# What's the most high value dog treat?



## sighthounds (Sep 4, 2018)

What training treats get your dogs super excited? 
Liver, chicken, veggies, shop-bought.. or something totally different? Please let me know your secrets and recipes


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## Siskin (Nov 13, 2012)

Fishy mainly, but anything edible will do


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## JoanneF (Feb 1, 2016)

Liver cake - can also be made with tuna.

A pack of liver (supermarket packs are usually about 500 grams)
About 250 grams of flour - I use gluten free as some dogs are gluten intolerant
1 egg
A slosh of olive oil or salmon oil for a glossy coat (optional)

Cut the liver into pieces and use a hand blender to blitz it with the egg until it's a sloppy mess. Stir in the oil if using and the flour. It still should be a sloppy mess.

Turn into a parchment lined baking tray measuring about 6"x9". It shold be about an inch deep.

Bake at 170 degrees for about 15 minutes until a knife comes out clean.

When it's cold, cut into kit kat finger sized pieces - half them again for a smaller dog - and freeze them in a freezer bag. They freeze in separate pieces so you can take out one at a time and break into smaller pieces for training.

Dogs love it, it has no sugar, salt or other nasties and lasts for weeks. It also is cheap to make - a recent survey showed some dog treats to be more epensive, ounce for ounce, than fillet steak!


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## Northpup (Apr 22, 2018)

Lamb! I guess it’ll depend on what their regular feed is too. Stan gets sardines and chicken with his food often so those aren’t that special anymore.
Fish and chip shop sausage (rarely go but we’ll get him one if we do)
Lamb or beef
He loves carrots but not many dogs will choose veg over meat. Boiled baby carrots with butter are an extra luxurious one compared to a regular slice of one from the fridge


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## kittih (Jan 19, 2014)

What ever your dog thinks is high value. My neighbours dog thought his blue squeaky ball with pink bone pattern was higher than any food treat I could offer.

Lay out a range of treats and see what your dog picks first. Also bare in mind that the value may change depending on the context.

Value can also change depending how often the treat/reward is presented ie its scarcity or who else is competing to get it.


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## Maria_1986 (May 15, 2011)

For Chevy it was smoked salmon as her top level, super duper amazing treat- it was the only substance that could compete with a squirrel! For regular training though she would get excited by her own normal kibble, with fish4dogs training treats being her normal lower mid range value treat and cheese being up at the top.

Chester cheese is nearly always right up there, hot dog works well too, ham it depends on his mood, sometimes he loves it and sometimes he doesn't seem as keen. However a squeaky ball is his fav reward.


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## Northpup (Apr 22, 2018)

Maria_1986 said:


> For Chevy it was smoked salmon as her top level, super duper amazing treat- it was the only substance that could compete with a squirrel! For regular training though she would get excited by her own normal kibble, with fish4dogs training treats being her normal lower mid range value treat and cheese being up at the top.
> 
> Chester cheese is nearly always right up there, hot dog works well too, ham it depends on his mood, sometimes he loves it and sometimes he doesn't seem as keen. However a squeaky ball is his fav reward.


Oh gosh yes! Forgot about cheese!! Extra strong cheddar is like a drug for mine


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## kimthecat (Aug 11, 2009)

Cocktail sausages !


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## Picklelily (Jan 2, 2013)

oven dried liver pieces
webbox liver treats
primula prawn and ham spread

and because my dog is just plain weird pieces of butternut squash


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## PawsOnMe (Nov 1, 2012)

For Izzy she loves cooked chicken, blackberries, sausages, liver!, fish treats, semi-moist treats. But anything rolled along the floor to chase becomes even more high value.


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## Mum2Heidi (Feb 17, 2010)

Liver cake and Cheese


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## Bugsys grandma (Aug 3, 2018)

Woody loves, cheese, roast chicken, roast lamb and roast beef, he also loves a bit of black pudding on occasion, liver dried out a bit in the oven, hot dog sausage and tiny cubes of spam! Yuck! To be honest though,nothing can really compare to his beloved ball! When I first got him he had no idea what to do with a ball at all, I had to teach him how to play with it, now it is his favourite thing of all time.


