# training treats for raw fed dogs?



## tuffycuddles (Sep 25, 2008)

I just switched to feeding my dogs raw. I need something that I can carry around in a treat pouch? to use for training? But i have read that i shouldn't feed them dry dog food/treats while they are eating a raw diet because the dried food can keep the raw in their system for too long resulting in them getting sick. So what would be good healthy training treats that i could carry around with me and use for training?


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## Loki Love (May 23, 2010)

I make my own dehydrated treats. You can also buy dehydrated liver, chicken, etc. Maybe cheese is an option? Hotdogs?


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## BlueChaos (Mar 29, 2010)

I use dehydrated liver. I also like lakse kronch, but they are kinda greasy.


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

Don't worry about dried treats in tiny amounts. Max gets dried lamb lung at the moment and on class night when he gets jackpots from a tug toy he gets cooked pork or cooked hamburger or cooked llama lung at the moment. I have put his boneless meat of the day in there raw with a fork as well.


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## marsha=whitie (Dec 29, 2008)

Try letting them dry out in your fridge.

Cut some meat/organs (a lot of people use liver, since some dogs don't really like it juicy), into tiny bits, then lay them out on a pan on top of napkins and stick it in the fridge for a few days. Voila.

A dehydrater would probably be faster, though.


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## PackMomma (Sep 26, 2011)

I feed raw as well, and when I was in Obedience classes with Thumper, I filled my treat pouch with yummy treats such as : home made dried liver (boil liver first to get rid of toxins, then sprinkle some garlic powder and bake in the oven, then dry and cut into small peices), small cubes of goat cheese, peices of apple, frozen-thawed green beans, and I would occasionally just bake some chicken breasts and add some cubes of that, or any leftover meats such as steak, roast beef, etc.


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## Abbylynn (Jul 7, 2011)

PackMomma said:


> I feed raw as well, and when I was in Obedience classes with Thumper, I filled my treat pouch with yummy treats such as : home made dried liver (boil liver first to get rid of toxins, then sprinkle some garlic powder and bake in the oven, then dry and cut into small peices), small cubes of goat cheese, peices of apple, frozen-thawed green beans, and I would occasionally just bake some chicken breasts and add some cubes of that, or any leftover meats such as steak, roast beef, etc.


Do you feed the green beans raw also? Just curious if they could be given raw to kibble fed dogs? 
My dogs LOVE cooked green beans.


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## PackMomma (Sep 26, 2011)

dont' see why not? My dogs are on half kibble /half raw diet, (kibble in the AM, raw in the PM) and I never have issues with raw veggies. Actually, I think vegetables are better if they are frozen and then thawed. Cooked is fine too I guess, but I think that with pure raw vegetables the dogs have a tough time digesting it so they usually poop it out almost whole. If they are frozen first, then thawed, it breaks down a cell wall in the veggie that the dogs I guess can't digest, or have a hard time digesting. I'm not sure of the exact science behind it, but I know if I freeze and thaw veggies, they digest them completely. If I feed them raw, dont digest so easily lol. Dont think it hurts them at all though if they are fed raw or cooked, but I personally try to stick with frozen-thawed.


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## Abbylynn (Jul 7, 2011)

Thanks! PackMomma! I guess you could use the veggies for training treats too!

OP ... I have used raw cut up carrots for training treats. They LOVE them.  It is like candy or something! Lol! I am not sure though how well they actually digest. I imagine you could par boil them to soften them a little.


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## PackMomma (Sep 26, 2011)

Abbylynn said:


> Thanks! PackMomma! I guess you could use the veggies for training treats too!
> 
> OP ... I have used raw cut up carrots for training treats. They LOVE them.  It is like candy or something! Lol! I am not sure though how well they actually digest. I imagine you could par boil them to soften them a little.


I used little peices of baby carrots too for Thumper when training, he liked them, but he always pooped the peices out undigested too lol. I eventually just got in the habit of buying the frozen bags of veggies, a mix of sliced carrots and green beans (this way when they are thawed, they are softer for easy swallowing/chewing as well) and it eliminated the digestion problem lol. I'd add fruit too, same thing... I buy frozen bags of mixed fruit for myself anyway for smoothies and what not, so I'd thaw out some strawberries, blue berries and melons and throw into is treat mix too. Thumper loves fruit as well. Cash on the other hand.. won't touch fruit or veggies. The only fruit or vegetables he will eat are the ones that are blended together and mixed into his raw meat, and if I dont mix it properly, he will eat around the fruit and veggies the best he can. Picky little dog he is lol.

Oh, cucumber is good too, this is the one vegetable I did actually feed as a treat completely raw. I dont notice the digestion issue with it as much as the carrots or others.


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## tuffycuddles (Sep 25, 2008)

So far Hot dogs and cheese are winners as well as left over christmas turkey and ham...i tried carrots, and they eat them some times, but they aren't very excited about them. I also tried spoon feeding them their meal while training, but that really only worked with one of them. Plus it's tricky trying to manage the dog/leash, the bowl of food and a spoon and concentrate on training.


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## Abbylynn (Jul 7, 2011)

tuffycuddles said:


> So far Hot dogs and cheese are winners as well as left over christmas turkey and ham...i tried carrots, and they eat them some times, but they aren't very excited about them. I also tried spoon feeding them their meal while training, but that really only worked with one of them. Plus it's tricky trying to manage the dog/leash, the bowl of food and a spoon and concentrate on training.


If it were me I would tie an old purse or belly bag around my waist for that many treats ... might be a little easier on you?


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## PackMomma (Sep 26, 2011)

Cheese is good, I prefered to stick with goat cheese myself as much as possible, as I believe its a little easier on the dogs tummy than normal cheese, its yummy either way and the dogs seem to regard it as a high value treat.

Hot dogs..just be mindful of the amount you give, its not the healthiest treat and can cause some tartar/plaque build up on the teeth. Any processed meat I would avoid giving too much of (salty, preservatives, etc). One peice here and there is absolutely fine, but I wouldn't feed an entire hot dog every day.

Leftover meat is great too. Have you tried fruit? Like apples or melon? My treat pouch in obedience class always contained a huge mix of everything - some of it was better, but he never knew what he was getting and worked just as hard for anything that came out of the pouch next lol. 

If your ambitious enough, you can also look online to make some homemade treats - I have one called "tuna fudge". Its easy, yummy and pretty healthy, and the dogs loved it.


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