Cheap Training Treats for the Dogs

Note: this post is not so much about what we do to lighten our impact as it is about reining in the budget. However, more frugal use of purchased resources does result in a lighter impact. Ethical vegans should be aware I will be discussing meaty treats for my dogs in this post.

It is important to us to have dogs that are well-behaved and will do what we ask, especially when out in public. With Angel, we didn't worry too much because she had obviously had some obedience training before she came into our lives. She's a mellow dog, too. Polie, on the other hand, is our wild child. We got him partly as a result of his rambunctiousness causing injury to his previous owner. He was impossible to walk until we bought a harness that reduced his pulling tendencies considerably. Training was an absolute necessity.

The problem with training is that you go through a huge number of treats while teaching the dog how you expect it to behave. I'd estimate that our dogs consume up to a cup of treats per day, especially while we are going through the obedience classes. (They just started Intermediate Obedience training.) This can quickly get expensive. Even with reducing their meals by an equivalent amount so they don't gain weight, I needed a way to keep the cost down.

There are numerous recipes available for making your own dog treats. I have not tried any and don't plan to in the near future for a couple of reasons. One is that the training treats need to be really enticing for the dog, enough to make it want to do what you want it to do. Strong smells and flavors, especially cheesy and meaty ones, are going to appeal to their canine nature more than wheat-based treats. I don't particularly want to have to cook with animal products. I also don't want to take the time it would require to make such a high volume of treats from scratch needed during their intense training period.

Therefore, I currently buy their treats. I'd love to buy them the locally-made all-natural treats but let's get real. It would cost a fortune for 2 cups of those treats per day and that's just not in our budget. The treats I do buy, from mail-order and pet stores, contain basic natural ingredients rather than a lot of fillers and preservatives. And the ingredients are from the U.S.


The easiest and most convenient of the treats is Charlee Bears. The cheapest I can find them is $5 for a one pound package. Because each treat is fairly small and lightweight, this means there are quite a lot of treats per pound. The best way to compare price would be by the number of treats per dollar but I haven't taken the time to do that.


RE-SIZING

With most other treats we use, however, the size of the treats is too large for training purposes. Small-sized treats sold specifically for training are more expensive than the larger treats. To save money, I make my own training treats from larger treats instead. I do this by setting up a little table while watching a movie and then break or cut the treats into smaller pieces appropriate for training. I've even dedicated one side of a small cutting board and one sharp knife to cutting dog treats only. (I don't want any cross-contamination with my food on the cutting board.)


The dogs love their "trout cookies" as we call them. They are made with trout and sweet potatoes and come from the Flint River Ranch company. The treats are way too big for training but fairly easy to break up. I break each square into about 9 pieces, slightly smaller than the Charlee Bears.


A vet turned us onto dehydrated liver treats over a decade ago. Dogs absolutely love these as they are pure meat - liver that has been freeze-dried. They are very stable and last a long time. Unfortunately, they are quite expensive with the large tub there costing over $25. However, there are a lot of treats in there. No point in figuring cost per pound as freeze-drying changes the weight completely from fresh or cooked liver. The larger tub is a better price per ounce.


These are great for training because the dogs really want them, so it's worth it to buy them. However, I'm not about to give them a big ol' chunk of tasty liver just for doing one thing right. I cut each liver chunk down into about four pieces, a perfect size for training and a way to get four times as many treats for the same cost. When I'm training, I mix different kinds of treats so they don't get all liver all the time.


Some trainers recommend hot dogs for training but we'd rather give the dogs something made specifically for dogs. The pet stores sell a meaty food (not raw) in tube form - kind of like a dog meat loaf in sausage form. Once the package is opened, it must be refrigerated. Portions are supposed to be cut off for each meal. Some of the trainers where we go for classes use this for training. I bought some and the dogs liked it a lot. The next time, I bought the largest tube they sold, at a better price per ounce, cut it into about 10 rounds and froze them individually. Every couple of weeks, I thaw one out and then cut it into small training size pieces.

This is my least favorite treat to deal with but I do because it is one of the dogs' favorites. It smells nice and stinky which makes them very eager to eat it. It's also pretty cheap once it's cut up into small pieces. One of the disadvantages is that it gets the cutting board and my fingers all stinky. The cut-up treats have to be kept in the refrigerator. Since we mix treats for training, any mixture containing these treats also has to be kept in the fridge if we don't use it all up. Like I said, though, it's worth it for better-behaved dogs.


NO WASTE

As you might suspect, I end up with crumbs from breaking and cutting up dog treats. At first, I always just brushed these into the dogs' bowls after I was done and they loved me for it. Then I got smart.


We have Kong toys to give them when we leave the house. The stores sell soft cheese and peanut-butter flavored stuff to fill these with for the dogs to lick out. Again, too expensive for our budget and I'd rather control the ingredients. I bought a big jar of peanut butter instead. The dogs love a smear of peanut butter inside the toys.


Since they have their own jar of peanut butter, it occurred to me one day that I could mix the treat dust into their peanut butter. Hoo boy, did they ever love that! This enhances the appeal of the peanut butter-filled toys as well as making good use of the "waste product" of treat dust.


I also end up with some very small pieces of treats that aren't good for our walks but are a little chunky for the peanut butter. I save these in a little container, kept in a closet so they can't get to it, and use it for brief training sessions in the house. This morning, for instance, I got the bowl of treats out and had them practice sitting and staying while being distracted. I'm amazed they are willing to "stay" while I shake the bowl of mini-treats under the noses and move it just out of reach. But, they do because they know they'll be rewarded with a tasty tidbit.

This probably sounds like a whole lot of work to save a little money. Well, it is a lot of work but it is saving a lot of money. The basic obedience training course was 8 weeks long and this new intermediate one is another 8 weeks. We probably won't take classes beyond that but we will still need some treats on hand to keep them up to par. Eventually I may start baking treats for them, but for now, this works for me, for the budget, and for them.


Although....there is one more option for cheap treats. The patio is covered with mesquite beans right now. I'm not crazy about the taste, although a lot of people do use mesquite flour. Coyotes and other animals eat them for the sweetness and the high protein content. Both dogs have been munching on the beans when we've been outside. This morning, I broke up a couple of beans and found out that they would work as training treats. Hm....