puppy treats

jboboxer · #1 07-14-2009, 05:13 PM

I appreciate the feedback I received about feeding my puppy and shes' on wellness for puppy right now and I'm adding a little bit of wet topping chicken welness stuff. She seems to love it and she was on the thin side and looks much much better.

I'm now wondeirng what are good treats to give her? She seems to love the liver treats you can get everywhere even walmart. Are these any good? Right now she's on antibiotics, so it's really nice pushing the pill in the liver treats instead of having to hold her down and forcing a pill down her mouth.

But how healthy are those liver treats? Are those pig ears alright, because I was at a friend's house who had one and she absolutely loved it.

Any feedback or suggestions is greatly appreciated.

BxrMommieNAZ · #2 07-14-2009, 10:12 PM

If you can get the liver treats at Wal-Mart, I doubt they're good for her no. And pigs ears are VERY dangerous (right up there with rawhide). I'd stick to natural treats, boiled chicken, homemade beef jerky (done in the oven or dehydrator), chicken jerky, raw meaty bones, dehydrator sweet potatos, or make your own liver treats. I know Natural Balance, Wellness and a few other good dog food brands make healthy milk bone type bones that you may want to try. There's also homemade treats (which is what I do) that are probably the best IMO.

Good luck.

jboboxer · #3 07-15-2009, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BxrMommieNAZ

If you can get the liver treats at Wal-Mart, I doubt they're good for her no. And pigs ears are VERY dangerous (right up there with rawhide). I'd stick to natural treats, boiled chicken, homemade beef jerky (done in the oven or dehydrator), chicken jerky, raw meaty bones, dehydrator sweet potatos, or make your own liver treats. I know Natural Balance, Wellness and a few other good dog food brands make healthy milk bone type bones that you may want to try. There's also homemade treats (which is what I do) that are probably the best IMO.

Good luck.

I give her the healthy milk bones and she will eat it, but doesn't like it as much as the live treats. So I'm trying to give her treats for doing good things like learning commands and when soiling outside. So when I giver her the healthy milk bone treats, she looks at me like I'm insulting her

She's pretty thin and I keep trying different things for her to eat her food and she never finishes it all. I guess she's a picky eater

BxrMommieNAZ · #4 07-15-2009, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jboboxer

I give her the healthy milk bones and she will eat it, but doesn't like it as much as the live treats. So I'm trying to give her treats for doing good things like learning commands and when soiling outside. So when I giver her the healthy milk bone treats, she looks at me like I'm insulting her

She's pretty thin and I keep trying different things for her to eat her food and she never finishes it all. I guess she's a picky eater

Picky eaters are created not born. Boxers are thin, do a search on it there's TONS of threads of people saying the exact same thing. Boxers grow up the first year and out the second and third years. They are a lean breed and you SHOULD be able to see rids on a Boxer, if you cannot they are overweight. Go by healthy food, her energy level, and how she acts versus focusing on her weight. Her overall health is MUCH more important than her weight. I'd stop the unhealthy liver treats and do boiled chicken or boiled liver instead, much easier, probably cheaper, and MUCH healthier. Also LOTS of praise many times will do just as well as a treat does. I'd stop adding a bunch of stuff to her food. If she isn't finishing she isn't hungry and trying to make her eat isn't healthy. Go by the guidelines on the bag of whatever food you feed, if she's near that you're probably good, go with what your vet says on if she's a healthy weight, go by her energy level, attitude, and overall health. If you want to add a little boiled chicken, ground beef, or a healthy canned food to her kibble once in awhile definitely do it, but I'd stop adding a bunch of different things in the "hopes" she'll eat more as you will simply CREATE a picky eater which is difficult to break once created.

LolaBean · #5 07-16-2009, 06:41 AM

I'v e given our pup the liver treats before. They are really easy to give with the antibiotic. I did notice that they have corn in them, so we stopped giving them. Wellness makes a great soft treat that we just got at our local feed store. They are $8 a bag, but both of my dogs love them.

Caney Creek · #6 07-16-2009, 08:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jboboxer

I'm now wondeirng what are good treats to give her? She seems to love the liver treats you can get everywhere even walmart. Are these any good?

I have never seen the good liver treats at Wal-Mart, though I'll be honest, I don't really spend much time in the pet section when I go to Wal-Mart because I just assume (based on plenty of previous experiences) that 99% of their pet products are crap. When I need a cheap dog toy Wal-Mart's great, but I shop elsewhere for everything else.

There are some GREAT liver treats sold at PetSmart -- they're all natural, 100% freeze dried liver, no preservatives, no other ingredients whatsoever. My dogs go absolutely nuts for them (which is saying a lot considering Caney usually isn't food motivated, unless I pull out the liver treats

).

jboboxer · #7 07-19-2009, 07:21 PM

The liver treats have been excellent for hidding antibiotics in them and she really does seem to love them. I've been able to teach her so many things with these live treats that she absolutely loves, but I'm going to try and search for some cheaper, healthier alternative.

My father has been getting these cans of cooked chicken and cuts them up in tiny pieces for treats, they are for humans and there's no seasoning or anything on them and very inexpensive, which I want her to want these treats, but don't want them to be bad for her health. I'll probably end up searching the local grocery store for foods that she would probably enjoy more than the by products and corn stuff that these Chinese imported live treats are offering her.

Thanks for all the replies

jboboxer · #8 07-19-2009, 07:22 PM

Oh, I meant to ask
Why are the pig ears so dangerous, is it choking or something on them? I mean I only give it to her while I'm watching her and she loves them. I mean for hours she'll go at the pig ears and I feel like there's nothing out there I've seen her go so crazy for

BxrMommieNAZ · #9 07-20-2009, 09:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jboboxer

Oh, I meant to ask
Why are the pig ears so dangerous, is it choking or something on them? I mean I only give it to her while I'm watching her and she loves them. I mean for hours she'll go at the pig ears and I feel like there's nothing out there I've seen her go so crazy for

No it's the chemicals that are added to them that are poisonous plus they are undigestible so when she eats portions of them she can very easily end up with an intestional blockage.

johann · #10 07-20-2009, 10:50 AM

Wellness tends to be a bit generous with their recommended feeding amounts on the puppy food. We were trying to get Johann to eat 5 cups of food a day for a little while (at 5 months) because that was the recommended amount. We ended up feeding around half of what was recommended and he stayed a healthy weight.

With treats, I've discovered the more smelly/disgusting they are, the better. Johann can't have liver treats (allergic to beef), so I've found some other soft, small treats we can use. The wellness soft treats are good, Zukes Naturals, cheese, cooked chicken. He is currently eating some 100% salmon treats that smell more like salmon than you'd think possible.

Is there a locally owned pet food/supply store in your area? We just had a new one open up and they have so many healthy foods and treats (not a bag of purina or science diet in the place).

Raw bones are a great alternative to pigs ears or rawhide. You can buy marrow bones or soup bones right in the meat section of grocery stores.