Treats We Love

Dogs love treats, all kinds.  Unfortunately, some treats are better for your dog than others.  For my dogs, it's meaty type treats all the way.  My dogs get treats on average every other day.  It varies - sometimes they get something daily and sometimes they'll go a week with no treats.  Depends.  And of course, the smaller the dog the less treats they should get, and the smaller the treats have to be.  But all the treats I mention here can be cut up or broken up into smaller pieces for the 'lill ones.

PureBites liver treats are freeze dried liver treats.  Ingredients: liver.  Simple.  My dogs love these treats.  They're small and can easily be broken up into even smaller pieces, so I use them for training a lot.  We practice our sits, stays, and even high fives with these bites of liver goodness.  We have also tried and enjoyed the chicken PureBites, but the liver ones are the favorites.

For a larger treat we have two that we alternate.

The girls go crazy over the Merrick Texas Tooth Picks.  However, they're pricey, so they're more of a 'special treat'.  It takes them a while to chew one of these, and they get a decent tooth cleaning out of it.  Amelia does not do so well with rawhide, she tends to throw up big chunks of rawhide, but she's ok with the tooth picks.   And the ingredients?  Beef tail.  That's it.  Love it.

Dehydrated duck or chicken breast strips are another regular treat.  These don't do much for cleaning the teeth, but are apparently delicious.  Ingredients:  duck breast, or chicken breast.  Awesome.

And the most well received treat the girls get is a beef knuckle bone.  This is the joint part of the beef femur bone cut in half.  I get these from my local butcher.  Some butchers charge a nominal fee for these and some will give them to you for free.  Some may even ask how big your dog is and cut it up for you accordingly.  Others will need you to tell them to half the bone, or quarter it, depending on the size of your dog.

  I try to give them each a beef knuckle at least every two weeks, but more often once per week.  I like the knuckles over the femur bone with the soft bone marrow because they have to work harder at the knuckles, and it cleans their teeth much better.  Also, be careful of the femur bone, because Amelia once chewed through the dense side and then got it wrapped around her jaw pretty tight - luckily I was able to remove it.  But I have heard of instances where the vet had to remove it with a bone saw.  So make sure if you give them femur bone parts you watch them carefully and discard the bone once it's a clean ring of bone (marrow and meat removed).

I know that giving raw bones to your dog is controversial but I highly recommend it.  Bone not only cleans their teeth, but it also is a great source of minerals for your dog.  They enjoy chewing them, and hence are not chewing your shoes.  Raw bones do not splinter the way cooked bones do, so it shouldn't be too hard on their digestive system.  People also often ask me if the bones are stinky or messy.  They're not stinky at all.  Smells like raw beef.  They are a bit messy.  My advice is to give them to the dogs outside when and if the weather is right.  Or do what I do.  Designate a cheap area rug as 'the treat rug' and teach your dogs that they can only eat their bones on those rugs.  If they move, take the bone away and put it back on the rug.  It doesn't take long for them to get the hint.

And if you ever see a pack of coyotes around a campfire roasting a chicken, let me know - we can consider giving our dogs cooked bones.  Until then, raw is the only way to go.  Cooked bones of any kind produce shards and can damage your dog's digestive system.

Also remember, raw bones go bad very quickly, so give them to your dog as soon as you get them from the butcher or you can also freeze them. So if I get more bones, I'll wrap them individually and throw them in the freezer.  Then I just give them to the girls frozen.  They don't seem to mind.  Do not store raw bones in the fridge, they will get smelly and bad very quickly.

So bottom line on dog treats: keep it simple.  My girls will not touch a dog biscuit (unless it's homemade - but that's another post).  The good stuff is more expensive, but that's life.  Better to get fewer good treats than more crappy ones.  Which also happens to be my philosophy on chocolate - for myself of course!

What are some of the treats your dog loves?