quality chewing bones and doggie treats

[Gayle Miller]

Ok...Ive read up on good dog foods and my breeder uses Orijen so hopefully, my pup will be doing good on that and I can continue using. There are so many chew bones and treats in the pet stores and I know some are not so good.  Do any of you have recommendations on the brands of quality dog bones and treats?  Did you begin using the treats early on as puppies for positive reinforcement?

[Harper]

Most treats at places like Pet Smart are really junky and we avoid giving them to our puppy. I like Charlie Bears for training treats (they have grain, but have no sugar and are nice and crunchy). I would look carefully at the ingredients on all treats. Many have sugar by another name, so it is sometimes hard to pick out. Also the ones with fruits added will have a lot of sugar inherently.

When we first got our pup she couldn't really eat big hard treats so we had to use tiny ones for awhile. She's 5 months now and can eat bigger treats, though we try to feed her small ones so she can have more treats for less calories.

We are now stuffing her Kong with the Organix brand treats that have organic chicken, peas, and some organic grains. She loves them and they are a lot healthier than the Kong brand treats. http://www.castorpolluxpet.com/product/organix-organic-dog-cookies

Lots of people feed Zoomies I believe.

We have used bully sticks for our dog, but be sure to buy them from a high end pet store so that they are from the USA and not Paraguay or China. We made the mistake of giving them to our puppy was too often in the beginning so she was not hungry for her meals (it's so easy to be tempted to let them have it for too long b/c it occupies them when they are hyper). Now she gets her bully stick for 30 mins every night and loves every second of it.

Good luck with your pup!

[Gayle Miller]

What wonderful information!  Thank you so much!  (Even the web link!). I don't quite understand what you mean about "stuffng her Kong with the Organix brand treats"....please explain and thanks so much for the invaluable info!

[Harper]

Harper is using a medium-sized Kong now and the treats that Kong sells aren't very high quality.  They are shaped such that they get stuck in the Kong so that dog has a harder time getting them out.  The Organix treats are somewhat shaped like a drumstick, which is like the shape of the Kong treats.  I can maneuver them into the Kong pretty well so it takes Harper at least 15 minutes of effort to get the treat out (it takes a lot longer to get the Kong treats out, but 15 mins is good enough for me).  

 

I am comparing the Organix treats to the Kong Stuff'n treats http://www.amazon.com/StuffN-Snacks-Peanut-Butter-11-Ounce/dp/B0002...

[Gayle Miller]

LOL...I have no idea what stuffing the "Kong" is all about!!!  I have a lot to learn before my pup arrives!

[Harper]

You can find Kongs at any pet store nowadays.  http://www.amazon.com/Kong-Classic-Dog-Toy-Large/dp/B0002AR0I8/ref=...

 

They come in puppy sizes too.  

 

Kongs are a great way to entertain the dog and make them work for their treats.  I give Harper her Kong every morning as I leave for work so she has something fun to do right as I leave.  Harper is teething now and needs all the healthy chewing she can get.  She wasn't as interested in her Kong when she wasn't teething, but now she's obsessed.  

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Orijen is great - probably the top grain-free food out there. 

 

For chew bones, we use elk antlers from www.antlerpantry.com (they are a little hard and you might wait until your puppy has adult teeth).  When my Peri was little, we gave her zogoflex toys for chewing - they are indestructible plastic (not plastic, but you know what I mean!).  We also gave her bully sticks.

 

Of course give treats for training!  Start training immediately!  We liked/still use:   Zukes minis (all flavors), Cloudstar brand (little buddies), and also any Plato product (they make killer duck and salmon sticks that you can cut up and use for training).  All of these are really nice, made in the USA or Canada products.  No China ingredients.

[Gayle Miller]

Great info!  Thank you Allyson!  Question...when chewing the elk antlers, do they get gummy and really smelly!  I remember years ago when I had a golden retriever, I gave her deer huffs...she loved them but man, did they smell!!

[Suzann, Rosey & Bandit]

I put the Old Mother Hubbard treats that are shaped kinda like Milkbones in their Kongs.  I can stuff 2 in pretty tight plus a few smaller ones, maybe add some PB or melted cheese, you can freeze them too.  I would recommend getting 2-3 medium sized kongs and having them ready, they are great for Crate training too.  Now with Bandit, it took him a while to get what he was supposed to do with it, definately not at 8 or even 10 weeks.  So be patient;)

We like Zuke's mini's for training, cut up hot dogs or mozz cheese..Natural Balance makes "rolls" that you can cut up. 

 

In my experience you will have better luck shopping at local pet food stores for higher quality treats and food than the big box stores. 

 

I also give marrow bones, but you may want to wait until he has his adult teeth for that. 

 

Premier Pets has a chewbone that mine really like... They also like the Nylabone chews, well only the hard non digestible ones.  There are some good puppy Nylabone products like the keys, Pet Stages brand were a hit with the pupps but didn't last long:) 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I just did a search here in the Food Group for "treats" and came up with 74 pages worth of discussions:

http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/thefoodgroup/forum/topic/search?g...
It would take a lot of time to go through all of them, I know. Chew treats are very different from training treats, and there are lots and lots of recommended products here in our discussions. As someone else mentioned, you won't find good quality treats in grocery stores, discount warehouse stores, or big box pet suppply stores. Your best bet is to find a small private boutique-type pet supply store and let them help guide you.
Or try browsing through some of our many past discussions on the topic. You can search for "antlers", "bones", "chews", etc and find a lot of helpful guidance.

I like Zuke's, Jones Naturals, Plato's, and Wet Nose brands for treats, but there are many others.

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

When Lucy was in her first puppy training class the trainer suggested Trader Joe's Organic Chicken and Brown Rice sticks as training treats. They're soft and chewy and you can pinch off a tiny piece at a time. She never had any digestive problems with them, even at a very young age. Funny, but now that Lucy is 15 months old, that is one of the ONLY treats she will eat. The other is Innova's bars, for stuffing into her stuffable balls. A couple times we couldn't find the Trader Joe's treats stocked in nearby stores, and went out and bought Zukes in several different varieties. She wouldn't touch them. Thankfully, TJ's didn't discontinue the treat sticks. As for chews, odorless bully sticks from bestbullysticks.com have been a staple as well as Sam's Yam's dried sweet potato chews. One word of caution though as to the bully sticks... they can cause loose stools if given to often. One a day is Lucy's limit and her poos are nice and firm. The sweet potato chews have the opposite affect. They tend to firm up the stool.