re: Pet treats

Best treats for training and rewarding is beef heart. Its also great for dog show bait. Cook it by steaming or boiling. Let it cool. Slice it and then dice it into about 1/4 inch cubes. Put in small baggies and freeze. Its low fat, healthy, not overly rich like liver, and clean. Beef heart is a lean muscle meat and tastes similar to roast beef. Its not the size of the treat that is important to the dog, its the flavour reward. The small size also allows you to treat frequently for good behaviour without filling up the dog. One of the biggest scams is large dog cookies which use up the calorie amount that the dog should get during a day. If you give it in treats, expect to take it out of their regular dog food allowance or you will get fat dogs. If your dog likes veggies, a piece of carrot will do. Avoid packaged dog treats if you can as they are full of chemicals. Many dogs that have been given treats (especially from places like China) suffer from liver and kidney failure due to the chemical contaminents used for processing and preserving. Be cautious with rawhide treats as they do not break down properly in the intestine and can cause blockage and choking if the dog tries to swallow it all at once. Bully sticks (from North America) are less dangerous for the intestines, but again there is a choking risk. I have smaller terriers and they eat it down to about 3 inches and then try to swallow it whole to stop the others from getting it. Once they are that small, I have to take it away. I prefer to give my dogs antler pieces -4 inches or larger- to chew on, and the occasional chunk of raw beef bone. Only the leg bones in 3 to 8 inch lengths. Avoid anything that may have sharp points (like steak bones) and never cooked bones as it makes them brittle which can lead to the dog eating slivers of bone which can penetrate the intestine. If your dog isn't used to the bones, you may want to start with the marrow scraped out to avoid the dog getting the runs.

I have also heard rumours in the last year that some dogs that are eating lots of pig ears are starting to come down with diseases only before found in pigs. They say you are what you eat....