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Permalink Reply by Bradly and Jenny Boesen on August 9, 2011 at 1:25pm

Honey is fine.  Most veggies (not onions) are also fine.  Many people on here will reccommend Blue Buffalo, but the extra expense is unneeded.  Common sense will guide you best.  The only thing you need to worry about with honey is the sugar content, but if your puppy seems to be at a good weight, don't worry.

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Permalink Reply by Rachael & Waffle on August 9, 2011 at 1:50pm

Do you mean Blue Buffalo treats?  I agree.  They are not unlike saltine crackers in texture and are very lacking in the flavor department.  Yes, I eat my dog's cookies... if I am not satisfied with them, I won't buy them again.  For a similar price, you can get much better treats elsewhere, or make your own!

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Permalink Reply by Rachael & Waffle on August 9, 2011 at 2:13pm

What is best is little bits of meat-- cooked beef or chicken. What is best and also feasible from a mess standpoint? Dehydrated beef or chicken (ie jerky)! I have a whole spectrum of treats I give to my dog, though.

At the top of his list is real, cooked-for-my-consumption chicken. Tasty! But he hardly gets this because I never cook chicken.

I have a variety of dehydrated meat products, including dehydrated liver with pumpkin and peas mixed in, chicken jerky, and venison lung. He loves these too.

He has big cookies that are made without dyes or artificial flavor. Fruit and oats are the basis for the cookies. I would eat these in a pinch.

Then he has little cookies for training that follow the fruit and oat rule I have set.

Finally, he has Charlee Bear treats, which I would never eat and have not eaten. They're mostly flour and liver pate. I'm pretty sure they're flavorless, but they make no mess and they get the job done (a training reward).

I avoid meat-based or meat-flavored cookies and treats like snausages or pupperoni because I am simply not okay with feeding something so artificial to my dog. They smell bad and they stain. They are usually loaded with preservatives and just overall fake-ness. If something has that "smokehouse flavoring" smell, even a product that would otherwise be considered good quality... no thank you. It's too fake and gross for me.

What treats you use are almost never going to impact your dog's health unless they are outright toxic (like chocolate or onions), since they should comprise a negligible portion of the diet. You're not going to notice a difference feeding your dogs Zuke's Mini Bakes over Mini Milkbones, for example. However, if you're like me and want to keep as much crap out of your dog as possible, it's a good idea to follow the general dog food buying rules for a "good" food: avoid products made in China, no by-products, no BHA/BHT, avoid corn and soy, no dyes, no artificial flavors, minimal preservatives, etc.

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Permalink Reply by steve smith on August 9, 2011 at 2:33pm

Too fake and gross...I think you and Waffle are right. It seems that it is instictive, you kind of know but it is good to hear it from others. Milkbone helps the teeth and it appears that it is not bad. Otherwise things like the fake bacon stuff just cannot be good for them. It looks good on TV but they just dont tell you the truth about it. Thanks Waffle.

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Permalink Reply by Rebecca on August 10, 2011 at 10:55am

Hi Rachael, where do you get your dehydrated meat products, and the liver with pumpkin and peas. also the chicken jerky and venison lung. Is there a website to purchase these items. And the Charlee Bear treats.

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Permalink Reply by Rachael & Waffle on August 10, 2011 at 11:52am

I get his stuff from a pet supply store called Care-A-Lot in southeastern Virginia. I'm not sure if it's a national chain (I don't think it is), but they're very successful throughout my region. If there's a dog food health store in your area, they may stock them also. I'm unsure if there is a website where you can order everything at once, but I'll provide links to the products' website, where you can definitely order them. 

Pet 'N' Shape Chicken Liver PLUS is the chicken liver treat I feed. I'm pretty impressed with this product, as it's just chicken liver and vegetables. I accidentally confused carrots for the pumpkin, but they make a pumpkin and apple liver treat also. The sizes are perfect and they don't smell. Although, it seems like they may be made in China, which is disappointing. I've seen a freeze-dried chicken liver product at PetSmart that looked very good (but was SO EXPENSIVE!!) and may be worth looking into. It's made by Pro-Treat, I think, and it's sold in tubs. You may be able to find it online for much cheaper.

The chicken jerky I bought was Canyon Creek and it came from PetSmart. Waffle and I both liked this product until we discovered it was made in China. Well, Waffle didn't care but I do. I've since stopped buying it and am looking for a new chicken jerky product made somewhere else. I may start making my own jerky for Waffle.

The venison lungs are made by Primal and are of excellent quality! The only problem is that they are expensive. If you can find a similar product for cheaper, I would certainly give it a try. I would recommend any dried meat treats made by Primal... the only thing stopping me from trying others is the price. The venison lung is definitely a once-in-a-while thing due to cost.

 

Oh, and the Charlee Bears come from PetSmart too!  They have a Portugese Water Dog (or similar dog) on the front, and come in three flavors-- basic liver, turkey and cranberry, and cheese and egg.

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Permalink Reply by Rebecca on August 10, 2011 at 1:27pm

Thanks alot Rachael for all the info, will definitley check it out. And isn;t that the truth, all the good stuff is so expensive. Go figure.

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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on August 9, 2011 at 6:53pm

I make my own bisquits and freeze them. Apples ,frozen green beans and yogurt are among the favorites at our house! Oh yes....don't forget the peanut butter in the kong:)

 

Bill jacs and Charlee Bears are also a great treat at our house and work well for training. i think they are both made in the USA.

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Permalink Reply by Kim Ales-Yan on August 10, 2011 at 12:38am

I second the Bil-Jacs and Charlee Bears for training.  We use the Little Jac line since Bento is a puppy.  Bento loves them, and they pass the poop test.  It doesn't irritate his digestive system like some other treats.

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Permalink Reply by Stefanie Argus on August 10, 2011 at 2:42am

We just recently discovered that Samoa loves green beans!  We break the beans into small pieces for her and also put them in the freezer beforehand if it's an especially hot summer day & she's needing to cool down.

 

(Of course, we did some quick online research when we noticed that she was sniffing the green beans with interest.  Apparently they're a good low-calorie snack!)

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Permalink Reply by Rebecca on August 10, 2011 at 10:53am

I'm with Rachel and Waffle, skip all the fake stuff. I can't beleive all fake stuff they sell. So bad for the dogs.  Also grapes and raisens are toxic to dogs also. In the hot summer days, i cut up watermelon chunks and freeze them, the dogs love em.

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Permalink Reply by Jane on August 10, 2011 at 2:15pm

I use Zuke's mini naturals for training treats usually. My dogs also go nuts for those chewy "Healthy Favorites" by Milkbone. I can't seem to find the ingredient list online but I think they weren't too bad, and they're also fairly inexpensive at Walmart.

 

If you're looking for animal uhhh...pieces/parts for chews, check out www.bestbullysticks.com. They have just about everything you could ever want. I order pig and cow ears, tracheas, bladders, pork skin rolls, bully sticks, etc for my guys and they love everything.

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