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## KSvedenmacher (Sep 6, 2018)

Yoda loves hot dog or liver (slow dried in the oven). He is not too fond of liver cake as it makes his poo runny. He loves cheese as well, but it makes him so gassy, so I only use it if I don’t have anything else at hand. 

As kittih says, it’s really what your dog values as treats. I tried a few different things before finding what Yoda loves.


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## XemzX (Dec 23, 2013)

For Jonesy it is literally anything edible! Though leaning more towards smelly for high value treats, though he will work for literally anything :Hilarious
Addy is more particular though loves garlicky sausage treats and cooked chicken


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## Boxer123 (Jul 29, 2017)

For sox turkey breast if I have to emergency stop him I call turkey! Lily god knows anything I take she spits out but would do anything for her ball. Below is sox sitting for turkey.


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## Katalyst (Aug 11, 2015)

I find cheap tinned hot dogs and squeezy cheese to be pretty good go-to high value treats. Liver cake is also a favourite here but I always include some garlic when I make it. Just a heads up... it'll stink your house out.


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## BlueJay (Sep 20, 2013)

Rory looooooooooves Ellas Kitchen baby food 
Basically blitzed up fruit in a squeezy pouch. Goes banonkers for them!

Super stinky garlic sausages from here are Frodo crack
https://natural-treats.co.uk/


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## catz4m8z (Aug 27, 2008)

melon and home made peanut butter biscuits.
Not sure why melon is so popular but all 4 of mine go nuts for it and my old family dog did too.:Bored


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## Boxerluver30 (Jun 14, 2017)

Liver cake, i cant stand the smell though so won't make it myself, so it gets bought for him. Cheese. Anything fishy. There the 3 Samson seems to find most rewarding


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## DaisyBluebell (Apr 14, 2017)

For Emma ANYTHING YOU PRETEND TO EAT YOURSELF FIRST!
Seriously its dried sprats & Philly cheese in a squeezy tube


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## Guest (Nov 9, 2018)

McKenzie used to adore squeezy cheese. Can’t get it here and I’ve tried putting some cheese spread in a squeezy tube but it’s just not the same. 

My two think any treat is great really. My go-to for walking/training is cocktail sausages or cheese. They like chicken too. We also have a ‘bark box’ subscription so we get done pretty interesting treats through that every month.


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## DaisyBluebell (Apr 14, 2017)

McKenzie said:


> McKenzie used to adore squeezy cheese. Can't get it here and I've tried putting some cheese spread in a squeezy tube but it's just not the same.


If you find out if customs will allow it through I'll send you some?


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## tabelmabel (Oct 18, 2013)

Murphy's top treat is cheddar cheese. I have used "cheese" as an emergency recall word for him and it works!

Tilly seems to prefer hot roast chicken. I think that's hers but she doesn't get that very often at all.


Highest reward for Murphy above cheese though is a ball. He will focus on a ball in the midst of any other distraction at all. I can walk him anywhere and if i have a ball in hand, his eyes are fixed on it the whole time.

Sadly, with his bad hips, he can't do too much ball chasing. He shouldn't be doing any but i do use a ball for Tilly so i do carry a ball these days and he knows it!!

I think he would run to the point of collapse after a ball. He never ever tires of it. I don't know how he got so hooked on it. I wish we could get tilly as interested as it is a handy tool for control.


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## Guest (Nov 10, 2018)

DaisyBluebell said:


> If you find out if customs will allow it through I'll send you some?


That's very kind of you! Unfortunately I think it's unlikely to get through and if it does it will take ages to get to me, but I really appreciate the thought!


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## Zaros (Nov 24, 2009)

You can't bribe our dogs. You give them or you don't, and if you do give them, then they decide whether or not they want to do whatever it is you want them to do, especially if they want another piece of whatever it is you're offering them.


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## Magyarmum (Apr 27, 2015)

My two are odd balls (bit like their owner) because they weren't trained using treats. I'd never heard of them and their trainer was an ex police dog trainer who used touch and praise instead - neither of mine are interested in balls and toys. 

