Giving treats to your dog

Studies have shown that positive training methods are usually the best ones with dogs and other animals. Generally, most of the dogs will be motivated by treats when training obedience, tricks, or skills useful in everyday life. With treats you can also pamper your four-legged friend.

Although treats are helpful in many situations and chewbones give the dog natural activation, they are not a substitute for proper dog food. Too many treats can make the dog overweight and disturb the balance of the dog’s diet. Give treats to your dog responsibly, and make sure the dog is getting enough nutrients.

The amount of treats should be at maximum of 10 % of the dog’s daily diet.

How to use regular dog food in training?

If you use the dog’s own complete food in training, you don’t have to worry about giving too many treats to your dog or interfering the dog’s diet. Also, with complete wet foods and sausages for dogs the training snacks will become part of the dog's daily diet.

Tips for choosing the right treats for your dog

• If your dog needs a lot of treats when training, use either low-fat treats or the dog’s own kibble. You can also buy other dry food for training, so the kibble doesn’t taste the same as the dog’s usual meals.
• Is it difficult to motivate your dog with any treats or food? Try treats that are made with fresh meat and have very high meat content, such as PrimaDog Northern Treats. These meaty treats are easy to break into smaller solid pieces depending on your dog’s needs.
• For variation of treats you can chop and freeze sausages for dogs.
• Some may think wet food is too messy for rewarding a dog, but wet food can be highly motivating. For example, you can use grain-free PrimaDog Mini Meals as a super reward after a top performance. An unopened pouch can be stored at room temperature, and the compact sized pouch fits nicely in your pocket. The dog can eat the food straight from the bag.
• Does your dog have allergies or food intolerances? Grain-free PrimaDog Wild Bites include treats with only lamb or fish.