 

Hi!

A few of my babies I am keeping from my last litter will be 12 weeks soon. I am wondering what types of treats would be best to train them for some tricks. (Sit, come, stay, turn, etc). I have been watching all these cute videos on You tube and they are giving them treats they love!! I want to give them something healthy!! There is so much junk out there that is marketed. Any suggestions for the tried and true? Thanks :)

If you are going to do training that is 15 minutes a day, I suggest you use the regular food for the training. Use the food from the breakfast or dinner meal. I use all of Joey's breakfast, and half of his dinner meal for training. If they are hungry, training works better anyways because they are really attentive. If this doesn't work time-wise with you, you could always feed them half, and then use the rest for training at a later time. When first learning a trick, a reward should be given every time the task is performed so that's lots of treats.

During a trick training class, training was rather intensive and they had to learn quite a bit each week. I started with something like regular cherries, and while not terrible nutritious in themselves, however, they are so tiny, calorie wise; it wouldn't fill him up fast. As training progressed, Joey got more and more finicky in what he thought a suitable treat was. Petsmart sells a freeze-dried liver product that Joey really loves, it has no preservatives and is 100% liver with no added flour or filler. This is a special treat he gets daily. Other good treats are green beans, and frozen peas.

Wellness has a whole line of great treats.
But why not stick in a chicken breat or a steak to biol and chop it up into small sized treats. I use that all the time for high training persoids and you can buy a tough steack and boil it and a dog is not going to care it a cheap cut.

Freeze them on a cookie sheet and toss them in a zip lock in the fridge.

there a few good books 100 things to do with a box by smith for tricks.

I going to have to wait till I get home to pull the book off my shelf but there another one that great for the bacis but has some nice tricks explained and I can see the book in my head but the autors name is not coming.. but with around 60 books on mmy shelf on dogs and behaviour that to be expected.

JL

Thank you I am taking any bits of advice I can get on the matter:)

I buy "TRAIN ME!" treats and then cut them into 8 pieces so they are about the size of her food. She would use her food when we first started, but then I had to start getting a little more creative. I will also do fresh chicken from the deli that I have sliced up small.

Sorry long day at work but the second book I was thinking of was
Clicking with your dog bu Peggy Tillman. Now I see if you can get it frrom the liabary as it only really a chapter and a little on tricks but the hold book is on training and the basics.

JL

Milkbone chewy chicken drumsticks, parted in little tiny pieces, but keep the big pieces in the back of the hand. It's important that the pup smells the treat. That is why is important that the treat has a strong smell. If it doesn't, you have to tease him a bit, by placing a little piece on top of his nose, but take it awy slowly, just to catch his attention. extra sharp cheese is great, at least it works with trixie. She would do anything for a piece of cheese. Just be careful. They do get addicted to treats. If they dont like the treat, they will not do the trick. Eventually, you wont need to give them the treat for them to do it, but meanwhile, what the treat must be extremely tempting to them.

thank you! one more question on the training... at which age should i start? thanks :-)

When I want to really get Zoe's attention, I use a little piece of cheese. She will do just about anything for cheese. Or course, this is not a regular everyday kind of treat only for something really special like when she was potty training. I also found a recipe online for liver cake and it was really easy to make and a favorite for both my girls!

I just use my Yorkie Yummies sold by one of the members here. they are small and a ton come in the bag! my babies will do just about anything for them

I use cat treats with my furbaby Lucy - she started pinching them from the cat and obviously enjoyed them. They're tiny, tasty, and my vet says they're fine for her (as long as she doesn't get hundreds of them a day!) You can also carry them very easily in a pocket.