# First class! High value treats?



## Euphemism (Jul 22, 2009)

Heya everyone!

I'm taking my 4 and a half month old pup to his first obedience class today. He got switched from the puppy class to the beginner's obedience class over the phone at the last minute because the trainer thought he might be too large. A maybe 25 pound ACD is too large?

Anyway, I got a phone call to confirm and the trainer said to bring a collar (no choke or prong), a 6 ft leash, my dog, myself, proof of vaccinations, and finally, high value treats. No. 1-5 no problem, but number 6 I have no idea what to bring? Does anyone have some suggestions? He'll go crazy over just about anything, but the trainer must have meant more than just kibble.

Thanks!


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## Lonewolfblue (Oct 28, 2007)

Chopped up hot dogs and cheese, mix them together in a zip-lock baggie. I use this when I take my girls to classes.

As for the dog size, our puppy classes here are for dogs up to 3 months, and they have a separate class called a Senior Puppy class for dogs up to a year.


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## Euphemism (Jul 22, 2009)

I'm sure he would -love- that, but I was hoping for something a little bit drier and less messy. Thanks for the response! If all else fails that's what I'll do!


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## Ayanla (Jun 11, 2009)

I took cheerios and broke them in half, and one day that Odo refused breakfast, I took a baggie full of his kibble. By high value they just mean anything that will get your pup to turn his head in a distraction situation.

The trainer at my class used pupperoni and Odo absolutely loved it...but it gave him the runs something horrid.


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## SunnyPaw (Feb 24, 2009)

Euphemism said:


> I'm sure he would -love- that, but I was hoping for something a little bit drier and less messy. Thanks for the response! If all else fails that's what I'll do!


Hi Euphemism,
Just sent you a PM. 

What breed is your PUP?


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## Lonewolfblue (Oct 28, 2007)

Euphemism said:


> I'm sure he would -love- that, but I was hoping for something a little bit drier and less messy. Thanks for the response! If all else fails that's what I'll do!


Actually, it's not messy at all. And the cheese I use is the cheese sticks, I just slice them in thin pieces. It's only a little messy when making it, but in class, not messy at all.



SunnyPaw said:


> What breed is your PUP?


Original post says a 25lb ACD (Australian Cattle Dog)


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## Euphemism (Jul 22, 2009)

Oooh! I love the cheerio idea! I could definitely go with that!

Yea, Sunny, I saw that, thanks! I'm pretty much in a crunch-time sitatuion here though, heh! And Lonewolf answered your question perfectly!

You know, honestly I think I might be able to handle the cheese. I will have to skip on the hot dogs though. I can't even smell a hot dog without dry heaving. I think that might have been what turned me off to the idea more than the moisture, haha!


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## SunnyPaw (Feb 24, 2009)

Lonewolfblue said:


> Actually, it's not messy at all. And the cheese I use is the cheese sticks, I just slice them in thin pieces. It's only a little messy when making it, but in class, not messy at all.
> 
> 
> 
> Original post says a 25lb ACD (Australian Cattle Dog)



Ah, ACD - of course! Guess I need an afternoon cup of tea


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## Binkalette (Dec 16, 2008)

+1 for cheese! 

If you want to buy something, the Zuke's mini's and the Wellness Pure Rewards are both pretty good and not messy at all. They are my dogs favorite treats.


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## Lonewolfblue (Oct 28, 2007)

Another one you can buy at Petco is Sniffers 101. They are an all natural liver treat with calming herbs, and they smell good. They don't smell like liver at all, guess it's the herbs that make them smell so good.

http://www.petco.com/product/103977...ining-Bits-for-Dogs.aspx?CoreCat=OnSiteSearch


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## Euphemism (Jul 22, 2009)

Woah, you guys seriously know your treats! This is my first dog though, maybe I'll figure it out on day, haha!

