Hello people.

In "Natural nutrition for dogs and cats" the author advises to use unsalted nuts and seeds as treats. I'm from Portugal and i think that there are many different kinds of seeds in our supermarkets. What kind of seeds can we use?

I would also like to know other kind of treats that we can use, frequently, with a young puppy.

I am going to say first that the book you refer to was huge for me, because it was virtually the only one of its kind at the time. It was ground-breaking.

That said, it has turned out that some kinds of nuts and seeds are toxic to dogs, and his recommendations about dried fruits too have turned out to be perhaps a bit high in sugar for dogs (JMHO).

Sunflower and pumpkin seeds are probably fine if the dog handles them well and doesn't inhale them, and I use real (no sugar and salt) peanut butter* for med-giving and occasionally to smear inside a Kong-type chewy.

But really, I would go for straight food-type treats. That is, treats that qualify as meal-appropriate so I don't have to say "food plus treats."
http://leerburg.com/treat.htm

http://leerburg.com/search/dosearchalpha.php?terms=training%20treats

Are you feeding a raw diet? Other treats that are great are bits of cooked chicken breast. I choose skinless breast to avoid greasy-pocket syndrome.

I'm not saying "all nuts and seeds are bad." I am saying, though, that it's a huge category and that it contains pitfalls. Macadamias are poisonous to dogs, for example, and I think that all tree nuts probably have a G.I.-problem potential for dogs.
http://www.petalia.com.au/templates/storytemplate_process.cfm?specie=Dogs&story_no=257#ct-5

*Peanuts, of course, are not true nuts, which grow on trees. Peanuts are sometimes called "groundnuts."

I like to use small bits of cut up string cheese, cooked chicken burger (less juicy than plain breast, but i use that too), and my dogs LOVE fruit like blueberries, raspberries and mulberries. When I train in my back yard in the summer I can mark and then reward by picking a mulberry off the tree and handing it to the dog, LOL. (Remember, grapes and raisins are toxic).

Edit: actually, my dogs are kibble fed and the most common treat I use with them for anything is their kibble.

Ha! I have a whole bag of mulberries in the 'fridge but never thought of them!

Blueberries, absolutely. Low in sugar, and my dogs love them frozen, too. And a blueberry is the perfect size for a marker reward (if the dog loves them).