# Training treats or kibble as treats?



## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Whatever is higher value for your puppy is best.

Also use treats you can pinch smaller pieces off - smaller the piece, less time it takes for your pup to nom, more quick work while training. 

A bag of cheese cubes per class day works just fine. You can get four pieces off each cube.


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## CnCFusion (Feb 15, 2016)

Megora said:


> Whatever is higher value for your puppy is best.


This puppy really eats anything! his favorite treats are ice cubes... but can't use that for training as they melt way too quickly..


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## Krissi2197 (Apr 23, 2016)

I was actually wondering the same thing. I don't have my pup yet, but I have a bag of "training treats" I got at Petco for like 5 dollars and I'm not sure if I should use that, kibble, or something else (like boiled chicken or something).

I guess I'll have to get him first to see what he likes and doesn't like, but Megora's suggestion of cheese cubes never even crossed my mind! That'll def be on my list of potential treats.


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## ceegee (Mar 26, 2015)

I second Megora's suggestion of cheese - Duster loves it. We use kibble for some stuff, but for the hard things that need focus or attention, the cheese is better. On class days when we get through a lot of cheese, I adjust his meals a bit, but he's so lean anyway (very active) that a bit of extra weight wouldn't hurt him.

My last dog, Ruby, loved Rollover so we used that for treats. It's very inexpensive. I'm going to try it with Duster too. However, it's Canadian so it may not be available in the US.


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## -ALBUS- (May 5, 2016)

Our breeder told us to use pieces of cooked chicken or string cheese as treats... actually told us to stay away from "puppy treats" you find at pet stores. We've also been giving bits of dry kibble as treats. 

We are only six days in with our new 8 week old puppy... needless to say we're utterly exhausted and think we should really start increasing the treats to try to teach him to stop biting us! I know that puppies nipple to discover the world, but he is SO mouthy... we're hoping Puppy Kindergarten will help give us the tools and confidence to train him to minimize the biting. I was literally starting to convenience myself that he doesn't like us...


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## Atis (Jul 8, 2014)

Depends on how food driven your dog is and the task at hand. My one guy would try to jump over the moon for a baby carrot or dandelion flower, kibble would be fine for him too. For him it's easy anything works. He does get cheese for more challenging tasks and more or less depending on how hard he tries. The other guy needs really good stuff to keep him going. Cheese or home dried chicken jerky for him.


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## G-bear (Oct 6, 2015)

All of my dogs are extremely food motivated so it probably doesn't matter what treats I use in that respect but since one of them was grossly overweight when we adopted him we tend to use lower calorie treats. Baby carrots broken in pieces, small bits of apple and dried sweet potatoes as well as green beans. Bailey is absolutely nuts for cucumbers (go figure, right?) and will do just about anything for a piece of it. In a pinch I have used store bought treats but try to stay away from the high calorie ones (and I cut back on food depending on the training treats they get). I don't know about other people on GRF but I don't just hand out treats to my dogs. They have to actually do something to earn them. I find that using treats as a reward is more effective if they aren't given at other times.


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## Kevin21 (Mar 11, 2009)

Our go to training treat is Zuke's Mini Naturals. They are one of those 1-3 calorie a piece treats you mentioned and are plenty enticing for our boys. There are also some great options from Primal and Merrick that we use from time to time.


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## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

I also use Zuke's. We had great luck with them for puppy training (I probably still had them in my pocket at 18-24 months). I still use them today at nearly 3 years old if I'm teaching something new. There is also a baggie of them in the back of my car because Shala gets 2-3 whenever she gets in the crate and lies down nicely, and between training runs when we're out in the field. She loves them.


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