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10 week old puppy - grain free treats?

1K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  HLT924 
#1 ·
Hi!
I've been lurking for ages but now I have my puppy thought it was time to dive in!
Hendrix is a flatcoat retriever/golden retriever mix (please don't bash me for having a 'mutt') and is ten weeks old tomorrow.
I've been trying her on all sorts of treats but I think she may have an allergy to grains as she gets very itchy after eating them.
When I say treats, I mean training nibbles, nothing big and fancy and no human food (except banana!). I wondered if anyone could recommend some good grain free treats that are available in the UK?

Hendrix is very food motivated at the moment so I'm using these combined with the clicker to help start with her training. We've managed sit and her name consistently so far... the others need some work!

Thanks :)
 
#3 ·
She will have human food eventually but as she already seems to have a sensitive stomach I want to introduce her slowly to first dog stuff she can eat and then people stuff she can eat! (Because she will be fed a mostly dog food diet).

The breeder said no chicken but yes to turkey, something to do with different proteins affecting ligament growth?? Is there truth in this or is that all woo-woo?

I didn't know dogs could eat cheese. Trouble is I'll have difficulty sharing my supply! :D

If I'm feeding, say, steak, how much is too much?!? Cos I know she'd insist a full 14oz still wasn't enough (she is always hungry but I'm wise to that retriever game - they're ALWAYS always hungry!).

Thanks so much for your reply :)
 
#4 ·
I second the idea of human food as a training tool. I use cheese as my regular training treats (the cheese sticks sold as children's treats, cut into small pieces) - my dog loves it. He has a sensitive stomach too, but he has no problem with cheese. I occasionally use freeze-dried liver (in small quantities). I have friends who make their own training treats with fresh fish or liver, and another who buys chicken hearts from the butcher and oven-dries them to make treats. While I don't really have the patience or time to do that, my dog certainly loves them!
 
#5 ·
Training treats are generally small.

I have 4 adult goldens and a steak or liver chunk and a few chicken breasts will see them through more than a week of multiple training sessions per day and classes. String cheese is really convenient.

That said, while training a puppy you need dozens of repeats per exercise, plus treats for games, Impulse Control etc, so each piece would be really small...like maybe 1/4 inch (.00635 cm) square. Sometimes smaller. The size can increase as your pup grows and treats start being randomized.
 
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#6 ·
I second human food for treats! I do use grain free Buddy Biscuits (I like the peanut butter kind...but if you order, they make one with grain, and one without, so just make sure you get grain free). I get the soft variety..you can break them into tiny pieces and use them for training. I feel like training treats are usually too big to be honest. Not sure if you could get them in the UK? Piper likes them, but she goes crazy for meat and string cheese. String cheese is especially great because you can cut it into such tiny bites, and it doesn't crumble like treats can.

Usually with Piper I do kibble or Buddy Biscuits in my apartment or if she is doing a task she knows well. When we are outside, or at puppy class, or she's starting to get tired, (or anything tougher that she doesn't like to do, like heeling), thats when I break out what she values more, like string cheese and meat. Whatever you give, you want it to be bite sized, so they can chew it quickly and you can move on to the next task.

If your dog has a sensitive stomach, they might do better with straight up meat or cheese, because its basically pure protein. Less likelihood that something would trigger a reaction. Its not uncommon to see a dog get diarrhea or get itchy after getting a bunch of training treats.
 
#7 ·
Thanks everyone! Human food as treats especially for training hadn't really occurred to me as I've always been around dogs raised on dog food. I tried Hendrix on a bit of cheese last night and boy did she want some more! I also popped a tiny lick of 100% peanut butter (nothing but smooshed nuts) on her kong for quiet time training and she went nuts for it (no pun... ok slight pun intended).

This is sort of related so you might know - she's teething at the moment, and chews her paws/rubs her face a lot. Do you think this is teething related or diet related? Or both! She gets ice cubes, frozen banana, and teething gel when it's really bad (she loves the sugar free puppy teething gel, I'm pretty sure more gets swallowed than successfully get on her gums...!).
She's got lots of soft and chew toys to go to town on, too.

Thanks for replies :)
 
#8 ·
I use boars head oven roasted turkey that I get cut thick then I use a pizza cutter to cut it into tiny bits. Lucy loves them and they are cheap and clean. I tend to eat a relatively gluten free diet so I try to feed Lucy the same. But honestly, Lucy doesn't know what is people food or dog food, she just knows that if she does good she gets something yummy!

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