I have used Real Meat dog treats (I buy the dog food version but it's the same as treats but just in 2 lb bags) and Misha has always loved them. The price is not bad at all and I break them even smaller for training. They are quite smelly, kind of like jerky, and Misha has always really liked them. I also like that it's a complete balanced food so if you need to use a lot for training you can just feed them less and it won't unbalance their diet at all. I do use real cooked meat as well, but only for very high value items. I suspect the dried meat treats actually taste better than real meat but Misha still thinks it's special because he doesn't get it much.

 

I have used Real Meat dog treats (I buy the dog food version but it's the same as treats but just in 2 lb bags) and Misha has always loved them. The price is not bad at all and I break them even smaller for training. They are quite smelly, kind of like jerky, and Misha has always really liked them.

I like the sound of the smell of that! Jerky is the best, especially deer jerky...

Do you have some freezer space to spare?

Sadly, no. 😔 We barely have enough room for our food—if we want any kind of meat through the week, we have to buy it a couple days in advance. It’s a smallish fridge/freezer combination that has a little drawer on the bottom for frozen things. The string cheese might work, though... We’ll have to give that and the true chews a test drive!

Buck loves, LOVES Barkworthy green tripe treats. I’m nose blind to them now, but they were an olfactory assault at first.

I bet! Do you have a link for those? All I can seem to find are the chews.

The smelliest shelf stable treat I’ve seen Is fried salmon. Someone brought it to class and all the dogs wanted to go home with the person who had this salmon

I wonder if that would be easy to make at home, then store in a tupperware container? That reminds me, I have seen anchovies being packaged as dog treats... Not quite sure I’m brave enough for that, though!

ine go nuts for anything by Vital Essentials

That brand sounds familiar. I’ll try those, too!

Thank you all for the suggestions! 😁

 

Do you have some freezer space to spare?

I like soft treats for training. Bits of string cheese or cut up turkey or chicken, cut down to the size of a kernel of corn. Some folks in our class use salmon or even big cuts of discounted beef.

With very minimal prep time, you can cram a lot of ready-to-go treats into a freezer bag. Just be sure to freeze them on a sheet pan first, so they don't all clump together.

While Peggy does enjoy Honest Kitchen clusters enough to work for them, dry stuff tends to make her cough if I'm treating her rapidly, for an extended period, or while she's active. I imagine jerky could have a similar effect, so maybe the key for Fluffy is soft stuff.

We even used spray cheese once in class when we ran out of treats. Worked great, but ew. Definitely not something I'd feed her regularly. But at least it doesn't require refrigeration.

Probably the softest pantry treat we use regularly is from Costco:

https://www.costco.com/top-chews-chicken-%2526-apple-recipe-100%25-natural-dog-treats.product.100246288.html

There's a seemingly identical version available from Chewy and other petfood stores, under the name "True Chews."

They can easily be broken up and Peggy loves them.

 

Buck loves, LOVES Barkworthy green tripe treats. I’m nose blind to them now, but they were an olfactory assault at first.

 

The smelliest shelf stable treat I’ve seen Is dried salmon. Someone brought it to class and all the dogs wanted to go home with the person who had this salmon.

My dog is allergic to fish so I didn’t pay attention to the brand.

edited because I meant dried salmon and by accident typed fried salmon.

 

Mine go nuts for anything by Vital Essentials. They absolutely love their chicken hearts, chicken giblets and minnows. They also have some tripe ones that are pretty good. Some of them might be a bit big for a small dog but they’re definitely extra-high value. I find if I have a variety of treats they get more excited hoping it’s gonna be one they really like..