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What are the best healthy and safe training treats for my puppy?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed | Female | spayed | 3 months and 29 days old | 10.6 lbs

Are there any healthy training treats that I can give to my puppy through out the day?

3 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA

Veterinarian, Certified Dog Trainer

Published on May 30th, 2017

You can use baby carrots or green beans as healthy training treats, if she likes them. Small bites of chicken or roast beef can also work well. If you prefer store bought treats, I like Zukes brand quite a bit for my own dogs - they use very healthy, high-quality ingredients, and their training treats are nice and small.

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

Related Answers from Veterinarians

Answered By Emily, DVM
Veterinarian
Hello

With any treats the key is to be careful as they can have high amount of calories and fat so you don't want to overfeed. Also for the treats to be effective for training they need to be just that, treats.
If you're looking to get something that's not dog food but not treats during the day some vegetables like carrots and green beans may be safely given as treats without being high in fat and calories. Just be careful there of the right size that your pet can't choke if they swallow them whole
0Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Answered By Laura Johnson VMD
Veterinarian
Published on October 9th, 2017
Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Any treat that excited your particular dog is the one you want to use. Just use SMALL pieces of treats, so break up the milk bones to even smaller chunks. You can use cooked chicken or low sodium turkey hot dogs as well. Everything should be in moderation as to not cause your puppy to gain too much weight during training.

Good luck!
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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What healthy ingredients are safe for my puppy's training treats?

A few general recommendations: stick with well known brands with a good reputation. Look for products made in the USA. Kibble works great for treats and I use Purina Pro Plan chicken or lamb and rice. Dry biscuit type treats usually have less calories and salt. The jerky or moist type treats are fine in moderation (they have more calories and salt usually). Lastly, many dogs really like dehydrated chicken livers and chicken jerky. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

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What are the best and healthiest training treats for my puppy?

Hello and thank you for your post on Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I like to use Tricky Trainers because they are grain free and are only 4kcal/treat. They also smell amazing to dogs and seem to be quite tasty to them. You can purchase these at any major pet supplies store. I hope this helps!

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What are the best small, soft training treats for my dog's success?

The best training treats are ones that your dog really loves and that can be broken into very small treats. This is especially important with a small dog like Bella. I have used and really like Wellness Soft Puppy Bites and Fruitables. This article also mentions a couple of other small and soft chews that would work well for Bella. https://www.rover.com/blog/favorite-healthy-dog-training-treats/ Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using PetCoach.

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What training treats are safe for a 6-week-old puppy, no store-bought?

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What are the best healthy homemade puppy snacks and treat brands?

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What are safe training treats for my dog with a sensitive stomach?

Hello there! I'm sorry to hear about Ziggy's bout of diarrhea. Bits of apple used as training treats is usually fine for dogs, but an entire apple could potentially cause diarrhea as it is high in fiber and water. If he enjoys bits of carrot, then that is probably a fine treat for training. Green beans, bits of turkey hot dog, and small pieces of commercial dog treats are great for training as well. The key is that the training reward is small enough to be eaten in one bite. If they spend more than 1 or 2 seconds chewing and swallowing the treat, it's too big. You want your dog's focus to be on you during training time, so keep the treat small enough that his attention is not taken from you for more than a second a so. When giving treats for non-training times, they can be larger, but since they generally eat a bunch of treats during training, keeping them tiny can prevent an upset stomach. I hope that Ziggy remains healthy and that your training goes well! :)

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

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