Is your puppy waiting at your feet every time you open the refrigerator? Maybe he’s mastered those sad puppy dog eyes and gets a scrap at the dinner table each night. Either way, it’s pretty obvious that our four-legged friends are highly motivated by food! So why not use that to your advantage when it comes to training? Giving your furry friend the best puppy training treats is great way to reinforce good behavior in your puppy. It will also help to encourage them to do what you’re asking them.
Keep reading to learn more about the best puppy training treats and various techniques you can use!
Why Use Treats To Train Your Puppy?
We know that food is often the best motivator for dogs. That makes training treats an effective tool for obedience training. While your commands may seem easy to you, for them it’s as if you’re speaking a foreign language. But that’s where training treats, the powerful motivators, can make learning so much easier for your dog.They can be a great tool to supplement obedience and trick training for your new puppy.
The best part? Training treats are easy to use. By using small treats you can reward your little love with tasty treats that won’t fill them up too quickly. Carolina Prime’s Cheeze and Sweet Potato Tiny Bites are a great option. And as always, they’re made with premium ingredients that are carefully sourced in the United States.
Reward Each Step
A common mistake while puppy training is waiting to reward a behavior until the entire task is finished. This often leads to frustration and confusion from your furry friend. He likely doesn’t understand what you’re asking of him just yet.
Instead, you should aim to reward each step of a command. For example, if you’re trying to train your pup to sit and he begins to lower his butt to the ground, reward him with a treat. Repeat the reward each time he starts the behavior. It may take some time, but eventually, he’ll figure out that his behavior and the treat are connected! Carolina Prime’s Salmon Topper Treats are a great reward because they’re tasty, bite-sized, and full of top-quality ingredients.
What Are The Best Puppy Training Treats?
When it comes to choosing training treats for your puppy, there are a few things to consider. First, treats that will be used regularly for training should be small. You don’t want your new pup to put on too many extra pounds from all of the extra goodies! Our Carolina Prime Cheeze and Sweet Potato Tiny Bites and Chicken and Sweet Potato Tiny Bites are both great choices. Your puppy will love the delicious cheesy flavor, and you’ll love that they’re made out of premium, healthy ingredients.
But how do you know what treats your puppy will like the best? You’ll have to experiment! Offer your pup a few different flavor varieties of treats. Pay attention to how he reacts to each one. Does he go crazy for anything with cheese? Or maybe your pup can’t contain himself when you bring out fish-flavored treats like Carolina Prime’s Salmon Jerky Tiny Bites? Every puppy is different, but you’ll definitely figure out your pup’s preferences by doing this.
You should also determine what texture of treat your four-legged friend likes best. Whether your puppy likes dry, moist, or freeze-dried treats, there are lots of puppy training treats yo choose from!
Is It A Treat Or A Bribe?
When training your bud, it’s easy to blur the line between puppy training treats and bribes. But whenever possible, you want to avoid bribing your pup. Because soon enough, he’ll learn a command but only do it if there’s a treat involved. To prevent your training sesh from becoming a slew of bribes, you should also use verbal praise and petting as part of the reward. That will help prevent them from becoming completely reliant on the treats.
Tips For Phasing Out Puppy Training Treats
Believe it or not, there will likely come a time when your puppy performs a command each and every time you ask them. And let’s face it- rewarding your pup with the best puppy training treats every single time he does what you ask just isn’t sustainable.
So how do you know when it’s time to start holding back treats? Many dog trainers recommend that when your puppy is performing a behavior about 90% of the time, it’s time to start scaling back those handouts (but that doesn’t mean you should never reward them).
A great way to phase out training treats for your dog or puppy is by replacing the food reward with alternative methods of reward. For example, when your puppy performs a behavior when you ask, you can use verbal praise or petting as a reward. Or if your furry friend is more motivated by toys, swap out that training treat for a bit of playtime with his favorite toy. It will take some time for your puppy to adjust, but soon enough he’ll be responding to commands with and without a training treat.
Before you know it, your puppy will be a big boy, ready for new and interesting treats and rewards. So be sure to check out our entire line of great puppy training treats!
