Best treats for advanced obedience class???

[Lindsey, Lee, Whopper and Simba]

Hi all,
Next week we will be starting Whopper in her first class. At home we most frequently give her Zuke's treats but as they can be expensive and I figure a lot of treats will be used in class, does anyone else have any good, non-messy suggestions. I have thought about using hotdogs only at class time but don't really want her to have more than one in a day so probably need to supplement it with something else. Cheese? Chicken? I'd like to test some recommendations before class to make sure she really likes it and responds positively. Our back up plan will be to mix some cheerios in with a hotdog so they pick up some of the flavor and use those since for some reason she loves them.

[Lindsey, Lee, Whopper and Simba]

Thanks Jane. I definitely want to have options to keep her focused. The trainer thinks we can skip the basic and go right into advanced based on what I've taught her but distractions could definitely be an issue for her since she hasn't been in a structured environment like this with other dogs. Hopefully all will go well though because this class prepares her both for her canine good citizenship certification and to be a therapy dog.

[sandy b]

I use Natural Balance dog food that comes in a roll. You can slice it and pinch off small pieces. Also a friend gave me some hot dogs that she cut into small pcs and microwaved until they were crispy. Max relly likes them. I haven't tried making them yet.

[Sandy]

Chicken weiners cut into small pieces, then popped in the toaster oven until crispy. Also leftover bbq'ed chicken or steak, cut into small pieces. I took all those things last week, and Toby rocked out his class. :)

[Mommy2Max]

I used kibble, natural balance, zukes and the grand prize for Max was chicken breast.

[Debbie and Thomas]

I wear one of those treat holders at class that attaches to your waist. Our dog goes thru so many treats that he would eat an entire package of hot dogs. Plus the other dogs can smell them and will be all around me looking for some goooood stuff. Its so funny. I just bring cheerios mixed with some of that freeze dried liver or chicken. Sometimes, when I offer one of the other dogs( a cheerio), they sniff it and walk away. My husband brought some really low calorie-organic treats home the other day. Our dog loves them-but the other dogs at class spit them out!! I couldn't believe it. I guess their owners had better treats. I buy the low fat chicken weiners and cut them up and sometimes still bring them.

[Sandy]

Quite often I use cheerios in Toby's Kong. He is a fan as well! I usually fill my treat pouch, which I also wear on my waist, with "weiner bits", maybe a little frozen left over chicken or steak, and Charley Bear treats. We go through a LOT of treats during a training session.

[Sessa]

A hierarchy of treats worked REALLY well for my Mija---the harder the command, the bigger the reward or, the quicker she followed through with the command, the bigger the reward!....not only was she eager to see what would come out of the pouch, but, she would respond much quicker as the session went on--it became as if she could anticipate the harder commands and bigger rewards, LOL!

I use a variety of treats...goldfish, cheerios, hot-dogs, cheese, kibble, box treats, homemade treats, chicken, liver, carrots, you name it (as long as its healthy and can be cut up into various sizes)...

This is a bit of a tanget BUT---don't forget toys work as well...I found that my doodle is also very ball motivated and even if I just show it to her, she's ready to take a command....her reward for following through is to get to hold the ball in her mouth for a few...its a good mix up from food and it was also how I began to ween her off the need for treats to do commands.

GOOD LUCK!

[fergie11]

go to the doodle cookbook group or whatever it is called. Lots of great easy recipes on there. The dogs love them, they're cheap, and you definitely know what's going in them.

[nonnie browne]

I use a combination. Buddy has never cared much for Zukes. He loves freeze dried chicken liver and that is our mainstay. I also brown ,drain, and refrigerate ground turkey and he goes nuts for it. You can easily give a very small tidbit and it is all protein, so you are not feeding a lot of unnecessary carbs (just like us, too many carbs = a bad thing!) Whenever I am making some dinner with chicken breasts, I will poach one extra breast and dice it up for a special couple of days of training.

[Ali]

I am in an adult basics class right now. Everyone in the class brings at least 3 different kinds of treat and then we all pile them together and use them as community treats. Some that work really well for Lola are treats that are soft (so she can eat them fast) and smelly. In class we use cheese cubes (buy at grocery store), baked chicken (i but a big bag of frozen chicken and bake it in the oven at 325 for about an hour), salami (very smelly), Natural Balance in beef flavor, then some other kind of training treats from stores. Good luck!

[LeAnn, Lucy & Rusty!!]

It's so funny how different dogs tastes are... my dogs go NUTS for Zukes. The other treat they loooooooove are Buddy Biscuits - especially the bacon and cheese - which are soft and chewy, small but expensive. So, I started using Bil-Jac dog food as a treat and they looooooove it as much as the expensive treats - but my pocket book likes it too. The only drawback is that it comes frozen and you have to keep it in the fridge. So, if you're going to be out longer than an hour or so you'd need to keep it in a cooler.

The other treat they love that is cheap cheap cheap is boiled beef liver!! Oh my gosh. I can get a big old liver for about $1.25, boil it and then cut it into little bits. Have you noticed all the liver flavored treats you can buy in the store?? Especially the freeze dried kind which are expensssssssive!! It keeps well in the fridge. My only thing is that I just don't like the spell of liver cooking - ugh. As far as tasty treats that are cheap - it can't be beat!

[HANNAH 8/2/07 & HONEY 7/2/08]

String cheese is great for training, but Hannah hates Hot Dogs..lol. We are into Turkey Bacon, I nuke it and split the strips in two then make small bites out of it. I use about 3 slices of Butterball turkey bacon. It's great for training, and a lot of people in our agility class are now using it thanks to Hannah. The bacon is cheap about $3.00 a pack and at 3 strips a week...a pack should last you about 4 training sessions. I get about 20 treats out of a strip..lol. Can't beat that and dogs love it and its good for them.