Dog Community

Training treats for raw dogs?

Posted : 11/1/2009 11:41:28 PM

Sorry if this is in the wrong section i didnt know where to put it... training or nutrition.. its a little of both

After Bailey's little incident with the guy who came in our yard he had been on "lockdown" since. Meaning, no more off leash at all unless in a fenced area, he has been on leash every minute of being outside. His recall is OK, but i wouldnt trust it if the guy was around again and Bailey decided to go after him. So Bailey hasnt been the happiest of dogs lately.. Hes just not himself when hes on leash. He is so used to being able to run around freely, he just gives me that look like im torturing him, even if he is on a long line. So, we've been working on recall alot lately. We are going to keep working at it until i know he is 100% reliable. My problem is, i cant seem to find any high value treats that he can have. He has been on all raw with no treats for a while and had no problems with his ears getting itchy, and today when we went to the tractor supply store some people gave him some cookies before i had a chance to tell them not to, and now his ears are all red and itchy. Im not sure what kind they were, but they looked like a cheap store brand. Of course, his favorite reward would be raw meat, ive tried using his dinner as training treats but they are hard to use, depending on what he is getting that day it can be hard to get into tiny pieces, and really strong smelling. Bailey gets very very very over excited about his dinner, if he smells his meat he gets into this trance where he just gets so foccued on food. Its impossible to use his dinner as training treats for recall because once he smells it, he wont be more than a foot from my side, and will just start throwing random behaviors at me like a fool. He doesnt even listen, he knows what "down" is, but when he is in that state of mind, he will "down" and do 10 other behaviors all rolled into one. LIke, if i say down, he might spin around, down, roll over, speak, etc. If i try and wait it out, until he calms down, he will get frustrated and start to whine at me, no matter how long i wait. I have a bunch of Zukes minis. His alergies dont seem to be bothered by those, so thats what i have been using. I break those in half and they work great for training treats, except for hes not all that motivated by them. He likes them, but they wouldnt be considered a high value reward to him.
So, i need a reward that is higher value than zukes minis... but not as high value as his food... that wont upset his alergies...Any suggestions? Suggestions of how to make him not so psycho around his food also welcome Stick out tongue

BEVOLASVEGAS

Posted : 11/1/2009 11:59:27 PM

I use a dehydrator & make jerky out of beef heart. I just cut the heart into tiny pieces. The only downside is that since there are no perservatives used, the treats have to be kept in the fridge. These are, by far, my dog's favorite treat.

You can also dehydrate things by cooking them for a long period of time at a low temp in the oven.

Stacita

Posted : 11/2/2009 6:49:33 AM

What about just cooked meat?

In addition to recall, I've worked with my dogs to just do a Stop, followed by Sit, from a distance. Two of the three are more reliable with that than recall.

1wife2dogs

Posted : 11/2/2009 7:15:02 PM

Our dogs are on a raw food diet we get at www.beefforpets.com this is a fairly strict diet we use for our dog because of his allergies, which are to numerous to mention. For traing though we have been using treats we get on line at www.dancingdogcookies.com. They have a couple of treats that work good but the country fair cookies are what he likes the best. I don't know for sure but it might be the honey in them. Any way they are small so they fit in my pocket, and I can keep a bunch with me.

huskymom

Posted : 11/3/2009 9:54:29 PM

I dehydrate stuff too. Its easy, though for 3 or 4 hours I have 2 dogs sitting staring at the oven forming puddles of drool under them. Its er...interesting. I find it easier to cut it after its dehydrated, with a pizza cutter most of the time. I can make the pieces as small as a dime or smaller and the dogs go crazy over them. I use beef liver most of the time, but sometimes I just use chicken breast, since beef liver stinks when its dehydrating.

jennie_c_d

Posted : 11/3/2009 10:01:21 PM

Baked chicken breast is quite easy to handle. I get the big bags, at Walmart, for fairly cheap. ONE chicken breast makes easily a week's worth of treats, if you chop it nice and tiny. Beef heart, sauteed lightly in garlic, then dried in the oven, makes them do backflips, too. If he tolerates dairy, Weight Watchers makes a low fat, low sodium string cheese that Ena Bean just LOOOOVES.

Spazzy

Posted : 11/4/2009 5:34:15 PM

Stacita- Cooked meat also makes him a little crazy. Just about as much if i used uncooked meat.

I did buy some freeze dried liver from dog.com once, and he really liked, but didnt make him psycho like regular meat does. But its pretty expencive to be using all the time.

huskymom

I dehydrate stuff too. Its easy, though for 3 or 4 hours I have 2 dogs sitting staring at the oven forming puddles of drool under them. Its er...interesting. I find it easier to cut it after its dehydrated, with a pizza cutter most of the time. I can make the pieces as small as a dime or smaller and the dogs go crazy over them. I use beef liver most of the time, but sometimes I just use chicken breast, since beef liver stinks when its dehydrating.

I didnt know you could do that, i thought you needed a special dehydrator thing... Beef liver is one of his favs, does it smell really bad after its dehydrated? Is it easy to cut into really tiny pieces? We use a lot of training treats so i need to keep them really tiny.

Do you leave them out or put them in the fridge, and how long to they last before they go bad?

jennie_c_d

Posted : 11/4/2009 5:45:55 PM

It stinks up THE WHOLE HOUSE. Just be warned. You will smell it, for days, LOL.