Treats for them means something you search for in the grass or house, or are given like "sweeties" in the evening when we're watching TV, but not something you get for doing as you're told. For that Mum gives you loads of praise and a massage on the back of your neck! 

As they don't seem to like bought treats, they have cooked chicken gizzards or cheese. And their "sweeties" kept for special occasions are usually small pieces of chicken breast or whitebait which I dry in my dehydrator.


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## Happy Paws2 (Sep 13, 2008)

For Dillon it's cheese, but really if you can eat it he'll do anything for it.


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## Allybean11 (Nov 12, 2017)

Tilly gets really excited for broccoli! Haha! Also, I’ve homemade sardine cake treats before that you can freeze and they tend to go down well. Also, anything that a person behind the counter would give her, even if it’s the most bland treat in the world, if it’s given behind a counter, it’s the best thing in the world!


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## SusieRainbow (Jan 21, 2013)

Tango's another big fan of squeezy cheese ! I always take some when we go to the vets, I'm sure the vet could cut her legs off and she wouldn't notice if she was licking her cheese !


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## Biscuit123 (Jul 24, 2017)

Pookie's favourite is little bits of chicken. She'll do anything for a piece!


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## O2.0 (May 23, 2018)

As @kittih said, the most high value treat is determined by each individual dog's preferences. 
And context matters too, in some instances, your dog may prefer this reward, but in others he may prefer a different reward.

For shaping, and learning new behaviors, Bates likes to work for food, but in other contexts he works much better for environmental rewards or an opportunity to work/engage with me. Depends on the situation.

I get myself in trouble saying that I have put things like chasing on cue, but it's actually a sneaky way of creating a potential reward that comes through me, which heightens me as having reward value. It's the "all good things come through me" concept in all it's complexities 

And just to clarify, using food, toy, verbal and physical praise, and environmental rewards in training is not bribery. 
Bribery is "if you do *this* I'll give you *this*. We humans are particularly bad about bribing dogs in to unpleasant situations. Bribes to cut nails, bribes to go in the crate when the dog doesn't want to, bribes to come away from a dog who's a lot more fun than you are....
Most dogs eventually stop succumbing to bribery and you can even "poison" rewards using this approach to where the dog starts viewing not just the bribe with suspicion, but even the behavior itself.

Rewards have the exact opposite effect. A reward is a "thank you" for a job well done within the context of a shared system of communication where the dog confidently knows what is expected. I ask you to come, you know what come means and how to do it, and you choose to comply based on past history of compliance being fun and rewarding. Done right, rewards based training creates a positive association with the behavior so eventually the behavior itself becomes rewarding.


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## steveshanks (Feb 19, 2015)

Screws, nails, bits of plastic, tops off aerosols "that needed a call to the vets, turns out he'd hidden it not ate it), socks, knickers, basically anything we drop. Today he took a mysterious rubber thing out of a drawer (no idea what it was we'd kept it in case) and had a great time with it LOL. But food wise (sorry i went OT) cheese.


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## cbcdesign (Jul 3, 2014)

Duch likes the pure strips of dried Chicken Breast. A pity really because they are darned expensive but she's worth it. Luckily my business is doing well now hence me not being around in the forum very much but at least Duch can have her favourite treat without it breaking the bank.


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## Magyarmum (Apr 27, 2015)

cbcdesign said:


> Duch likes the pure strips of dried Chicken Breast. A pity really because they are darned expensive but she's worth it. Luckily my business is doing well now hence me not being around in the forum very much but at least Duch can have her favourite treat without it breaking the bank.


If you buy yourself an inexpensive dehydrator, you can make your own dried chicken breast which is considerably cheaper than buying it. Apart from cheese, I make all the treats for my two dogs such as dried liver, gizzards. tongue, turkey and chicken breast.

The time consuming bit is slicing the raw whatever and putting it in the dehydrator, after that you can forget about it for 10 to 14 hours depending on what you're drying!


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