what high quality edible treats/rewards do you recommend? - Page 1

 my dog loves the merrick brand lamb beef filets for marker /rewards..curious what other edibles people use ..thats if you believe in doing that. thx

My boy doesn't track, but I give him chicken feet for treats. I usually freeze them first.

EEEEEEEEWWWW!!!  Really London?  Chicken feet?  You have them in your freezer?  LOL LOL

Boneless, skinless chicken breast, nuked into jerkey in the micro, I do a big bag of them at one time, toss that in the freezer and when I go out, I just stick a handful in one of  my vest pockets.  I don't always use a food reward, for instance after a correction many times it's a soft rewarding touch, a word, or even a big smile and a bouncing step, sometimes the ball or tug, but I really like to  have everything handy that I think I might need. 

 I hope somebody will correct me if this is not good for GSD's, but I used to use cooked liver with my Dobermans and have used it from time to time with my now 7 month old GSD. 
  I cook beef liver in the oven and cut it up into very small pieces and freeze it in small baggies. This pup will drill his butt onto the floor for a liver treat. Frankly, for liver, he might actually kill for me, he loves this junk.   I would like to be able to use deer pepperoni, because I get it for free and have a ton of it in the freezer, but it is my impression that this breed is hypersensitive to it's diet, so I don't use the stuff.   Oh. and when we first got him, we used small carrots, but he can't consume them quickly and if I let him run after I give him one, he will occasionally choke on them, so he only gets raw carrots as a reward for getting into his crate at night.   I have used small bit's of hotdog, but unless he just needs a change in taste to help with motivation, I have gone to those in limited amounts. Heck, hotdogs aren't good for me, I doubt that he should have them very often.  
I have tried to use his kibble for treats because it's handy ( Solid Gold), but it doesn't work well on my pup, he doesn't act like he likes this brand even for his morning meal. I feed him raw 4 nights a week (considering full-time), so maybe he's just being a spoiled brat.   When "yes dear" is not around (( keep this a secret )) I have been known to cut a raw steak into small pieces..... he seems to have expensive tastes, as I loves that too.   Personally, I have been moving to ball and tug rewards, with occasional meat treats.

I have used cooked turkey hearts (cut into small pieces) and beef heart (ditto). Occasionally string cheese...... I try to avoid hot dogs (too much salt and I don't like the nitrates.) I use liver, but sparingly - the liver is the clearinghouse for toxins in the body, not something I want to be feeding on a regular basis.

Otherwise, balls, tugs, that sort of thing - are always popular!

You can get nitrate free hot dogs at Trader Joes, but I don't like them either, the smell and greasy feel of hot dogs is revolting to me, brings on that Urka Gurka feeling.

My boy has Auto Immune Disorder.......so I can on give him things we have identified that he is not allergic too. This really limits what we can use as training treats and for snacks. I found a fantastic training treat for him . It's all natural Fish & Venison Jerkey Treats, No fillers. It comes in thin strips about 1 1/2 inches long...I cut these up into smaller tidbits. Nicco goes nuts over them and will work hard for one. You can check them out at  RealMeatTreats.com  They also have Beef ones too which he can have so I rotate these. Hope you find them helpful if you try them.

I don't give treats for the most part, but when I do use a treat it's Liverwurst. I find it works good for tracking. My son for fun will tramp a single horses hoof in it, then send all the horses off over the mountain to the north pasture. Then send a dog out.. to bring that horse back.

It helps alot tracking people just for fun too, with the people... the dogs cought on quick how to find someone fast in the mountains... now they get the Liverwurst after they find them useing a shirt or hat. 

Prolly silly huh?  

Although this would NOT work for tracking, if you have a dog with allergies ice cubes are a wonderful treat -- my dog LOVES them!