How many small training treats are safe for my puppy daily?

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.

I don't consider cheese to be a bad reward in very small quantities. That entire piece of cheese is likely to be ALL the calories Draco needs for a full day. So if you are going to give any high value treat, do so in teeny tiny pieces. If you can find a kibble he really likes, I recommend giving their kibble as treats. You can feed a meal as treats through the day instead of giving it all at once. Or you can set aside 1/2 of his breakfast and give that as treats. In a dog this small you will need to be very cautious with over doing the calories in the form of treats! The metabolism of every dog is a little different, but as a rough guideline a dog Draco's size needs about 160 calories a day. So it doesn't take much to give too many calories and cause weight gain.

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.

Hello, thank you for your question about Loki. Congratulations on being a new puppy owner! You are correct in that most veterinarians say that puppies (and adult dogs) should not receive more than 10% of their daily calories from treats. What that means is that you should 90% of Loki's calories from his puppy food and 10% from treats. Ultimately in a young growing puppy like Loki, if you feed 100% puppy food and an extra 10% from treats, it should be just fine since he has higher calorie needs while he's growing. What's most important and the reason most veterinarians make this recommendation is to ensure that we don't give TOO many treats to dogs as these often have many calories and can make animals prone to obesity. Hope this helps, good luck!

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.

It depends on whether or not he is overweight. If he is overweight, I would stick with the occasional treat so once or twice a day. Another option would be to just give him canned green beans for treats. If he is a normal weight, you may be able to give him a little more. Just be aware of how much you are giving because treats are like small snickers bars for dogs and have a high caloric value per treat. I hope this helps!

Thank you for using PetCoach. Treats should make up no more than 10% of a dog's diet. Think of it this way - treats are like cookies - they taste good and may have some nutritional value, but overall are empty calories. Dog treats are similar. You can use smaller treats, or training treats to be able to give her a treat more frequently, but no more than 10% (or less) of her diet needs to be treats. This article has some more info https://www.preventivevet.com/dogs/how-many-treats-you-can-give-your-dog-during-training