I know this is probably asking for a lot, but what are some good, inexpensive, healthy dog treats that most Labs love?
Hi @Halo my boy loves raw carrots - small pieces the colder the better as far as he is concerned. I use them quite regularly as I always have them in the fridge!
For training treats I make liver cake cut into small cubes. Molly loves it and it's cheaper than any shop-bought treat. For a chew, most like a whole raw carrot.
There are lots of good treats around, although the good ones don't come cheap . There are recipes on one of the boards for various treats, sorry can't link to it easily on while on the phone . With a young puppy I stay clear of any of the treats and just use a portion from the daily kibble ration. Puppies generally are not fussy but can have sensitive tummies when new foods /treats are added
I use kibble, mini breadsticks broken in two, turkey frankfurters cut into tiny pieces, baked liver cut into tiny pieces, roast chicken, home-made tuna and rice biscuits... I don't use commercially-manufactured dog treats for training because they're generally a lot more expensive (and hard to get hold of good ones) than making your own.
A few ideas for commercial products which I like. Treats that Juno and my cats all like (whether cat or dog version) are from the Natures Menu range. The meaty treats are easily broken in half to make smaller treats while you are out and about or training and the freeze dried treats I used as high value treats. https://www.naturesmenu.co.uk/natural-dog-food/shop-by-product/treats Another good product and very useful for training with puppies as they are small https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00E49EAY0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 There are also Sea Biscuit Tiddlers in the same Fish4dogs range but I think they would be too big for a puppy and are too hard to cut smaller, or at least so I have found
We use small dried fish So smelly But they just can't get enough.( Great For when the cats are round as they love them to) I also roast a whole chicken that works out much cheaper than most dog treats and I know what in it. Fab for recall. Carrots are a favourite to. Also I make liver cake when I have the time .
I got fed up with the goo of making liver cake, so now just bake it. It's so easy, chuck a couple of pig livers in the oven until they're cooked through, and then chop them up into small pieces. I freeze a big batch of these and just take a small handful out of the freezer when I want to use them. I don't even bother to defrost them. With the tuna and rice biscuits, I use one of those huge tins of tuna to make loads of dough at once, which I then split into three, freezing two and then baking the third into biscuits, which I then freeze and, the same as the liver, just take a handful when I want them. You can make them much smaller than the sea biscuits from Fish4Dogs and they work out a LOT cheaper, too.
I have been very impressed with the quality and price of treats from CSJ. (That's also where we get Pongo's kibble from.) They don't advertise, which is why (they say) they can keep their prices down while keeping quality up. Their website is csjk9.com if you are interested...
Thanks for all the input! I gave my little guy a few slivers of carrot and he liked them so I am gonna continue with that and monitor him since he's just a pup. I tried green beans but he wasn't impressed. Might try blueberries too. I would prefer to stay all natural with him so chicken might make the list as well. Not sure I want to deal with liver. Any harm in cutting up fat free hot dogs or turkey dogs for a pup?
I use turkey hotdogs for training purposes, cut into tiny pieces. I wouldn't want to give too much, because they're complete junk food, but they're one of the things I use on occasion, cheap and easy.
