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Tips on selecting treats (part 2)

In part 1, we shared tips on selecting good quality treats, in this section we will share on the variety of dog treats and how to utilize them.

Whenever you go into a pet store, you will always see treats in many different sizes, it may be confusing to select something from so many varieties at first, but once you know what you are doing you will find that it is actually a very simple and enjoyable process! It is always good to first decide what kind of treats you are looking for, we have list down some points for you to see and decide for yourself what are the scenarios you can use treats for, also some tips and information on how to improve them.

• Tricks 

 Dental / Bad breath 

 Reduce Boredom 

 Reward Good Behavior 

 Health 

 Boosting appetite


Tricks, rewarding good behaviors

This is one of the most commonly used method for tricks, treats are very useful for teaching tricks, you want your dog to get excited every time you bring out the treats , get them to do something that impress you and also anyone they meet. You should never lecture your dog during tricks sessions if they do not execute them. Generally there should not be any dominant behaviors but you should understand that giving your dog wrong signals may trigger unwanted behaviors, one example is giving treats when your dog bark, this is not a way to keep them quiet but a motivation to tell them that "if you bark, you get treats".

We recommend getting something that is not too tough, small in size and has strong distinctive smell. Treats like Ziwipeak and Real Meat are excellent choices for teaching tricks as they come in strips and can be easily broken down into smaller pieces if needed, they are also among the affordable range in my opinion. If you are not particular about price you can consider Cloud Star treats, there are many kinds of treats from this brand, you can read the label before buying, it will state that it is "excellent for tricks". These treats comes in bite size and smells great, for dogs at least. We got the chicken liver flavor and Amber love it very much but I find that it is too expensive considering the amount given. You will want to give treats that can be finished in less than 10 seconds so that they can look up to another one.

These treats are also good for rewarding good behaviors, example when your dog poo/pee at the right place, not barking you can give them a small treat.

• Real Meat • Ziwipeak • Cloudstar













Dental

Since dental treats are meant to help with whitening teeth and bad breaths you may think that they should not taste good, truth is dental treats are usually very tasty and healthy, but only if chosen right. Some dental treats taste good but they are not effective, you may not notice any difference in the teeth or breath, these treats are usually brandless, the logos are printed anyhow and made in countries like china. Try to get quality dental treats like Dingo and Twistix, I usually give 1 to Amber before asking her to do a set of tricks and back to her playpen to sleep at night, she would be so happy and glad to do everything we ask, we even noticed other dogs that stayed with us loves dingo treats like no other! The price may be steeper than brandless treats but we advise to either give good dental treats or none at all.

 Dingo  Twistix
















Reduce boredom

There will be times that you know your dog will have to spend some time alone and would be bored, this is the time to give treats - When you go for work, when you get out of the house or when you simply can't attend to your dog for a period of time. Of course you will need toys, but you will also need something tasty and long lasting, get something hard but chewable for your dog, big is also good because it means more and will take longer to finish! Treats like wellness bar, dried liver and kibbles/small treats hidden in toys are great match! Amber usually eat very little for her meals, but if I were to hide her kibbles in her toys she would get very eager to finish all the hidden kibbles! 

• Nature's 1 Dried liver  Wellness bar  Small treats hidden in toys













Healthy treats

There are treats that are not only tasty, but also healthy and in some cases, cheap! We recommend not to go to the pet store for this but to the supermarket, because for health benefits we believe it have to be as natural as possible.


Nuts
Other than fruits nuts are also very tasty to dogs, i will recommend giving ONLY pure peanut butter, not those bottled with sugar and what not artificial flavors, but those that you can usually find at places like Carrefour's dried snack section, they take orders and ground fresh nuts in front of you, these peanut butter are very healthy and they are relatively cheap! But be careful of the amount given because peanut butters are fattening, I give Amber only 1-2 teaspoon per day on random occasion.

• 100% Pure Peanut Butter





Cheese 
Amber goes crazy about cheese! Just a spoonful of cheese on her meal and she will finish it within 5 minutes. Cheese, like nuts are fattening but healthy (if natural), however I will still choose cheese over nuts because cheese in my opinion has more benefits, cheese are high in protein and calcium and also has much more choice and brands to choose from. It is always best to feed cottage cheese, they have much lower fat content and dogs still love it so why not! Some people recommend goat cheese, I do not know the benefits but I have never came across any supermarkets in Singapore selling goat milk cottage cheese, not even Liang court's Meidi-Ya has it.

• Cottage Cheese • Goat Milk Cottage Cheese


DIY  
There are people who loves to cook for their dogs, because then they would know what is inside the food and how healthy it is, treats are no exception and they can taste just as good as the ones sold in pet shops if made right! If you search for google there are hundreds of recipes to make treats, if you are busy and still want to give you dog's treat a personal touch you can always get a Dehydrator, just place slices of fruits, liver or meat in and let them do the magic! 

• Dehydrator • Google for recipes






Boosting appetite

Treats can be useful for boosting your dog's appetite, sometimes dogs with small appetite can be motivated with some toppings to make them enjoy their meals further, some people like to top up their food with wet canned food which we do not recommend because they not only causes bad breath, they are also made too tasty, so tasty that some dogs are said to stop eating their regular food and demand wet food, it is also expensive and you will need to do more research when looking for brands.

We top up Amber's food with cottage cheese, or natural peanut butter, on basis of maybe once or twice a week, make sure your dog is not picky first.

• Cottage Cheese • 100% Natural Peanut Butter



End

We hope this article has helped you in any ways possible, do feel free to contact us if you have further questions, or simple like our facebook and chat with us there!


Comments

  1. Hi,

    I am trying to find a good place for my beautiful 8 month old beagle mix Koko as we have booked a last minute trip from friday this week. Would you happen to know anyone good here on the east coast that would be able to look after her for a week?

    Hard to find anything with such short notice...

    Looking forward to your response.

    Kind Regards
    Anna

    anna.demirbek@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Anna, we have replied you through your email.

      Regards,
      AmberToyPoodle

      Delete
  2. Hi Anna, what do you think about Burp! ?

    ReplyDelete

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