Cheap training treats

Over the years I've passed the hot dog training treat recipe along to several folks. As I was making training treats this morning, I thought it might be fun to post to the Dog Blog. So here goes...

Cooked hot dogs

A lot of folks use hot dogs as training treats, but they always grossed me out when they were raw and it's tough to drop them in pants pockets. Years ago a friend pulled some treats out of his pocket, and they were cooked hot dog pieces! And years later I've perfected the art of cooking hot dogs for training treats.

The advantage of cooking the hot dogs is to cook out the grease. Cooking 1) makes them a little healthier for the dogs and 2) easier to drop into your pocket. Here's my "recipe."

1. Cut a hot dog lengthwise into quarters, then slice into nickel-sized pieces.

2. Put two cut hot dogs in between two pieces of paper towel.

3. Microwave on high for 3.5 minutes. Adjust according to your microwave. You want them cooked so the grease is out, but not burned and crispy. BTW, the plate will be very hot when you remove it from the microwave, so use caution.

4. Wrap paper towels around cooked hot dogs and allow them to cool.

5. Place in snack-sized zipper plastic bags and store in freezer until ready to use.

If you catch a sale, a pack of hot dogs costs less than $3, and I can get 5 bags of treats per package. In an hour this morning, I sliced, cooked and bagged 3 packages of hot dogs. Yes, it's a little time, but well worth the savings!

Tiny cheese cubes

Again, using cheese isn't anything new for dog training. I prefer Mozzarella cheese or any white cheese (Swiss also works great if you can find it). It's lower in fat, and it holds up well in training. Yellow cheeses tend to get crumbly and greasy. I also like white cheese because it shows up well on my dark carpet in the training building.

1. Cut cheese into 1/4 inch slices.

2. Cut slices into 1/4 inch strips.

3. Cut strips into tiny cubes. I use a penny here for reference, but they are about the size of a Zuke's Mini Natural.

4. Place in snack-sized zipper plastic bags and wiggle the bag a little to break apart the cubes of cheese. Store in the freezer until ready to use. Yes, I really freeze cheese. It works just fine and the dog's don't care at all.

We have two local grocery chains who routinely put their 8 oz. of block cheese on sale for four packages for $5. It took me about an hour to cut all four blocks, and it made 9 bags of treats.

Freezer storage

I put all these snack bags of treats in my freezer on a special "dog" shelf. When I'm headed out to train, I grab a bag or two of treats. They thaw quickly for use in my training building at home or keep cold in a cooler pack for trials or longer trips. When I'm done, I just pop the unused portion back in the bag and then back in the freezer for the next training session.

My supervisors today

Actually all five dogs took turns supervising today, but Page and Devon stuck around the longest to ensure proper quality control. Now that they're the same height, I'll let you know Page is on the left!