Training treats for a picky dog

[danniko]

We adopted our little man in January and he is having some behaviour issues (mostly just lacks any basic training and refuses to walk on a leash) so we have enrolled him in a basic adult obedience class to hopefully help him gain some confidence and teach us how to work with him at home.

He starts classes in two weeks and we told them that he isn't food motivated and they said to bring him a high value treat that he loves. So far, the only things he absolutely loves are cheese and sardines (and of course wet cat food and cat poop lol)

Does anyone have any suggestions of a high value treat that a picky dog may like? I don't want to only use cheese for him because I don't want to upset his stomach/make him sick.

He's gotten a lot more comfortable with us inside but still hates walking outside and tends to bolt out the door and doesn't have a reliable recall, but here is a picture of him relaxing on the couch

[yorkiemini]

My Cali is picky and has had a pancreatitis bout so should not have fat so I give her :
Kraft
Jet-puffed
me,low
Bits

That I get them on amazon. No fat and she is crazy for them. They are tiny little marshmallows that have a little crunch to them. They have no fat, no sodium, sugar 4g, no protein, and 2 tbsp is 20 calories (but I rarely give her that much).

[pstinard]

Bella goes crazy for thawed frozen peas. She is also a huge fan of Pet Botanics Mini Training Rewards (beef flavor)--she will do anything to get them, and they come in a resealable pouch. Some dogs love cheerios.

[Lovetodream88]

Freeze dried liver treats they come in a container and both petsmart and petco have them. My dogs will do anything for any treat that is liver. Also my training place uses pieces of hot dog which normally works well too although my little picky boy only wants the liver treats lol.

[Jkpal]

Well, I'm just in love with your little guy!! Piper loves chicken and chicken jerky beyond belief, but chicken is messy to carry and she is very limited in the amount of chicken jerky she's allowed. Although a bit pricey I get Full Moon Duck training treats; they're easy to carry in pockets, neat-to-eat (just one per reward) and Piper likes them as much now as when I first bought them well over a year ago.

[matese]

Boiled boneless chicken cutlets is one high value treat you can use, or Cheerios, most dogs love Cheerios. My boy is a rescue and very food motivated, he learned fast everything he was trained for just to get that one tiny cheerio. If he likes his kibble you can also use that as a treat.

[pstinard]

Originally Posted by Lovetodream88

Freeze dried liver treats they come in a container and both petsmart and petco have them. My dogs will do anything for any treat that is liver. Also my training place uses pieces of hot dog which normally works well too although my little picky boy only wants the liver treats lol.

The Pet Botanics Mini Training Rewards (beef flavor) that I mentioned in my post are also liver-based. I learned that from the ingredients list and from tasting them . (They smelled so good that I had to try one to see if they taste as good as they smell. They don't. They taste like liver .) Also available from Petsmart and other large pet stores.

[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by pstinard

The Pet Botanics Mini Training Rewards (beef flavor) that I mentioned in my post are also liver-based. I learned that from the ingredients list and from tasting them . (They smelled so good that I had to try one to see if they taste as good as they smell. They don't. They taste like liver .) Also available from Petsmart and other large pet stores.

Lol my dad has done that. He freaked out a person at a pet expo by trying their chicken jerky.

[danniko]

Originally Posted by yorkiemini

My Cali is picky and has had a pancreatitis bout so should not have fat so I give her :
Kraft
Jet-puffed
me,low
Bits

That I get them on amazon. No fat and she is crazy for them. They are tiny little marshmallows that have a little crunch to them. They have no fat, no sodium, sugar 4g, no protein, and 2 tbsp is 20 calories (but I rarely give her that much).

Oh that is a good idea and while I can't buy those in Canada, I am conveniently going to Michigan tomorrow for the weekend and will pick them up and see how he feels about them.

Originally Posted by pstinard

Bella goes crazy for thawed frozen peas. She is also a huge fan of Pet Botanics Mini Training Rewards (beef flavor)--she will do anything to get them, and they come in a resealable pouch. Some dogs love cheerios.

