Why Pet Treats Are Key to Happy Pets

Why are Pet Treats important in the role of owning a pet; be it a Dog, Horse, Cat, Rabbit, Guinea pig, bird or whatever?

Watch the little clip below......it briefly touches on why we do what we do!!!

A treat is a way of talking to an animal that has no words

That sounds grand for a biscuit, but it is close to the truth. You cannot explain to a dog why the vet is holding her paw, or tell a young horse that the float is safe. What you can do is pair the frightening thing with something good, often enough that the animal stops bracing for it. That is most of what a treat is for. The eating is almost incidental.

It is why the same biscuit can do very different jobs. Given at the right second it marks a behaviour. Given at the door of a horse float it changes how the float feels. Given for no reason at all on an ordinary Tuesday it does the thing every owner actually wants, which is to make the animal glad you turned up.

Where treats genuinely earn their place

• Training. Timing beats quantity. Marked in the moment, a small piece teaches more than a handful given late.
• Handling and husbandry. Nails, ears, rugs, floats, the vet. Pairing the procedure with something good is the difference between an animal that tolerates it and one that dreads it.
• Enrichment. A treat that takes work to get at occupies an animal properly. Boredom is behind a lot of behaviour people ring trainers about.
• Recall. The dog that comes back reliably is usually the dog for whom coming back has always been worth it.
• Bonding with a new animal. With a rescue, food from your hand does more in a fortnight than any amount of talking.

Where they do not help

Treats will not fix a bored animal that needs exercise, and they will not settle genuine anxiety on their own. They are also easy to over-give, particularly in a house with several people who each think they are the only one handing them out. If a dog is putting on weight, that is nearly always where it is coming from. We have written the detail on that in how many treats a dog should really have.

If your animal is on a prescription diet, is overweight, or has a health condition, ask your vet before adding anything new. The RSPCA keeps plain English guidance on everyday pet care.

Why we bake them the way we do

Because a treat is used so often, what is in it matters more than the occasional-food framing suggests. Everything we make is baked in Australia, in small runs, with short ingredient lists you can read. That covers dog treats, horse treats, and the small animal range for rabbits and guinea pigs. Carob is used where a person would expect chocolate, for the obvious reason.

It's all about "Creating Awesome Memories" with your pets....plus we care!

You can see a few other little clips on our You Tube channel.

Have a great day from the team @ Huds and Toke™ .