Chicken-free treats?

[Sheenar]

So I found out today from Leon's trainer that chicken is a no-no for him. He is currently on a fish-based food and will be when he comes home with me (we are working to get approval to feed him TOTW since it is a great food that is easy to get here from TSC.)

I need to get training treats (no larger than a dime) for Team Training. I looked at Tractor Supply today (was there to get Marzi's food) and all the soft ones I saw that you could break up small enough had chicken in them. The Bil-Jac liver training treats I normally use are made from chicken.

Do you guys know of brands that make training treats with a different protein source?

[Roxie]

Have you looked into trying the Purina brand of fish based kibble? It is much cheaper than TOTW and available at TSC. I usually don't recommend Purina, but this particular product (I think it was Purina One Salmon for Sensitive Stomachs kibble.) was very good. I have used it for Tayand would definately use it again. It and the Purina One Lamb and Rice are the only 2 Purina's I  recommend.

Google it and see what you think. TAy has chicken allergy and we use only stuff that has no chicken. Or at best chicken listed waaaaay down on the ingredients list.

For treats - have you considered using Cheerios? Or just making your own?

Roxie

[AshertoAsher]

Try these:

http://www.amazon.com/Pro-Treat-Liver-Freeze-Dried-Treats/dp/B000255OIG

Asher loved them. They were his "power treats". I'm sure you could find them for a lot cheaper if you looked on the internet/at your local pet store, too.

[Rubiegem8280]

http://www.oldmotherhubbard.com/product.aspx?&cat=2&pid=23

Savanah approved and loved. vegetarian so no chicken. Peanut butter flavor. Small cubes. Can be cut into half for smaller treats to, and they are our super good treats. I use the charlie bears for regular treats, which I would guess has chicken in most of them.

[k1maplewd]

These salmon treats make an excellent high value reward.  I use them all the time and dogs LOVE them!  http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=1061&ParentCat=286 

[hbechtold]

Moose is allergic to ANYTHING that even resembles chicken! Natural Balance makes these tubes of goodness (or so Moose thinks!). They look like huge sausages and come in Beef, and a Sweet potato/Salmon mix. (careful, they make a chicken one too).  Moose loves them and so do I. We use them when he's really got to work hard! They break or cut  up really easy, so I can take what I need and leave the rest in the fridge.

[k1maplewd]

The natural balance roll I agree dogs really love, but just be careful since they add sugar to it, which is a main reason why dogs love it.  it is VERY high calorie due to the added sugar. 

[Sheenar]

Roxie, I'm not able to feed Purina. It's not on the list of foods approved by the program. I am trying to get TOTW approved because it is less expensive than the foods that are on the approved list (Wellness, Solid Gold, Innova, Showbound, Abady).

hbechtold, the NB rolls aren't so good for putting in a treat pouch to use for a day of training. Need something that doesn't require refrigeration or get messy in the pouch.

No people food allowed.

Sorry, should have been more clear.

[klkriz]

For prepackaged treats, have you tried dehydrated cod or Yummy Chummies? My boy couldn't have chicken either so we got very used to reading labels and finding alternatives. If Innova is approved you might be able to feed California Natural also made by Natura. It's an alternative for sensitive dogs, there is a herring and sweet potato formula, and it costs less than Innova.

[state_of_nowhere]

Why not use pieces of kibble from a food you don't normally feed? You can get a small bag to keep costs down.

[cowlypso]

Bear is a very picky eater and will only eat the jerky-type treats.  They are kind of hard to break into small pieces by hand sometimes, but scissors or a knife would work, and they are dried so they don't make a mess.  I usually just get the chicken, but I've seen them in duck, turkey, and beef.

[hopesclan]

What type of training treats are they using now?  I would think it would be best to continue with what they are already using successfully.  Do you need to bring your own treats to use during team training?

[Sheenar]

I need to bring my own treats. I emailed his trainer, but she answered my other questions without answering the treats one.

[Magesteff]

I have some freeze dried lamb liver and I also got some sweet potato fries for Max. He doesn't particularly like the sweet potato fries - they don't have much of a smell compared to the lamb liver.

[Spectrum]

The fish variety of EVO makes good treats...expensive for a dog food, but cheaper in the end than most treats. Tiny kibbles, no chicken, no refrigeration. There's also Stella and Chewy's freeze dried raw food that comes in little patties. It can be broken up and doesn't require refrigeration. Mini zukes are also pretty awesome and come in peanut butter and in salmon, and are very cheap if you get them on Amazon (pretty expensive in pet stores). Freeze dried liver is usually available at pet stores. Bestbullysticks.com has freeze dried lamb and lamb jerky, some places have salmon jerky. You can also maybe stick a hotdog in with a bag of kibble to "marinate" overnight to get the smell of the hotdog on the kibble, and use the smelly kibble as treats. Best Buddy Bits are good - my favorite are the cheese ones (and yes, I eat them too...they're SO GOOD!). EVO also has dry treats that can be broken up pretty easily, and some do not have chicken - I know there's at least a red meat formula and a fish formula.

As far as TOTW, I think there are two varieties without chicken - the pacific stream and the sierra mountain (lamb). You could feed one variety, and use the other as treats. I usually rotate TOTW anyway, but Gavroche isn't sensitive to any proteins, so he can have them all.

I personally wouldn't use any type of Purina. It's better than some foods, but still a pretty terrible food. Purina ONE is however the one kibble available in most stores that I'd use in a "kibble emergency" if I needed to feed kibble and couldn't get any higher quality kibble. I would rather feed raw or human food, though, and if I could get to a store to get the ONE then I could get people food (of course there are situations that it's not feasible to feed raw/fresh...I can't imagine trying to feed raw in a hotel room, for example. It gets very messy very fast...and there's not much way to cook in a hotel room.)