My pup is now about 15 weeks old and thanks to Ed, Cesar and several other reference books I am further along than I've ever been with a pup of 3 times this age. Sits on command virtually 100%, down commmand the same, sits and goes through doors and stairs after humans 100% of the time and knows he is to stay in the kitchen unless invited out. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />. Wow am I pleased.

My problem is that he is getting bored with his treats, no excitement or the excitement is definately wearing off. I train when he is hungry and that helps but its not the answer. I have used the lamb pieces (he will barely take those now), chicken jerky (still somewhat effective) and Quackers (duck Jerky and the name really quacks me up) <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />. He is definately loosing interest in all of them. When he first came home from the Hospital (parvo) I had to feed him boiled chicken and rice. I used the boiled chicken as treats and he definately really liked that. It was a hassle and messy though and I will use it for special things like the come command but I would like to use something less messy if possible. Any suggestions would be appreciated. One other note, he doesn't really seem too turned on by hot dogs at least not even as much as the chicken breast jerky. thanks

Have you tried using cooked liver?

I just either bake it in my toaster oven, or nuke some. cut it up into little pieces and use that. My dog goes nuts over it.

I know i've seen some recipes for making liver treats on this site in the All Natural Diet forum.

I buy a pack of oscar meyer wieners, grab 1, slice it lengthways, n then cut them into thin slices so each piece is a half circle, then stick em in a lil bait pouch on my belt.

sorry, i meant to add that if after you cut up the liver and you bake it a little bit more, it will harden it up a bit more so that its more the consistency of Jerky, if you find the liver too messy to deal with.

Question: Do you feed raw?

What about trying a commercial organic or all-natural actual "DOG TREAT"? Reason I ask or mention this is because my dog has never been very food motivated in training, he has the ball drive.

The other day though, when we had our first acupuncture treatment (whole other topic) the vet brought out some organic commercial treats and the dog flipped over them. VERY TREAT motivated at that point and needless to say, very very well behaved for the entire treatment.

I'm thinking "what was in THOSE treats" <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Didn't even bother to ask the ingredients because I don't really do treats with him. I'll ask her next time.

Actually, he is a great dog, but I thought it interesting he loved those packaged commercial organic treats.

I have not yet a dog yet who doesn't like cheese just a little bit. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> I buy those big bags of colby cheese at Sam's Club (those kind that people buy for cocktail parties) and divide it up into baggies and freeze all but one bag. I keep the one in the fridge and when it's running low, I take a new bag out of the freezer and put it into the fridge to thaw. String cheese also works well, but buying the cheese cubes in bulk is cheaper. You can just use like a sixth or eighth of a piece of cheese cube for one treat. Cheese does melt down in your bait pouch in the summer heat, so you could also try a can of cheese whiz.

Try product like "rollover". It comes in a tupe like a sausage, is moist but dry, doesn't need any refrigeration. You can cut it into little bits.

I want to thank everyone for the ideas. I'll start trying them one by one. Perhaps its just a matter of switching up to provide some verity or at least that might help.

He is a great pup. Don't know if he will turn out to be the best dog I've ever had (a couple would be very hard to beat out of that distinction) but he is far and away the best pup.

If only I could get him to stop hunting the bugs in the yard. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Don't feed raw. Tried it with my Staffordshire Bull Terriers. They liked it but it was too big a hassle for me. I actually convinced my wife it was ok for them to eat the necks and backs raw but all the grinding of the vegetables and other stuff was too much for me.

I feed Nutro Ultra.

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Don't feed raw

Oh dear <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />