Mel Blacke
Well-Known Member
Looking for opinions here.....until now I have been using freeze dried liver treats for training which she positively adores. Yeah, I know, they say use your dog's dinner kibble for training treats....and it might work at home but it isn't practical at all for a training environment. If you hope to take your young dog to intensely distracting environments then you have to be more interesting than the potential distractions in that environment. It might not work that way with all dogs but it definitely works that way with Fiona. I don't constantly reward because she is kind of conditioned to expect great snacks while she is there so I only use an intermittent or random reinforcement. I cut them way down in size(think pencil eraser). I also use a couple of small toys but I have to limit their use because she really ramps up in response to the toys and if things don't move quickly enough she tends to vocalize which is a really bad habit to let her get into. Plus the food drive tends to fall lower on the hierarchy of her desires than a really fun game with mom but I don't want to push that engagement level to the point where she is bounding around on her ....semi out-of-control.
Anyways, there is a practical consideration regarding the amount of organ meats that she is consuming. This a lot of rich, rich food....plus, these treats cost a fortune. It has been worrisome to me for some time. I think I have hit upon a solution: What if I just bought a whole turkey and baked it. Stripped off most of the meat and cut it into little bits and put them in Ziploc freezer bags and tossed them in the freezer to be retrieved as needed? She really goes for it. I have noticed that a LOT of people at the club tend to use hotdogs and string cheese which are high in sodium which has its own health considerations, especially because she is a small dog.
Thoughts....? Opinions?
Anyways, there is a practical consideration regarding the amount of organ meats that she is consuming. This a lot of rich, rich food....plus, these treats cost a fortune. It has been worrisome to me for some time. I think I have hit upon a solution: What if I just bought a whole turkey and baked it. Stripped off most of the meat and cut it into little bits and put them in Ziploc freezer bags and tossed them in the freezer to be retrieved as needed? She really goes for it. I have noticed that a LOT of people at the club tend to use hotdogs and string cheese which are high in sodium which has its own health considerations, especially because she is a small dog.
Thoughts....? Opinions?