Need Ideas for tiny training treats for overweight dog

[sunnyblu]

I have a chinese crested dog who needs to lose a significant amount of weight. However, I am also trying to work on her training. She is deaf, so verbal praise is not effective. She will "work for food" but she is dieting. I am currently using Zukes brand training treats. They are very small and the dogs really like them. The treats need to be something dry and quick/easy to chew so they are not spending training time chewing something. Any suggestions? Thanks!

[Maddie'sMom]

I'd try small peices of green beans... some natural fresh, foods low in fat

[catrinsparkles]

if you feed complete dry food i would take some of her daily ammount of food and use this to train with throughout the day.

That way she gets her dinner in a more interesting way and has to work for her food.

The other thing you could do is just adust the amount of food she is getting to make up for the amounts of treats she is having during the day - personally though i think using dry kibble from her meal is best.

Tonks trains at home with dry kibble and if she needs more incentive in a more difficult situation i use tiny cubes of liver cake or meety strips.

She also likes cheese (but very very tiny pieces) and bananas, oddly enough!

[Mattie]

Fruit or veg cut up small can be used as treats, my vet uses them for dogs on diets. When 2 of mine hare in hydrotherapy they are sometimes given pieces of apple, carrots, cauliflower etc instead of normal dog treats.

[Horace's Mum]

I would say that all these ideas for treats are fabulous, but might not work on a deaf dog. I would be very surprised unless you have a seriously greedy dog if she will work for her normal dry food - Horace certainly won't. When a dog is deaf they do not get the incentive of your voice, which does affect them a lot I think. I didn't believe it would, but the hardest thing for me has been getting H motivated and focussed on me, it just did not happen until we discovered liver cake. If another dog was in the room, or something he was worried about I could have waved a sirloin steak in front of his nose and he just moved his head to see better. Obviously all dogs are different, but I would make sure that you are compensating for the treats by cutting down his feeds, and try to find the smelliest treat you can that you can cut up very very small. H uses pieces of cheese about 3mm square - that is enough to reward him (he is a collie-sized dog) and I can last a good hour on relatively little amounts of cheese that way. I also bake liver cake, mackerel cake, tuna cake and pilchard cake, but you can't cut it up as small. Why not try something like garlic sausage, but cut it up into minute pieces?

I think basically what I am trying to say is that you might have to compromise by using something that is not generally very low fat, but very smelly, and cut it up into the tiniest pieces you can, rub your fingers in it so your hands smell of it, and control the meal portions very closely. Not to say don't try the other ideas, but don't be disappointed if he won't work for veg etc because our deaf guys need more incentive when it comes to food rewards.

[sunnyblu]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I appreciate it. I have cut back on her dry food at meal times already to try to compensate, but I really have no idea calorie-for-calorie what quantity. She loves raw carrots but unfortunately the 2 times I have given her those, she developes rather severe diarrhea very quickly, so that's out. I"m afraid other raw veggies might have the same effect so have been reluctant to try green beans.

The training I"m working on right now is on our daily walks and it is very hot. Also, I am walking both dogs for this particular training so I have leashes in my hands and really do *not* want to have anything messy or smelly for training treats. For in-house training I can definitely try some of the other suggestions though. (the training involves treating her when she catches up with me and Suki, or when she just happens to be walking by my side accidentally - she lags behind - or when I get their attention and have them sit on comman/signal. After one week, she is already paying much more attention to me on the walks and looking to me for direction, rather than just wandering her own way and lagging behind.)

[Horace's Mum]

One tip I picked up somewhere for attention on walks, especially if you plan to let her off lead anytime, is to treat every 30secs regardless of whatever the dog is doing at the time. First time I tried it it took 5 mins for Horace to work out what was happening, then every 28 secs he would look back to see of the treat was there yet! Try it without the other dog first, but no reason why you can't treat both of them in this way, would get them both focussed on you!

What about tiny pieces of cooked chicken? I thought you wanted the treats for more demanding training, when you will need smelly stuff. I know some people use rice cakes, not sure how good they are though!

[sunnyblu]

That's a good idea, although Chimi has already figured out that she can "make" me give her a treat by coming up along side me on a walk and watching me, so that's huge progress. So much harder with a deaf dog, since verbail praise is not an option. I was mainly trying to think of something no/low calorie since she is also dieting.

[Mattie]

A deaf dog can see you smiling though so you need to smile as well when they have done good. When we smile our body languages changes as well with makes smiling even more importan.

[D]

If you want something none messy try cheese in a tube, then all you need to do is squeeze a bit out and let your dog lick it from the tube.

[D]

James Wellbeloved also do little light treats for dogs who are dieting.
heres a link
http://www.wellbeloved.com/products/dog ... bites.aspx

[Horace's Mum]

Yep, they're like rice cakes for dogs!!You can always break them even smaller as well, I hardly ever use biscuit treats at the size they come, I break them at least in half.

[Lis & Addy]

http://www.freewebs.com/naturallyjack/

Just for Cresties!

Well, not just, but Jack's a hairless CC. The treats are great, Addy loves them, the carrot and been ones are tiny, and you can get a variety. She makes jerky, too.

Lis

[woodfern]

For my 10 lb. Shih Tzu I bake sliced liver in a 350* oven for 10-20 min. Cool and then I cut it into pencil eraser size treats. I pack them in several of those zip lock snack size bags and freeze them. Keep one in fridge. She loves them like nobody's business and will do anything to gain one. They are dry enough that even if you want to take them out or keep them out they don't spoil. At least not during the day. I've not had them out longer. I have screwed up and gotten them crispy and she does give me the eye but still loves them.