Treats are a huge part of training your new puppy. They have been vital in both Chester and Crumble's training.
But a shocking amount of new owners don't check that treats are suitable for their puppies age! I was one of them and when I brought Chester home I didn't even know treats had ages on them! I went by the texture and got soft treats that were small because that made sense right?
What should I look for in puppy training treats?
Puppy training treats differ; mostly by flavour, size, ingredients and texture. Nothing out of the ordinary. But differently to your biscuits of choice, you may want to decide on training treats slightly differently.
Size
Puppy training treats should be small, soft and easily eaten, about the size of a pea. Larger treats or those that need too much chewing are great for when there is time to enjoy them, but aren’t the best for puppy training.
I know you want to try out all sorts of treats to see what they like and its exciting letting them choose some treats in the pet shop – but when training your puppy, having their full attention will give you the best chances of succeeding. Spending time to stop and chew isn’t likely to help their already short attention span.
Texture
As for texture, try to go for soft ones to limit chewing time. Crunchy treats tend to take slightly more time to get through. And could be a hazard when training with an excitable little puppy.
Flavour
Probably the best part of selecting puppy training treat flavours available is seeing which they like best. Frantic tail-wagging, jumping up at the treat packet and outstandingly widened eyes are usually a good indication of this.
Ingredients
Commercial puppy training treats can lie pretty much anywhere on the spectrum of healthy and unhealthy ingredients. You ideally want to look for a high protein content and avoid meal, cereals or maize.
And while puppies CAN eat adult treats they aren't tailored for your growing puppy, which means feeding them to a puppy will mean the nutritional value is less. The treats can also been too hard for them which isn't great when your puppy is loosing/lost teeth. It can also be a chocking hazard for an excitable puppy.
We've tested out lots of different treats over the years and here are our top recommendations!
Some of our top recommended treats for Puppies!
4 Weeks + 👇
8 Weeks + 👇
12 Weeks + 👇
16 Weeks + 👇
6 Months + 👇
Thanks For Reading
Sarah, Chester & Crumble xx
Comments