I know that we’ve gone through the dog food brands, but I am searching high and low for dog treats without Chinese meat in them. My dog loves Zuke’s mini naturals which say “Made in USA”, but no mention of the source of the meat… Any suggestions?
We use little pieces of cat food or lunch meat.
We always used cheese (doggies were obedience champs) but I don’t think you can give them too much or it can upset their stomach.
Bits of nitrate free hot dogs.
Or, you can get some liver and dry it in your oven or a food dryer, that goes over really big!
Yummy Chummies. Made from wild Alaskan salmon in Anchorage, Alaska by a teeny-tiny family owned company.
I use a variety of treats - soft Buddy Biscuits are a big hit with my dog - they have some good flavors. He hates chicken flavored treats so I try to mix it up with venison or duck. Zukes were good, but they just got purchased by Nestle, so I don’t know if the quality is going to change. I also use human food from string cheese, to whatever was leftover from dinner as long as it’s not got too many spices on it - leftover steak, chicken, porkchops, etc. I save low nitrate, low fat hot dogs for dog shows - those are SUPER high value for my dog and he loves them. Also I got a new recipe for treats that are easy to make. Take 2 cans of tuna in water. Mix with 2 eggs, 1.5 cups of wheat flour, regular flour or oatmeal( your choice) and 2 teaspoons of garlic powder. Flatten out on a cookie sheet like a pizza dough. Bake for 20-30 minutes at 250(open the windows bc it stinks up the place). Then once it cools you can cut into little pieces for treats. I put them in baggies and freeze them, and then bring them out when I need them for training. We also use spam and oh - I just found these - http://www.bubbarose.com/product_info.php?cPath=20_39&products_id=428&osCsid=d535cb784d40b51b83d224c6f003f083
Which are awesome, but kind of expensive for everyday training.
Sorry I do a LOT of training with my dog - we compete in agility so I am always looking for new treats!
Depending on if your dog has any food intolerances, we just make our own. For our one dog, we use dehydrated or raw sweet potatoes, and for our other dog, we use dehydrated or raw carrots.
my dogs love raw carrots. I also buy freeze dried liver that is made in the USA or Canada.
I buy from these guys exclusively. http://herodogtreats.com/ (I get them delivered with my raw food order.) They are Canadian, but I would imagine they would ship to the US.
The beef lung is very snappable for training treats, the liver works well too.
For a bedtime snack in their crates, they love to crunch up a duck or chicken foot 
GP
I usually just use bits of meat. If you’re in a rush, you can buy bags of pre-cooked and pre-chopped ham, chicken, beef and just use as is. If you’re into saving money, just buy whatever cut is on sale, cook, and chop into little bits and store in the freezer/ fridge.
Most commercial dog treats are ridiculously over-priced (go try calculating how much Zuke’s costs per pound, and compare to prime rib per pound, or even more fun, check out how expensive the many fake-bacons, fake-sausage, fake-pepperonis are in comparison the real deal per pound). And read the ingredients- most commercial treats, even if not from china, have a lot of junk in them.
if you chop up cheese into little 1 cm square cubes you can give them a toss in a tablespoon of flour to keep them from sticking to each other.
Nutro peanut butter Crunchy treats- they’re like crack for dogs, break easily in half for a very small treat, or leave whole for a small bite. They’re easy and dry to use as a training treat.
I go through a LOT of treats. I want soft treats for training. I buy a big food roll and cut it up into squares. This is the most affordable. Currently using Natural Balance food rolls I get at Petco.
I have used cheese.
I have bought huge pork loins from Sams, cut them up with an electric knife and cooked them, but that is a bit time consuming.
I use bits of Stella and Chewy’s freeze dried raw food. My pit bull who is NOT food motivated usually LOVES this stuff. Also freeze dried liver treats.
watch the salt content in the cheese.
I would use dry cat food for treats if need be. They are high in fat which is like candy to a dog, they are small, and make your hands stinky so they will follow you a bit easier. Pick a top quality dry cat food. (grain free, made in USA, etc).
but I just use my …see signature
I buy Old Wisconsin Turkey Snack Bites at the grocery store - they are people things and I think $3.99 for 6 oz. Each Bite is about one inch long and I can slice it into 5-6 pieces. There are probably 40 little Bites in each package, so they last a long time. My dachsie/border collie finds them to be perfect. Enough to distract him from being leash reactive near certain other dogs…
Cherry tomatoes, carrot pieces, and the always popular green bean treat. I did make sweet potato chews once and they loved those too.
We go through a lot of treats, and most of them are made in the USA.
Sammy Snacks are a big hit.
http://shop.sammysnacks.com/product.php?productid=17527&cat=254&page=1
Orijen’s stuff is mostly Canadian, but I’m perfectly comfortable with that (and I see you’re in Canada, so that’s probably even better for you!). My dog loves the “Tundra” ones.
http://www.orijen.ca/dog-food/freeze-dried-dog-treats/
Primal’s freeze-dried stuff is USA and New Zealand.
http://www.primalpetfoods.com/product/list/c/12
Even the treats at Trader Joe’s are made in the USA, though I didn’t see a mention of meat sourcing on the packaging. They’re not as high quality as the Orijen or Primal, but they’re great for hiking and training, since you can easily break off pieces.
My crew adores Charlee Bears.
