Joseph Roetheli, PhD
Highlights:
Everyone loves to reward their pet with yummy treats and tasty snacks, but ensuring their treats are good for them keeps them healthy.
Knowing when to treat your dog and what to treat them with is essential for helping achieve desired behaviors and maintaining their weight.
Yummy Combs dental treats provide balanced nutrition, great taste, and a safe and fun way to treat your pet and even remove tartar from their teeth.
We love to give our dogs treats. Our dogs know where we keep the treats stashed, and most of the time, they know when they’ll get one. If they have a good walk, heel, or come when called, they can expect a reward.
Treats are ideal for helping train our dogs to achieve desired behaviors, but they’re also effective in supporting their healthy bodies. Ensuring the treats we give are nutrient dense is essential, because treats make up a portion of your dog’s total dietary calorie consumption.
We’ll cover the best times to give your dogs treats and what types of treats to give them. We’ll also talk about multitasking treats that support your dog’s health and safety in numerous ways.
Dogs don’t have the same caloric requirements as us and don’t need to eat as frequently as we do. Most breeds only need to be fed twice per day. Any snacks or treats added to their diets should technically be subtracted from their total food intake to help them maintain a healthy weight.
Most dog food specifies how much to feed your dog on the bag. Their veterinarian can help you adjust the requirements based on your pet’s specific needs or if they need to gain or lose weight.
Snacks and treats are sources of calories, too. That means if you give your dog 300 calories worth of food per day and add two treats with 25 calories each, you’d need to reduce their kibble by 50 calories to make room for the treats.
It might seem like you aren’t giving your pet enough food, but keep in mind that their caloric needs are significantly less than ours, even for large-breed dogs. Another consideration is to make your treats count. Use them purposefully and intentionally.
There are two important ways you can use treats and snacks with your dog. Treats can be given to lure them to do a desired behavior or reward them for completing a desired behavior.
Luring your dog to perform specific behaviors means keeping a treat visible to your dog and enticing them to do something with the expectation they’ll get the treat when they complete the task.
Examples of luring include:
In every luring exercise, you’ll strategically move the treat to encourage the dog to perform the desired behavior. For instance, if you’d like to train your dog to sit, you might use a treat slightly above their head.
This forces them to lift their head to smell the treat, and their bottom will naturally fall to the ground. When they are in a sitting position, you can then reward them with the treat.
Unlike the luring technique, which does involve a type of reward, rewarding refers to giving your dog a treat once they have mastered a skill and no longer need the lure. Rewards can also be given after your dog goes for a walk, doesn’t jump at a houseguest, or doesn’t bark at the doorbell.
Rewarding can also be used for activities your dog doesn’t necessarily like, such as brushing their teeth, getting their nails trimmed, or having their eyes and nose cleaned. If your dog begins to expect a reward for these activities, they may be more compliant when you attempt to do them.
Pavlov’s dogs prove that dogs will associate certain activities, behaviors, sounds, and smells with a positive response if one is provided. Don’t be surprised when your dog begins to whine or paw at your feet when you open the cabinet where their treats are stored, even if you are not ready to give them a treat.
Even though they are impossibly cute and have those irresistible puppy eyes, it’s best not to establish a habit of rewarding them for begging, whining, or pawing for a treat. This is a hard habit to break and can interfere with the treats you want to give them for their behavior and training.
Here are our top 10 foods that make healthy snacks and treats for your dog.
Whether it’s a reward or a targeted behavior tactic, giving your dog a treat or a snack is a great way to encourage a healthy relationship with them.
Here are 10 snacks that work great for treating, snacking, and supporting their health.
Topping the list is your dog’s own food. Many trainers use pieces of kibble when training dogs because it’s easy, low-calorie, and effective.
Kibble can be kept in a pocket or a bag, and reducing your dog’s caloric intake is as simple as scooping a few pieces of kibble from their morning or evening meal and reserving those pieces for treats.
Raw or cooked green beans are good options for dogs as long as they aren’t coated in oil or seasoning. Your dog will love the flavor, and they are packed with nutrients and fiber to help keep your dog healthy.
Both raw and cooked carrots are good treats for dogs, provided they have been cut into bite-sized pieces to avoid becoming a choking hazard. If you have a particularly small breed, you may need to dice the carrots and use the diced pieces as treats.
Raw zucchini slices provide fiber and nutrients to your dog with relatively few calories, making them ideal for training. They’re less messy than cucumbers and can easily be diced into small pieces for more rewards.
Sliced cucumbers can become a cool reward after warm summer walks. They’re packed with vitamins and nutrients and offer another very low-calorie option for giving your dog a treat without a massive amount of unwanted calories.
Apples are sweet and packed with vitamins and fiber. Most dogs love apple slices, but keep in mind that a single apple contains 19 grams of sugar, and most dogs don’t need that much in a day. Make sure you give your dogs apple slices without the seeds, which contain a toxin that can be harmful to them.
Your dog loves the smell of dinner cooking, and it is okay to give them small, bite-sized bits of cooked and cooled lean meat, like chicken. Avoid giving them chicken that has been cooked in oil or salted. Instead, opt for boiled or baked meat.
Another sweet treat that is safe to give your dog is banana slices. Banana slices contain a small amount of healthy fat, and like apples, they should be given more sparingly than other treats.
Small pieces of unsweetened cereal (like whole-grain Cheerios) are low-calorie ways to treat your dog and may be especially helpful for training.
There are numerous types of dog treats available in the dog food aisle, and most of them will be satisfying to your dog. Unfortunately, many of these treats contain empty calories that don’t support a healthy weight. It’s important to look for the Veterinary Oral Health Council seal of approval to ensure treats are safe and effective.
While these treats are great for training and rewarding, there are other treats that have super, multitasking powers.
Yummy Combs are specially designed treats that not only reward your dog and support their nutrition but also have the added benefit of cleaning their teeth and freshening their breath. Yummy Combs combines 44 percent chicken protein and 12 wellness-based ingredients to ensure your dog is getting the nutrients they need to thrive.
Yummy Combs are also an easy and effective way to help protect your dog’s oral health. In studies, Yummy Combs was able to remove up to 25 percent of hardened tartar from dog’s teeth, helping fight dental decay and protecting them from declining oral health that could lead to systemic illness.
Giving your dog a Yummy Combs treat can also give you peace of mind. The unique shape of Yummy Combs deters gulping, and our proprietary Slick’M™ ingredient helps Yummy Combs dissolve within minutes of swallowing.
You love your dog, and giving them a treat for good behavior, training, and occasionally “just because” can help support your relationship with them. You’ve got a lot of choices for treats, and Yummy Combs are the best way to support your dog’s health and safety.
Sources:
Lure-and-Reward Training for Dogs: Top Tips to Keep in Mind | AKC.org
Nutrition matters | American Veterinary Medical Association
Healthy and Low-Calorie Snacks for Pets
Effectiveness of a Daily Honeycomb-Shaped Dental Chew in Reducing Calculus, Plaque, Gingivitis and Malodor in Dogs | PubMed
Updates, coupons, deals, and more!
Always feed the right treat size for your dog’s weight category. Always supervise your dog when feeding treats. This product is an adult only dog treat. Always provide ample fresh water for your dog.
Type anything...
We use cookies to provide you the best possible experience on our website. You consent to the usage of cookies by continuing to view our website. See our Privacy Notice for more information.