He absolutely refuses to eat vegetables or fruits. We tried letting him have a piece of banana and for whatever reason it scared him and he ran away and hid in his crate the rest of the evening. Tried it again another day with the same reaction lol Have tried peas, beans and carrots and he just sniffs them and walks away. Have also tried cheerios and he refused those as well. If I can find those Pet Botanics, I will try them as he seems to like things that are beef flavoured.

Originally Posted by Lovetodream88

Freeze dried liver treats they come in a container and both petsmart and petco have them. My dogs will do anything for any treat that is liver. Also my training place uses pieces of hot dog which normally works well too although my little picky boy only wants the liver treats lol.

He doesn't like hot dogs and we have tried natural/nitrite free/no seasoning deli meat...also hates that. I wish he would like liver. Our previous girl would also do anything for a piece of liver but this guy as a weird quirk that he won't take a piece of liver (or most treats) unless he is given two on the floor. Doesn't like to take it from our hands and waits until we put it on the floor and then will stare at the container until we put a second one beside it and then he sniffs them both and decides which one to eat and then eats the other.

[danniko]

Originally Posted by Jkpal

Well, I'm just in love with your little guy!! Piper loves chicken and chicken jerky beyond belief, but chicken is messy to carry and she is very limited in the amount of chicken jerky she's allowed. Although a bit pricey I get Full Moon Duck training treats; they're easy to carry in pockets, neat-to-eat (just one per reward) and Piper likes them as much now as when I first bought them well over a year ago.

Thanks! He is definitely a little butthead sometimes but we love him so much and are so thankful that he found his way to the shelter so we could adopt him! He likes boiled chicken but that's hit or miss with him too. He doesn't care enough about it to motivate him. I will look for the Duck treats! Plus side to a trip to Michigan this weekend, I can look for things we don't have here in Ontario.

Originally Posted by matese

Boiled boneless chicken cutlets is one high value treat you can use, or Cheerios, most dogs love Cheerios. My boy is a rescue and very food motivated, he learned fast everything he was trained for just to get that one tiny cheerio. If he likes his kibble you can also use that as a treat.

Thanks. Chicken is a hit or miss and he refused to even consider a Cheerio lol I would love to just use his kibble but he barely even likes to eat it for a meal let alone as a treat. We have to put Cesar on it to convince him to eat it and we have tried other brands of wet food because I didn't want to use Cesar but he won't touch most canned foods and only likes the beef flavoured slices!

[matese]

Originally Posted by danniko

Oh that is a good idea and while I can't buy those in Canada, I am conveniently going to Michigan tomorrow for the weekend and will pick them up and see how he feels about them.



He absolutely refuses to eat vegetables or fruits. We tried letting him have a piece of banana and for whatever reason it scared him and he ran away and hid in his crate the rest of the evening. Tried it again another day with the same reaction lol Have tried peas, beans and carrots and he just sniffs them and walks away. Have also tried cheerios and he refused those as well. If I can find those Pet Botanics, I will try them as he seems to like things that are beef flavoured.



He doesn't like hot dogs and we have tried natural/nitrite free/no seasoning deli meat...also hates that. I wish he would like liver. Our previous girl would also do anything for a piece of liver but this guy as a weird quirk that he won't take a piece of liver (or most treats) unless he is given two on the floor. Doesn't like to take it from our hands and waits until we put it on the floor and then will stare at the container until we put a second one beside it and then he sniffs them both and decides which one to eat and then eats the other.

lol, your lil guy is just to funny, they have such quirky lil ways ya just gotta laugh at them, sweet lil boy.

[danniko]

Originally Posted by matese

lol, your lil guy is just to funny, they have such quirky lil ways ya just gotta laugh at them, sweet lil boy.

I was used to our previous girl's quirks and it has been entertaining to learn his. He definitely keeps up laughing all the time. We often joke that he brings shame to all dogs that dream of cat treats. He loves our cats' wet food and only bothers with the dry food fro the floor so we thought we would try him with a cat treat and he denied cat treats! Sophie (little one we lost last summer from a brain tumor) would push the cats out of the way to try and steal their treats and Bronx just sniffs them and walks away!


