Dog treats are snacks and not meals for your dog. As with food, package feeding directions are typically on the high side. We’ve also noticed that the “doggy junk food” directions tend to suggest feeding way too many treats. High value, healthy treats have more sensible feeding guidelines. In the jungle of dog treats, how do you choose the right ones for your pup?
If you missed my post on what to feed your furry friend, make sure and check that out as meals come before the dessert, right? Mom and I went shopping for some new treats the other day. Boy, is there a lot to choose from! Everything smells so good, I had a tough time making up my mind. Luckily, Mom had some good ideas about what to look for in a treat.
Ingredients In Dog Treats
If you watch what ingredients are in your dog’s food, you should be doing the same for her treats. Most of the time we look for single or two ingredient treats when we are buying treats. We look for real meat, no fillers, genuine good ingredients. It is rare that we buy cookies, but if we do, the ingredients should be healthy, and all natural. Products like Pupperoni, or Milkbone are not on our list of treats as they are full of junk. There was a time when Mom bought treats like that, but as she has learned more and more about dog nutrition, she has gotten picky.
Types Of Dog Treats
We divide types of dog treats into three categories:
- Training Treats
- Snack Treats
- Chews
Training treats are small, like the size of a small fingernail. You pup will probably be getting a lot of them when she is training which is why you should look for something small, and low calorie.
Snack treats are kind of like a human having a cookie mid afternoon. These treats should not be large, but they are definitely bigger than a training treat. One of these treats is plenty for your pup, remember dog treats are snacks and not meals.
Chews are something you may want to give to your pup a few times a week to keep their chompers in good shape. We use all natural chews such as marrow bones which we get frozen, bully sticks, beef esophagus, green tripe, and so on. Some of the chews tend to be high in calories which is why we only have one a few times a week.
Portion Size Is Important
Humans have real issues when it comes to feeding their dogs food and treats. Remember, many dogs are much smaller than humans, unless you live with a Great Dane, Newfie, or another giant breed. Treats are often packaged in fairly large pieces. My guess is they want to sell more treats by using larger pieces, and they don’t take into account how much each dog really should have in a treat.
At our house, Mom often cuts or breaks cookies, jerky, or other treats into several pieces for us to share. Not only do the treats last longer, but we don’t get overfed.
If you do give your pup a lot of treats during the day, remember to adjust their meal portions accordingly to balance out the calories.
Did you know…treat size doesn’t matter to us dogs? We are just as happy with a tiny treat as with a large one, and no matter what size, we always want more. For humans, this is a tough concept to keep in mind. If you remember this when treating your dog, it will help you dole out the right portion size. Most people don’t think about making a large treat into several smaller ones.
Homemade Dog Treats
We do a lot of training for our sports which means a lot of training treats. Most of the time, Mom makes them for us. It is super easy, costs less than pre-made treats, and they are good for us! She buys some chicken, pork, or beef, dices it up into 1/4″ square pieces and lightly browns them in a frying pan. They are then put on some paper towels to drain off any excess fat and cool. Simple as that we have training treats we love. There are always several bags of them in our freezer ready to be eaten as needed!
Remember: keep your dog at a healthy weight by realizing dog treats are snacks and not meals! Bone Appetit!
My GBGV Life is happy, so we’re joining Comedy Plus for Happy Tuesday!
the mama used tiny treats, but tht is a dangerous thing with da nelly …we fear for her fingers hehehe
We have to take them gently or we don’t get them.
We have 2 boxes. Of Christmas Wurfers that have not been opened. Bummer. Puffin has an evening routine of tricks which she gets her baby treats as a reward. About 7:45 I start getting silly for my nightly teeth cleaning chew. That’s why we have treats left over from Christmas becsuse we only seem to get treats in out daily routine. XOXO Sparkle
We get ours in a routine too. It’s good to have too many treats so if you need them, they are there.
I love snacks! But, not your kind of snacks. We have been in a big potato chip snacking mood and have tried about four different brands of jalapeno flavored chips. The best we’ve had is Tim’ Cascades potato chips that I found at Amazon Prime but has since disappeared. The brands we liked the best from our local grocery store are Kettle and Zapp’s. Stay warm, it’s cold! Have a giggletastic day!
Curious as a Cathy
Mom likes chips in the summer when it is hot out. She thinks she needs salt that time of year, now not so much.
Trying to get clover to lose some weight. Her treats have been cucumbers, apples, banana and carrots
Oh my, that is some real healthy stuff. We have friends that use green beans for treats most of the time.
Great post, Bailie! Mom breaks lots of my treats in half like your mom does. It’s so not fair!
We get ours broken into thirds most of the time, but we are alright with it.
That probably goes for cats too. Simon would eat treats for a meal if we’d let him.
It sure does. Cat bro Bert is always after treats around here.
Great advice! especially about the training treats size!! This size is also good for show rings and interactive toy stuffing’s!
Tiny treats are just as tasty as big ones but we can have more of them.
Excellent advice. Treats are not meals indeed. We had treats at around 5:30 each evening for Angel Little Bit. She only got four of them and they were vet approved. Many treats are very bad for pups.
Thank you for joining the Happy Tuesday Blog Hop.
Have a fabulous Happy Tuesday. Scritches to the pups and my best to the mom. ♥
There is a lot of doggy junk food out there. One has to really pay attention to what is in the products.
The boys snack or treat is usually boiled chicken. They love any extra treats during the day.
We get that kind of thing for our training. Mom says today is pork for nose work class.
Oh hahahah Lucy our cat thinks her treats should be in a big bowl! Ain’t happening! Have a lovely day!
Oh, you are so very cruel…in her eyes 🙂
Excellent advice! Our Mom used to make Cinnamon’s treats and then the dehydrator died, now she buys the chicken jerky. She is amazed at the extra ingredients that get thrown in! Mostly us (and Cinnamon) get freeze fried treats that are a single ingredient and we LOVE them (purrticularly the salmon treats)! Have a marvellously Happy Day!
Oh yes the salmon is really good. So many seemingly healthy treats really are not if you read the ingredients.
We like lots of treats…..usually we have to work for them though.
Mom says treats are not free, so we have to work for them too.
You always have such good advice. Us humans need to remember that snacks are not meals, too!
Mom wishes snacks were meals, but she knows it is not the case.
We are 100% with you on treats, and which type/brand to get (or not get)! I love how you pointed out that the size doesn’t matter to dogs – it’s so true! They are just happy to get something. Luke pretty much gets the same amount of treats each day, just like his food. One of his favorite bigger/longer lasting treats are fish skins – but we know your Mom doesn’t like to give you girls those! 🙂
She bought some fish skin treats a week ago and hates giving them to us, but we do love them. Enjoy, Luke!