What kind of treats do you give your babies?

[AceOfSpades]

I went to Fleet Farm to get a crate last night and nearly had a heart attack from their huge selection of treats at reasonable prices. I went in there to get one thing and walked out with three bags of goodies and toys. I got Ace a 5 lbs. bag of peanut butter biscuits, a bag of pigs ears, a bacon flavored nylabone, some basic rawhide chews and a package of 4 compressed bone chews, all very reasonably priced. He also got two more loofa dogs (like he needs any more!), a bungee dog and a extra large tennis ball that squeaks! I thought going to Petsmart was bad! He deserves it though.....

My question is: What kind of dog treats do you feed your furbabies? And which ones should I NOT give him? I bought a rawhide lot off of ebay and it has rawhides lipops that have a rawhide stick in them and I'm not sure if it's safe for my boy sice it's so skinny.

 

[bucca]

spanky loves fruit( any kind) dried peaches and apricots are his fave though, and he also gets rawhide bones and he goes crazy for carvers in the beef flavor, and meatybones and milkbones.

 

[SweetCody]

My two get rawhides as well. We are very diligent about taking away any piece that gets removed. I am convinced that this has saved my furniture. We have tried Nylabones but my little princess tore it up, so I don't get those anymore.

Sounds to me that you hit the jackpot, it is a good day to be a spoiled boxer at your house .

 

[Nottisdad]

Notti will eat pretty much anything! She loves tomato, broccoli, carrots, cheese. Almost any veggie or fruit. She adores ice cubes! Whenever I open the frreezer and bring out the ice cube tray, she comes running. She then sits and drools until I give her one, then runs off and crunches it. We load her Kong with mini-carrots and cheese cubes, and that is her mid-day snack, LOL.
Funniest thing is if I use a lemon in cooking, after squeezing the juice out, I give it to her. She will take a chew, then drop it and bark at it. Then pick it up and taste it some more, then drop it and bark at it, jumping up and down and punching it with her front paws. Great entertainment!

 

[dbetz]

About twice a month mine get a nice marrow bone from the butcher - this by far their favorite treat. Coming in 2nd is the Bully Stick, they love them and they last a long time. We also have EVO grainless snacks and they love the Natural Balance beef roll.

Forgot to say they also love apples, bananas and carrots!

 

[AceOfSpades]

Funniest thing is if I use a lemon in cooking, after squeezing the juice out, I give it to her. She will take a chew, then drop it and bark at it. Then pick it up and taste it some more, then drop it and bark at it, jumping up and down and punching it with her front paws. Great entertainment!

Oh that is just far too funny! I'd love to see something like that!

How do you get bully sticks to last a while dbetz? Ace will chow one down in less than 30 minutes. It gets expensive payng $5 per stick!

 

[DiverDiva]

Rawhides are kind of controversial. They can cause tummy upset because 1) the chemicals used to remove the fur from the hide are pretty stong and can be nasty, and 2) the rawhide sometimes stays in the GI tract for a long time, undigested, and may provide a breeding ground for bacteria. That said, a number of board members give them to their Boxers, apparently with no bad results. I personally do not give my dogs rawhide, but it is a personal choice.

With respect to biscuits, I look at the ingredient list, and if there is any corn, soy, sugar (inclucing molasses, honey, or sucrose), byproducts, grain fragments (like hulls) or chemicals with long names, I skip it. The one exception is that once in a great while I do buy Old Mother Hubbard treats, and that brand does have molasses.

 

[catdogbird]

For the most part, I stick to natural, mostly organic biscuits in the tiny size. (I can never remember brand names!) Morgan has trained us to give biscuits whenever she comes in - and Bailey will gladly go along with the routine - so I just toss a little one to each and they're happy. They love peanut butter flavored treats (though I'm a little concerned with the current recall), dried sweet potatoes, chicken flavored Healthy Omega Treats, and ANY cat treats. They also adore most goodies the parrots drop for them (Nutri-berries and Avi Cakes being two faves), though apples and carrots tend to get mauled and left on the carpet :-(. Peanut butter flavored compressed rawhide bones are a real treat (and a bit hard to find around here). They also like the chicken-flavored Carvers as a special treat - these, cut into little pieces, worked well as a training treat for Bailey.

I have to keep the dog biscuits "locked" in an upper cabinet secured with a large velcro strap through the handles as one of my cats likes to hand out treats whenever he gets the chance! The dogs know when he's trying to break into the cabinet and come running

 

[LaylaE]

I hope you didn't but PetSmart brand peanut butter biscuits. Those are part of the recall:

http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/petsmart01_09.html

I don't give Layla rawhides because I've heard so many negative things about them.

I do give her bully sticks, though. She loves them. The first one I bought her was a 6" braided. She took 2 days before she completely finished it. Then, I got her a 6" straight one, didn't last more than 20 minutes. We panicked because she swallowed about 2-3" of it, so quick. But she seemed fine. It must have passed through her system. So we gave bully sticks a break for a couple weeks.

Just earlier this week, I ordered a half a dozen 12" braided. She chewed on one for over 2 hours today. Maybe got an inch or two only. I put it away and plan on giving it to her for a couple hours each day to give her jaw some exercise and me some quiet alone time.

You're right, they are pricey, but I think it's worth it for how long they last. However, I did get a pretty decent price this time. I only get the Free Range Moo! Braided Bully Stick brand because they are "green cattle" and odor free. I ordered them from PetFoodDirect. The 12" are on sale right now for $6.59 each. I had to order more Wellness food so I always add in treats and toys. And search for discount codes. They always have several codes to save you $.

 

[LaylaE]

In addition to bully sticks, I do give Layla Wellness Wellbars biscuits and Wellness Just for Puppy treats for training. She also likes apples, banana, broccoli and carrots. Nothing has been turned down, except some dehydrated apple. We bought her Dogswell chicken and apple, and she eats the chicken, but leaves the apple. I think it's the texture that she doesn't like. It's soft and spongy. That's what we've tried on her so far.