At long last - and just in time for the gifting season - Oscar's first product review is ready for prime time!
As a proud new member of the inubar5, Oscar's treat-tasting, canine coat-wearing, plush toy-thrashing talents will now be put to professional use - as bona fide product testing for the snazzy, design-centric, online dog boutique, inubar. Good boy that he is, the Beast waited most patiently for the postman to finally deliver our first surprise box of sample goodies... there was still growling at the front door when said package arrived (the postman IS still the postman - bearing gifts or not), but what joy of joys when we cracked open the corrugated cube to reveal... one of O-Town's FAVORITE nibbles of all time...
Oscar may be an X-LG when it comes to dog-sizing, but (despite some people's misguided impression that treat size should correlate directly with girth) the smaller the treat for him, the BETTER. If you're familiar with marker training (same camp as clicker training) you know the value of lots and lots and lots... AND LOTS... of consistent "YESES", aka "marks", paired directly with rewards (in most cases, rewards = food). If I were handing out jumbo Milkbones for every "YES", I'd have a WHALE for a companion (and much as Oscar might enjoy being a whale, that body type just ain't healthy for a dog). Since Oscar was raised on boatloads of rewards-based marker training, the Holy Grail of treats, in my book, is a nibble-sized, uber-flavorful, wholesome-ingredient-rich, virtual crumb of a cookie - prefereably dry and non-greasy (so when they inevitably escape into a coat pocket, things don't get gross). Suffice to say, the day I discovered Sojo's "Good Dog" treats was a very, very good day.
These teensy little bones are positively the perfect size for training-treats; they come in a range of what I consider "delicious" flavors (blueberry cobler, pb & jelly, and - featured here - apple dumpling); and they are neat as can be in the handling department. Oscar most definitely agrees with me on this. And since these treats are ever so dainty, even after a full session of honing quality party tricks like "say you're sorry" and "stick em up", he runs nary the risk of becomming another embarrassing tubby puppy statistic...
Timely post...I just picked up my RR puppy this weekend. Thus far, he only seems to respond to honeybaked ham bits... But, these sound like good snacks for his reward-based training.
Love your blog - wonderful illustrations, great posts.
Posted by: Alison | November 26, 2012 at 12:02 PM
Thanks Alison!
Congrats on the new RR pup!! (very jealous over here...) These treats ARE super for training rewards, though I will say, when working with the insane distractibility of a puppy, using *exceptionally* high-value treats (rich, moist, amazing-smelling = cooked/smoked meats, cheese, etc) tends to be most effective. Offering a "trail mix" of succulent meats paired with little dry treats can be a good option.
RRs are classic general food hounds, but if you find your pup's attention wandering on you, step up the yum factor of your rewards. Best of luck!!
~N & O
Posted by: Natalya | November 26, 2012 at 01:42 PM