Sounds like my pup was in the minority, but anything dairy (especially the cheese that he initially loved for training) made the poor guy spew like a geyser. So maybe try it out BEFORE giving a bunch in class. Just...well...to potentially save your shoes!
Lots of recipes for treats on the recipes section of the forum. I've been busy making these for Ripple and he absolutely loves the fishy biscuits and also the turkey mince biscuits. I've been making them as long thin biscuits rather than rounds and marking them into small sections so I can easily break them up - it's a bit time consuming but makes them really easy to use.
Approx 1lb liver 2 eggs Approx 8oz self-raising flour Liquidise liver and eggs. Turn into a mixing bowl and stir in flour to make a stiff cake consistency. Line baking tin with foil and brush with oil. Enough for a tin 6inches by 8 inches, approx 1 1/2 inches deep. Turn mixture into tin and bake. 180c for 20 minutes, then 160c for another 20 minutes or until you can insert a knife and the blade comes out clean. Allow to cool and cut into small pieces. It has the texture of a loaf of bread. This is Joy's Recipe and the dogs love it
I made some treats by pureeing 1/2 cup of flour, 400g chicken livers, an egg, a teaspoon of baking powder and a a couple of tablespoons of oil, Then spread thinly on to a lined baking tray and bake for 15 mins. It goes all puffy. When it has cooled take it out and cut into little squares. You can freeze too.
That it'll teach me to post before reading full thread I see there is something similar above. <high 5s @Cath >
I have NEVER made my own dog treats! Takes me all my time to make OH a tray of brownies at Christmas.... I use fish4dogs stuff, and kibble. High value: sardines, king prawns, cheese. I restrict the amount of cheese I use because it gives my older dog runny poo. He loves it though. I also use slices of smoked turkey and beef which I try to buy on special offer in the supermarket. If I'm going to be doing a lot of training, going to clicker camp etc. I'll buy a whole duck and roast it, then chop up all the edible bits. I find king prawns are the handy thing. Not high in calories, very easy to cut up with scissors into small bits, don't crumble and not messy (just a bit damp). Plus, whole prawns are perfect for using for things like ping pong recall (as they can be found in grass very easily) or putting onto of a target stick. I have plastic pots that fit exactly into my chalk bag training treat bag, and I just put a pot of prawns in that and off I go. Before anyone says 'but they are so expensive!' they are not - my local supermarket often has special offers on them, and they don't work out all that expensive because you can get so many treats out of a single prawn.
Roast duck?! King prawns?! Just goes to show how much prices differ across the world. Duck is insanely expensive here. A kilo of prawns is cheaper than a quacker, but still considerably more expensive than a kilo of rump steak or even a joint of lamb! OH already complains that the dog eats better than him - I'd love to see his face if I gave a bag of his precious prawns to the pooch
Going to try the Ziwipeak, did the math and it is cheaper than the other treats per gram, even though it initially seems mad expensive.
Sausages... if i'm in a hurry i'll buy a little pack of the little ready cooked cocktail sausages and chop them up. He only gets them for training class so i don't mind, they work a treat. Was just thinking the other day that when we started classes i would be constantly feeding him treats to get him to behave in class ( surprised he wasn't a wee barrel ) but now we hardly need to now, just when working on heel work. I now come back with most of them. He's growing up
Supermarket duck is between £5 and £8 per kg - and my local supermarket often discounts by a 1/3 if I look out for offers.
I used Ziwipeak for a while as training treats. It was ok - just ok though. I didn't find my dogs thought it any more valuable than normal kibble once the novelty of a new treat wore off.
If you have any of the tail end rind of Parmesan left over after grating, cutting that in tiny pieces is apparently the best ever