A Little Treat Goes Along Way!!!

At Huds and Toke ™ we love seeing your best mates enjoying our Dog Treat Products......

A little treat goes a long way and they will love you for it!!!

How many treats is too many?

It is the question we get asked most, usually by someone who has just realised they have been handing them out all afternoon. The guidance vets give is a proportion rather than a number: treats should stay a small part of what your dog eats in a day, with proper meals doing the real work. Around a tenth of daily intake is the figure most often quoted, and the rest of the day should be balanced food.

The catch is that a treat is not the only treat. The crust off the toast, the last bit of cheese, the biscuit from the neighbour over the fence, they all count. Households tend to under-count badly, particularly where more than one person is home. If your dog is gaining weight and nobody can work out why, that is usually where it is hiding.

Why size changes everything

A treat that barely registers for a labrador can be a meaningful part of a small dog's day. A chihuahua and a rottweiler eating the same biscuit are not having the same experience, which is why breaking treats into smaller pieces works so well. Dogs respond to the event of getting something, not the size of it, so half a biscuit given twice is usually better received than one whole one.

That is worth knowing if you are training. You can run a whole session on a single treat broken up, rather than working through a handful.

Timing matters more than people think

A treat lands differently depending on when it arrives. Given the moment your dog does the thing you asked, it teaches something. Given ten seconds later, once they have wandered off and sat down, it teaches something else entirely, usually about wandering off.

Treats also work as a way to make ordinary things pleasant. A treat when the lead goes on, when the crate door opens, when the nail clippers come out. Used that way they are less a reward and more a way of telling your dog that the next thing is fine.

What to look for on the pack

Short ingredient lists are easier to trust than long ones. Australian made matters if you want to know where the ingredients came from, and if your dog has a sensitivity, a single protein treat is far easier to work with than a mixed one. If your dog is on a prescription diet, is overweight, or has a health condition, run new treats past your vet first rather than after. The RSPCA keeps general pet care guidance worth a read.

What we make

Everything in our dog treats range is baked here in Australia. If you are portioning for a small dog, the smaller biscuits break up well. If you are marking an occasion rather than training, we have birthday cakes for that, and there is more on running the day in our guide to doggy birthday cakes.

Keep the videos coming..... we want to see your adventures..... Be sure to tag us on the socials.

@hudsandtoke

Related ranges: Dog Treats.