I've decided on the cheese! Sounds like a great idea after growing on me for an hour or so. However, the only cheese I do have is pepperjack, so I'm going to have to run down to the store to pick up some cheddar or mozzarella sticks. The plus side is that whatever I don't give to him I will eat myself!


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## Lonewolfblue (Oct 28, 2007)

Also, for training treats, you want to cut up the pieces so they are pretty small. I use the mozzarella sticks, and I cut it lengthwise, then slice it in thin slices so you have 2 training bits per slice.


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## Keechak (Aug 10, 2008)

lol, we've had 50 pound St. Bernard puppies in our puppy classes before

A staple for me is BilJac liver treats


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## Euphemism (Jul 22, 2009)

Haha, I was wondering how he was going to eat big slices. Not that they would be very big, but they would be so thin compared to their surface area that I imagined them getting stuck on his tongue and building up!

Seriously, Keechak! When the lady said it I thought I had heard wrong. "Did that lady just say my medium sized dog was too -big-? If anything I would like him to be a bit bigger!" By the way, Keechak, for some reason a video of you and Kechara (I think) doing figure eights around two little dogs in a sit is one of the only ones I can remember watching!


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## txcollies (Oct 23, 2007)

cheese, nuked hot dogs, rollover, pupperoni, bits of chicken.

Most of my dogs HATE the Bil Jac liver treats. Why I have no idea.


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## Lonewolfblue (Oct 28, 2007)

Euphemism said:


> Haha, I was wondering how he was going to eat big slices. Not that they would be very big, but they would be so thin compared to their surface area that I imagined them getting stuck on his tongue and building up!


They won't stick to the dog's tongue, lol. Sometimes I just slice them up without going lengthwise. And if you are really good, you can do it lengthwise, turn it and lengthwise again, then slice up into 4ths, lol. All depends on how big you want the pieces to be.

Also, if you ever have any questions on the ACD, feel free to ask anytime. I had a Cattle Dog as my first dog, and due to stress issues of living in town, I decided she needed to be rehomed on a ranch. Took about 14 months, but I finally found a 400+ acre ranch with cattle where she's happily working cattle, and no more issues due to stress. Not all ACD's are stressed like this, Betty was more of the working ACD where she needed to be on a ranch. And she was the fastest learning dog I've ever seen, she learned the entire Rally Novice Course in 4 months, as well as knowing not only the verbal commands but the hand commands to go with the verbal commands. And with clicker training, she was completely Operant, and only took 3 days to learn weaving between the legs reliably.


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## Keechak (Aug 10, 2008)

Euphemism said:


> By the way, Keechak, for some reason a video of you and Kechara (I think) doing figure eights around two little dogs in a sit is one of the only ones I can remember watching!


LOL that was a totaly random comment! haha

well If you would like to see all my videos just go here.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ErinKeechak#play/uploads they should be on the right


It was probably Hawkeye since Hawkeye is bigger than Kechara, so Kechara would have been one of the "Little Dogs"


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## wimsey (May 19, 2009)

My puppies really like the freeze dried chicken for treats. You can break it up easily into miniscule pieces if necessary and it's dry so your hands don't get icky.


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## Euphemism (Jul 22, 2009)

Lone, I'll probably take you up on that at some point as whenever I don't know what to do I turn here, haha! Sorry to hear you had to get rid of her though.

Yea, random, but it had been sitting on my chest for months like a lead weight. It was Kechara (I just found the video again), and the little dog was a Papillon I think, haha! I check out the others when I get a free couple of minutes.

*New info*
Just got back from class and either my definition of high value treats is messed up, or the trainer's is. She said cheese was a horrid idea because it is hard to take with you everywhere and that kibble would be a better substitute. I was under the impression that kibble, in the manner that most people use it, makes it a low value treat.

As for the class. The socialization was great, but I'm not sure about/ not impressed with the instruction itself.

Oh, and she also said Boomer was a smaller breed. Ironic?


