What are high-value, low-calorie training treats for my dog's weight?

Hi there and thanks for posting on Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Yes, there are some good low calorie treats called "Tricky Trainers"which are only 3kcal/treat. They taste very good and smell good too! My dogs at home go bonkers for them. I hope this helps and best of luck!

Hi there. For training treats, you have quite a few different options depending on what she likes. Good, relatively low-value training treats would include kibble, Cheerios, carrots or green beans (cooked or raw), or packaged moist treats like BilJac or Blue Buffalo Blue Bits. High value training treats would include string cheese, pieces of meat (chicken, roast beef, or turkey), or cat food or liverwurst dispensed from a squeezable tube. It may take some trial and error to figure out what she likes enough to work for. Good luck!

The most popular training treats are soft, small treats. Dehydrated liver also works well. Certain biscuits are also made small for training purposes. As long as the treat is made in the United States, it should be fine to give. Treats should account for <10% of the daily calories because they are often higher in calories. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

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.

For training purposes we sometimes will give foods not normally recommended to our pups, such as SMALL pieces of cheese, tiny pieces of cooked hot dog, or a lick of a spoon with peanut butter or EZ cheese. Some dogs also really enjoy the freeze dried liver treats such as these https://www.chewy.com/stewart-pro-treat-beef-liver-freeze/dp/44918. As long as you are giving very little pieces and your dog doesn't have food allergies or a sensitive stomach these can be good choices for high value rewards. Other dogs respond well to being rewarded with a certain toy. Many dogs, for example, are in love with/obsessed with tennis balls and just getting to catch a tennis ball or hold it in their mouth can be a reward. Another way to increase treat motivation is to give a smaller meal or wait to give a meal until after your training session. Your dog may not be interested in treats if he just ate his whole bowl of food and has a full belly!

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! :)

This depends on how many calories each treat is. What I usually recommend is seeing how many calories Nero should be getting with the dog food and then subtracting the amount of calories you are giving in treats from the main diet to ensure you are not feeding excessive calories. I probably would not feed more than 3-5 treats per day if you are feeding them in addition to the diet. You can also use the diet as treats and set some aside as training treats to ensure you are not overfeeding. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.