potty training and chicken treats

[bezrk]

we have been using cheese to potty train and they dont seem to care for cheese anymore. so for chicken treats do i just boil a pice of chicken breast? and how small should the pices be?

[ViralMD]

You can poach whole chicken breasts and cut them into hunks, freeze the hunks and defrost overnight in the fridge. I'm kind of wondering about why they no longer care for cheese - it's an amazing treat for most dogs. How much are you giving? ALL treats - chicken, cheese and steak - should be TINY! No more than 2 or 3 millimeter cubes! That's right REALLY, REALLY tiny. I keep the tiny pieces in plastic sandwich bags in the fridge and I don't cut much at one time (although there's always a bag of cheese and one of chicken in my refrigerator all the time) because it does go bad very quickly.

Because we train at every walk, and go through a LOT of treats, I poach whole turkey breasts. I usually have six weeks' worth of treats in my freezer, waiting to be cut into tiny pieces.

[bezrk]

i have been using 2% chedder and they have never seemed too inthused with the cheese am i using the wrong kind? our vet also says its not that great to use cheese because its not easey to digest the cheese. is that true?

[ViralMD]

I'm not talking about giving huge hunks of cheese - tiny, TINY bits. And nothing is as good as REAL cheese. Cyril's never had a problem with it.\

The real point is, if they don't like cheese, don't use cheese. Find something that they're WILD about - steak and chicken usually work! It has to be good enough for them to change their behavior to get more of it.

[bezrk]

do i feed them 1 treat for peeing outside or do you give them a couple?

[ViralMD]

One, if they really go crazy for it, is fine. Unless they achieve a milestone, such as doing it on command for the first time - then you can throw a real party with LOUD praise, multiple treats, and lots and lots of excitement!

[bezrk]

thanks so much for your help viralmd. hopfully the chicken will make a differance.