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## Lonewolfblue (Oct 28, 2007)

I've got a few threads on here with Betty, but here's one of her training threads...

http://www.dogforums.com/3-dog-training-forum/37255-betty-s-training-video.html


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## NRB (Sep 19, 2009)

pea sized amounts of the following; beef meatballs, turkey meatballs, chicken breast, Newmans Own Organic training Treats, easy cheese from the aerosol can.

you want the treat to be small and wet so that it can go down quickly and you can move on. Not fun to offer the dog a dry biscut and patiently wait for them to chomp on it and swallow it up. Small pea sized bits of meat go down quicker.

I tend to not feed the dog anything that I wouldn't eat myself. Corn Syrup makes anything Bil Jac makes out. Sodium Nitrates on Hot dogs makes them unpopular in my fridge as well. Easy Cheese is definately in the Junk Food Category but hey I eat Doritos from time to time.

I do use Kibble at home in low distraction settings. But once I go outside and have to compete with deer poop, squirrles, other dogs and etc i pack the high value treats.


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## Keechak (Aug 10, 2008)

A High Value treat should simply be something your dog LOVES and is easy and fast to eat. Dried liver is another great treat. Don't let a trainer tell you a treat doesn't work if your dog reacts strongly to it.


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## Lonewolfblue (Oct 28, 2007)

Keechak said:


> A High Value treat should simply be something your dog LOVES and is easy and fast to eat. Dried liver is another great treat. Don't let a trainer tell you a treat doesn't work if your dog reacts strongly to it.


Exactly. High Value is what YOUR dog goes crazy for, and not what a trainer tells you it should be. And for liking or not liking, I don't let that stop me either. I absolutely cannot stand liverwurst, but I use it on occasion, as my dogs go nuts for it. The last time I used it I vowed to never get it again, but guess what, I got a little more. It's one of my HIGHER POWER treats, higher than cheese and hot dogs. Even if it does make me gag, lol.


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## MegaMuttMom (Sep 15, 2007)

My dog would never go for kibble as a reward in class. He needs something really great (like cheese) to make it more interesting than all the other hundreds of things that capture his attention in class.


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## Euphemism (Jul 22, 2009)

I'll probably stick with the cheese next week. 

Her main issue with it was that I wouldn't be able to have it on me all the time, or be able to leave some by the door etc. This is what made me think we had different definitions of high value. I had absolutely no intention of using cheese as a normal treat at home, just in places where she would rather play with the other dogs than eat a piece of kibble.


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## megbot (Aug 3, 2009)

I buy a big roll of D. Van Patten Natural Balance beef dog food roll (I call it, The Beef Stick), break up a chunk of it into a plastic container, and store it in the fridge. Wrinkles goes ape for it. Hotdogs, roast beef, they're ok. But this stuff is his true love. He can ignore a hot dog outside. He can ignore me. But beef stick? He can stay, sit, lay down, and mow the lawn for a piece of this stuff (ok... maybe not mow the lawn. Dig up, sure).

The big ole 4lb roll is only 11 dollars at my Petco. It lasts me a while. I typically give him an inch per training session (he's a 50lb hound mix). Or half an inch mixed in his food if he's being finicky.


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## SunnyPaw (Feb 24, 2009)

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## rosemaryninja (Sep 28, 2007)

I also like Grizzly NuTreats, but I'm not exactly sure where to get them in the States. They're healthy (grain-free, low-calorie) and dry, and they're stinky enough for any dog to go crazy over them. 
http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/products/Grizzly-Salmon-NuTreats/117006.aspx


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## Ayanla (Jun 11, 2009)

MegaMuttMom said:


> My dog would never go for kibble as a reward in class. He needs something really great (like cheese) to make it more interesting than all the other hundreds of things that capture his attention in class.


I've used kibble as treats for Odo multiple times because there are days where he doesn't eat a bite, and at 7lbs that just worries me too much. Of course, I could probably give Odo heartworm pills as a treat and he'd perform like his life depended on it. To him, anything that comes from my hand is manna from the gods, so pretty much anything I give him is "high value" for him


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