RAW treats - advise please from raw feeders

JulesRules

JulesRules

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Hi all,

Well as you know our new rescue girl arrived last week and is settling in well. We have tried her on a good quality kibble but to be honest she not really interested in it and isn't eating much. She is quite lightweight and can't afford to drop much weight so I have decided to try her on a raw diet.

Luckily, a good friend of mine and her OH have just set up a raw dog food business (www.raw-menu.com) so I went to visit them, had a chat and got some pre prepared meals for her. The food is currently defrosting and we are all good to start tonight with ground chicken.

However, one question I forgot to ask is what do I feed her as treats? As we are doing a lot of training at the moment I need something that can be used as training rewards. I also need to find something suitable that she can be left to chew when we go out as she gets bored quickly when left alone and chews up her bed.

Can anyone suggest anything suitable that will complement her new diet?

Thanks :-)
 
Find a Kong (http://www.kongcompany.com/en-uk/products/for-dogs/rubber-toys/classic-rubber-toys/classic/) and then blitz some carrots (and broccoli stems) and water up in a blender to make a chunky soupy type of mixture. Then you wrap the small hole in the Kong with cling film, fill with the mixture and cling film the big hole - stick it in the freezer and then once frozen they make really good chew/lick/attention toys :) You can also fill them with peanut butter or soaked kibble or cut up carrot bits and put them in.

The Kongs are rubber and dogs enjoy chewing them and if you put the nice sort of fillings in then it keeps them occupied for longer. I use mine for "find" commands - I hide it around the house and garden. Also when empty they make great throwing toys as they bounce in random directions. :)
 
JulesRules said:
Thanks. She does have a Kong but hasn't paid it much attention so far. I think I just need some more exciting fillings!
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Yes, more exciting fillings! Also we have our dog's toys on rotation - so he has say 5 toys at once, but every week 2 are taken away and a different 2 replace them. This keeps him interested in the toys as they are sort of "new" and he remembers how fun the chewy ring is, but gets bored of it after a couple of weeks (which is when it gets taken away and replaced!) I do the same with his Kong. He has it with fillings for a bit, then it is an outdoor chuck around toy then it gets brought back in as a chewy toy and then it has fillings again. That way the toys remain fun and you don't have to keep buying new ones (unless they are destroyed!)

I find he loves rope balls as they are good to chew on and if they get dropped they roll around so play back with him :)

He is a show dog and has tripe (cooked) for ringcraft training and shows because he doesn't get it very often - it is a special treat and he behaves much better for it. My dog trainer told me that different commands require different rewards - so sit/wait etc are easy for dogs so a small treat (we have 1 calorie nature treats) is fine. But when we do training with the cat (he loves the cat but is a big bouncy 1 year old and the cat does not like being bounced on!) we use little cubes of chicken because that is a higher treat value than the 1 cal treats. He behaves better for the treats and it is easier to calm him down and get his attention with the chicken bits. The tripe is an even higher value! Just something to think about. Dog may not feel that the reward for doing what asked is good enough or varied enough :)
 
I buy liver, boil it then slice it into strips and bake it in the oven on low overnight to dry it out. It goes hard and doesn't mess your pockets up (too much) and the dogs go nuts for it!!
 
I don't feed rewards; I use verbal praise etc. And I give mine turkey legs or lamb shanks to work on in my occasional absence, but only if I'll be gone for more than two hours (cinema etc). Shorter than that, I expect them to manage as they are.
 
Arizahn said:
I don't feed rewards; I use verbal praise etc. And I give mine turkey legs or lamb shanks to work on in my occasional absence, but only if I'll be gone for more than two hours (cinema etc). Shorter than that, I expect them to manage as they are.
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You've never had a lurcher then? ;)
 
Don't stress about going completely raw for treats. My lot are raw fed, but they get pig ear auricles (just the small inner ring) plus Fish4dogs Little Stars, cubes of cheese, cooked chicken-I'm not carrying lumps of raw stuff round with me!

For night time treats, they get pizzles or Fish4dogs kibble pieces. If you go on their website, search for the charity pack and you get loads of sample and their fish skins treats plus fish mousse which stinks and is very good in a kong, all stupidly cheap compared to buying them separately.
 
Thanks everyone. She is loving her raw diet so far and has wolfed down both her meals. It's good to see her eating enthusiastically as she just wasn't really interested in the kibbles and just picked at them and she can't really afford to drop any weight as she is already very lean.

There is no way I can expect her just to deal with being left alone. She was never left alone before we had her as she was first on the streets with another dog, and then in a foster home with lots of dogs, cats kids etc and just isn't used to it. Once we have got her used to being left for short periods I would expect to leave her for a couple of hours without anything, but at present she will just get bored and chew up her bed.

I'm off to look at some of the suggestions made :-)
 
I tend to just buy normal doggy treats for training, like the heart shaped ones i think bakers make, and then break them into teeny pieces so they get a wee taste of them each time they do well. Be careful with dried liver.....i gave my dogs (king charles cavs) some dried liver and they both had horrific diarrhoea for a couple of days after - it was freakin everywhere!! Never again!!!
My girls are fed raw morning and evening but i found it's put quite a bit of weight on them, so i try not to give too many treats. Just keep an eye on the pup's weight - i thought i was feeding my girls teeny amounts of food, but they have filled out rightly! oops!
 
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