I did forget to mention that we are in the process tonight of trying something with him. I was eating tuna and gave him a tiny piece and he took it from my hand! I tried it again, and he took more! The rest of the can is currently on the dehydrator and we will see how he feels about dried tuna. He seems to like fishy stuff so maybe this will work for him for training purposes. (the tuna was non-gmo, packed in water, and I rinsed it again before putting it on the dehydrator)

[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by danniko

Oh that is a good idea and while I can't buy those in Canada, I am conveniently going to Michigan tomorrow for the weekend and will pick them up and see how he feels about them.



He absolutely refuses to eat vegetables or fruits. We tried letting him have a piece of banana and for whatever reason it scared him and he ran away and hid in his crate the rest of the evening. Tried it again another day with the same reaction lol Have tried peas, beans and carrots and he just sniffs them and walks away. Have also tried cheerios and he refused those as well. If I can find those Pet Botanics, I will try them as he seems to like things that are beef flavoured.



He doesn't like hot dogs and we have tried natural/nitrite free/no seasoning deli meat...also hates that. I wish he would like liver. Our previous girl would also do anything for a piece of liver but this guy as a weird quirk that he won't take a piece of liver (or most treats) unless he is given two on the floor. Doesn't like to take it from our hands and waits until we put it on the floor and then will stare at the container until we put a second one beside it and then he sniffs them both and decides which one to eat and then eats the other.

Have you tried the flavored Cheerios like honey nut? Callie used to be a nut for fruit loops. I don’t know about actual liver I was just talking about treats flavored with them. He might just not like treats.

[danniko]

Originally Posted by Lovetodream88

Have you tried the flavored Cheerios like honey nut? Callie used to be a nut for fruit loops. I don’t know about actual liver I was just talking about treats flavored with them. He might just not like treats.

We used to feed Sophie freeze dried liver and thought it was a safe treat that most dogs would like but everything seems so new to him and he's nervous to do anything. He does end up liking some treats if we can convince him to try one.

We know nothing about his life before us so we wonder if he really just doesn't understand treats. We think he spent most of his time alone in a crate and the shelter doesn't think he ever experienced a lot of human interaction. When he was picked up as a stray his hair and nails were long and he was heartworm positive, fleas and had tapeworms so they don't know if he was neglected and dumped or if he was a stray for a long time.

It isnt a big deal if he ends up just not liking treats, we just need to figure out something to motivate him to help him through the classes because he doesn't have a favourite toy and most of the time doesn't get excited about being pet.

I haven't tried honey nut cheerios because I'm allergic to nuts and my husband hates cereal so the box would be wasted...and my husband tried giving him peanut butter and he wasn't impressed with it.


My dad reminded me tonight that he always steals mouthfuls of his dog's food when we are there so we are going to see if he would take those as treats for training and so far he has liked the dehydrated tuna at least.

[matese]

Poor sweet little boy. This is how it is with rescues, never knowing what their past was. Lots of trial and errors, lots of money spent on what he likes and doesn't. But lots of patience and TLC over time he will come around. If he's not use to human contact that will take time. Do you have an idea of how old he may be. My boy is a rescue, but he was surrendered, not abused, loved much and spoiled rotten, I keep in contact with his prev. owner, send pics and vids. I am very lucky that I know what his background was. He was gotten for a little girl whose parents were getting divorced, the dog was to ease her pain for daddy not being there. The dog had no toys, the child was his entertainment. They didn't want him to play with toys, only play with the child who carried him around like an infant in her arms when she came home from school. The mom worked so the dog was kept in a crate for 8 to 9 hours all week.

When I got him I didn't know his back ground for 3 weeks. The 2nd day I had him we went to Pet Supplys to buy toys, he had no interest so I selected a bunch of things. My passed girl loved balls, she had so many in dif. sizes. This boy had no interest in even a ball. It took close to one year of enticing and teasing him with toys to get him to play. Now he's like a little kid when he gets a new toy, he loves, loves toys, and balls, he flings everything all over the room and my heart just swells with joy.

It just takes time for their personality to come through, some longer then others, you are dedicated to this little guy, you only have him a few months,and changes do not come over night. Working on training him will build a strong bond between the two of you and it will build self confidence in him.

Finding a high value training reward seems to be quite a challenge with this lil guy, I do hope you find something that he really loves. My guy is very food motivated, training him was so easy, he would stand on his head if that was in his training program for his reward treat.