Barks & Bites Dog Treat Mix

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Koly and I have been working on a special trick for our Christmas photo shoot.

I’m not going to tell you what it is because that would totally ruin the surprise, but I will tell you this:

A. We’ve been having a lot of fun working on it.

B. I’ve made a terrible, terrible mistake in teaching him this.

(I know! What on Earth could we be doing?!)

With a lot of dogs, the key to learning new tricks is finding the best, stinkiest treats out there, but for Koly, the key to great training is to mix up some low value treats, along with some high value treats and always keep him guessing. You see, if you start with his favourite treats, he just loses his mind. He’ll stand in front of you, throwing out every trick he already knows, hoping that one of them is the magic password to it raining snacks.

It’s super adorable, but not at all productive when you’re trying to teach him something new. That’s why we came up with our Barks & Bites Dog Treat Mix. For us, it’s the perfect combination of treats to keep Koly “in it to win it” every training session.

Here’s what you need to make a Barks & Bites Training Treat Mix of your own:

A low value base treat – something your dog likes and will work for, but that doesn’t make their brain explode. We use grain-free kibble or our homemade dehydrator training treats.
Low calorie treats – Choose ones that your dog likes, but that won’t pack on the pounds. We used freeze dried treats, like Purebites or our Green Bean Dehydrator Dog Treats
Cookies that your dog loves – You want something bite sized. We used the Fruitables Vanilla Snowflake treats or any homemade cookie your dog loves. (Find some inspiration on our homemade dog treat recipe page).
Soft bite or jerky treats that are stanky and awesome – Kol recommends the Fruitables Skinny Minis or our homemade beef jerky or chicken jerky for dogs.

Mix together 1 cup kibble to every 2 tbsp. of your three chosen treats. Sometimes, if we plan to do a lot of training, I’ll also add chopped carrots in there.