Training with treats,,,,what do you like to give your dog?

[mastercaster]

I imagine if you had to keep buying treats for training your dog from a pet shop like Bosleys to Petsmart it would get pretty pricey after awhile. Just wondering what you like to use for dog treats if you use them for training purposes? Do any of you make your own?

[adriaticum]

I give my dog milk bone bits.
When you're training with the dog you really only give them little bits, just a lick.
It doesn't have to be all that expensive.
I also found hotdogs to work for my dog. He will do anything for a hotdog.
Again small bits the size of a pea.

[Fella]

Hotdogs sometimes works. My dog is weird with treats, if she wants something else (ie to retrieve something) she'll spot treats out.

[keoke]

Mine enjoys his regular dog food as treats. 16 weeks old and i swear he would eat till his side split open.

[adriaticum]

Hotdogs sometimes works. My dog is weird with treats, if she wants something else (ie to retrieve something) she'll spot treats out.

sure, they key is to find the high value prize/treat the dog wants and use it.
I might be a treat, or a ball, or a dirty sock.
you never know.

[goatdancer]

Cooked beef heart. Cut up into little pieces.

[AgSilver]

My experience isn't hunting related, but rather tracking and general training (but he's a chocolate lab from Someday Retrievers parentage). We've had very good success with using the the liver bites from Costco (they don't have them all of the time, but they were good...made in the USA, etc). I then cooked my WT liver for Angus' treats this fall. Stupidly didn't store them well so half of them went bad, but they were a BIG hit.

Also, like Adriaticum, hot dogs. When we used to do a lot of tracking exercises with him, the hot dogs were the key to pure motivation for him. Just little bits, but he loooooved them. Haven't done that in awhile, but he still loves hot dogs.

[Big Lew]

Small bits of liver and similarly, small pieces of aged cheddar cheese.
As was said, not too big. Almost all the Agility dog trainers vary the
number of treats in relation to how well their dog performs, sometimes
giving up to 5-6 very small treats for a job well done. Of course they
balance the amount of treats with the amount of dinner they receive so
that their dogs remain slender but healthy and competitive. If you feed
your dog too frequently, treats often have less attraction and meaning to
them, so other then a light breakfast and dinner, feeding them parts of
your food, table scraps, etc during the day is not a good idea while training.

[huntinnewbie]

When we were training our first black lab, many years ago, we had taken her to dog obedience. She was 6 months old at the time. The trainer recommended raw carrots cut into slices as a reward. He said they are better for her as store bought treats can be high in fat as well as other unwanted stuff. She loved her carrots to the point where I couldn't let her in the garden when harvesting them as she would steal them. Have used them for all subsequent dogs over the years and never found one that didn't love them.

[AgSilver]

When we were training our first black lab, many years ago, we had taken her to dog obedience. She was 6 months old at the time. The trainer recommended raw carrots cut into slices as a reward. He said they are better for her as store bought treats can be high in fat as well as other unwanted stuff. She loved her carrots to the point where I couldn't let her in the garden when harvesting them as she would steal them. Have used them for all subsequent dogs over the years and never found one that didn't love them.

We tried that early on with Angus. He spits them out. Unless they're cooked in a nice butter/maple glaze, of course.