Training treats

Roxy is 12 weeks and I'm trying to find an alternative to the expensive training treats. For her regular meals she gets Purina 1 SmartBlend. I want to use cut up cooked chicken breasts and other meat. Is this a good idea? Any other suggestions?

Sure, plain cooked chicken pieces are good. Low-fat cheese and hot dogs are also good. Wouldn't do too much too soon, though. You can also use part of her kibble to feed as training treats. Ace works for half of his meals before he eats the other half out of the bowl. He likes his food, and it is amazing to see how quickly he learns new things when he is hungry!!

agreed use kibble for reguarl training treats, and the chicken, cheese and other stuff as high valu rewards (which you do nto use to reward each time).

Remember treats can be small. The one thing I find about store bought treats, even the smaller ones, is I have to cut them up even smaller. Often one treat can be cut up to become 4 or more rewards (depending on the treat). Same if you use chicken or other, rewards should always be little.

If you want to jackpot a reward (for something really awesome) feed each little piece seperately. To a dog, 3 small pieces fed one after the other is worth MORE than 3 BIG pieces fed one time.

I always use kibble for training at home or out for walks as I can easily monitor his weight and it's easy. At obedience school where I need heaps more concentration and the urge to ignore me is higher - I use chicken, cabanossi, fruit (melon or banana) and liver treats. I always use tiny portions for training at obedience school because over an hour thats a lot of food! Normally my treats are smaller than the size of my little finger nail.

For high value treats at home, I used baked treats that I buy from a doggie bakery - but these are normally once a day (Crate time!) or something like a pigs ear, roo tail, or cow hoof :)

At home I use kibble. At class I use store-bought treats. At matches and shows I break out the hot dogs and sharp cheddar. I have to feed a certain size, as the smaller size when feeding (anything from pinkie nail to pointer finger nail) as a treat makes them choke then hack up one to three pieces and blow them across the room. I find thumbnail size is the minimum size for chewing a little bit and they choke and hack up fewer treats.

Been doing the same as the other posters. One thing I have been doing with Archie, I take a variety to classes. A couple of times he blew me off, and the treats. The trainer suggested keeping a mixture in the pouch. I've used Natural Balance in the tube (small tubes can be purchased) and so far they have worked the best. When we were training a lot, got two big tubes and sliced them up, put a slice (about 3/4 inch slab) one of each type into a zip lock sandwich bag and into the freezer. Even frozen, they were easy to cut up and ready to go.