Recommend A Good Puppy Reward For Labrador?

[Rainey]

I'm looking for something nice for Scud to reward him whenever he does the right thing. We initially bought these ABC biscuits by Pedigree but he doesn't seem to like them very much (chews and spits out), I feel like he must think we are pretty crappy owners when we try to reward him with something that must taste like rubbish. I've since started rewarding him with his regular Royal Canin kibble which he absolutely loves but I don't think that is a very interesting treat for him, and also probably not the right thing to do considering it is his regular meal food as well.

Anyone know any good brands/biscuits that young Labs absolutely go bonkers over?

[poodlefan]

Rainey the best reward is something the dog can suck down quickly, rather than having to pause and chew.

I'd be looking at something soft like devon or cheese.. in very small cubes.

Any food should please a Lab - one of the Labs at our club trains on carrots.

[laffi]

With my dogs, I just use their normal food during everyday training. Only few times a week, when they have to fight all the distractions (at obedience or agility club) do I use special treats:

diced:

- kabana

- devon

- bacon

- Nature's gift semi dry food

- cheese

I use their normal food because I want to make sure they are eating healthy and balanced food. I train quite a bit and I love rewarding so I don't want 50% of their diet consist of treats

If he loves his food, it's a great reinforcer so you can definitely use it as treats. That's all that matters.

Edited August 27, 2007 by laffi

[schnauzer_luv]

I have been training Mazza a little bit today. I initially started with dry treats but it was taking about 3 mins for him to chew it and then the stream of concentration was lost. At lunchtime I boiled some chicken breast and broke it up into small pieces...he sat on command 5 times for chicken!!! I think its a combination of the fact that its soft and easy to guzzle down and that for some reason dogs lurve chicken Saying that, I was only giving him the tiniest bit at a time, he probably ate 2 tablespoons worth altogether and I will subtract that portion of mince from his dinner tonight. If you're worried about scud becoming addicted to treats than chicken isnt a bad way to go if its boiled IMO...its not fatty atleast.

[KitKat]

The 4legs food from the supermarket fridge are great - and you can batch them up and freeze them if you like.

Also the VIP Chunkers are also fantastic...and again you can freeze them in batches

[Rainey]

I'm glad to hear that it may not be the worst thing in the world to treat with his regular food. It makes it really easy for me because I can just have a container full of the kibble at the back door and I grab two every time we go into the yard for toilet time. He responds really well to his treat, sometimes I don't treat him on all of his wee's and just give him praise and a big cuddle, but he always looks for the treats regardless, lol.

Meat and cheese are great as bigger rewards, but it makes it harder to always have on-hand as there is preparation time involved. Actually I'm glad to hear that he can have cheese because I wasn't sure about it.

[BC]

I use hotdog or cheese normally, but I know of a friends dogs who go bonkers over bags of Goodo !!!

[Gayle.]

I use those Schmacko's straps, broken up into smaller pieces......I like having one in my pocket just to suprise him with when he does something good. Also my dog goes nuts over the dry food my cats eat....Hills Science Diet Oral Care. It's big pieces and he loves it so a few pieces here and there makes a nice change.

[Pep]

Anyone know any good brands/biscuits that young Labs absolutely go bonkers over?

My 11 week old Lab loves Nature's Gift Natural Semi-Dry. You can buy little bags of it for about $1.98 from the supermarket or a 1.5KG bag for about $6.00. They're a smallish kibble, inexpensive, Australian made and owned, plus they keep extremely well. They come in a few different flavours but I've found she likes chicken the best. My older Lab, who sadly passed away a few months back, also loved the chicken.

As pure bred Labs are prone to over-eating, I reduce the daily allowance of dry kibble by about 1/2 cup and then mix 1/4 cup of dry kibble with 1/4 cup of Nature's Gift (my puppy is on the small kibble Science Diet). This makes 1/2 cup of treats for the day which so far has been plenty in terms of training and reward. As I measure out her daily allowance every day and keep it separate, if I require more treats whilst training, I simply take a handful of regular kibble from her quota. To compensate for the small amount she's fed in the evening, I add a few small pieces of freshly cooked chicken and a tiny spoonful of boiled rice to the remaining kibble. This fills her up without overfeeding. My puppy had terrible trouble with her stomach when she was about six to seven weeks old so her diet has been monitored carefully under vet supervision.

My Vet also suggested that my pup can now have raw chicken necks as a treat in addition to her regular allowance. If she swallows them too quickly though I am too substitute the necks for a raw wing. The wings however are not to be given daily as wings are fattier than necks. I asked if she could have beef bones at 11 weeks but was told that these may shatter her puppy teeth so I'll be avoiding them for now. Instead my Vet suggested I buy a rack of brisket bones which are softer. These will aid in teeth cleaning and are less likely to cause damage to the puppy. I haven't tried the brisket yet as I want to leave it another week but the necks proved popular. Will let you know how the brisket goes once they've been trialled.

Edited August 29, 2007 by Pep