Small Dog Treats for Training in a Group Class
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A twelve pound adult dog in a group obedience class is working next to dogs five times its size, on a floor where every dropped crumb is at its eye level. Small dog treats for training in that room have to be tiny, dry, and fast out of the bag, and the leash has to be short enough to stay out from under the labrador next to you. This kit is those three things plus one reward held back for the hard exercises. The bundle guides cover the puppy version separately.
What is different about handling a small dog in class
You are further from your dog than anyone else in the room, in the sense that matters. A reward has to travel about three feet down rather than being handed across at waist height, and that extra half second is where the timing goes.
The second difference is volume. A small dog fills up on a fraction of what a retriever does, so the same class hour has to run on smaller pieces rather than fewer repetitions.
The pouch, two rates, and a leash that stays out of the way
The One-Hand Treat Training Pouch solves the reaching problem. Up Dog Shop makes it in food-grade silicone with a zipless squeeze-to-open design, listed at 3.9 by 3.3 by 1.7 inches, and it wears on the wrist, loops through a leash, or clips to a belt. Wrist is the one to use with a small dog, because your hand is already traveling downward and the pouch travels with it. Up Dog Shop items are sold and shipped by Up Dog Shop through Shopify Collective and arrive separately.
Our Freeze-Dried Cheddar Cheese Bites are the class rate. Cheddar cheese, single ingredient, freeze-dried in small batches in Malvern, Pennsylvania. The property that matters in a pouch is that freeze-drying leaves the cheese crunchy and non-greasy rather than soft, so it snaps into small pieces and stays dry against silicone instead of smearing it. For a dog this size, quarter the pieces before you go.
Our Freeze-Dried Scallops are what you save for the exercises done next to a distraction the dog has not met before. One ingredient, scallops, a 2 ounce bag, guaranteed analysis 68 percent crude protein and 3 percent crude fat. Our own sheet notes that size, shape and color vary piece to piece, because it is a whole natural product, so plan on breaking the larger ones down rather than assuming a uniform piece.
The Reflective Black Double Connection Leash keeps your line off the floor. 2 Hounds Design makes it in North Carolina to clip to the front and back of a Freedom Harness at once, and describes the Training Leash as 3 feet when connected at two points and 5 feet at one. Three feet is short, deliberately. In a ring where a small dog can walk under a bigger one, slack is the thing that causes the tangle. 2 Hounds Design items are sold and shipped by 2 Hounds Design through Shopify Collective and arrive separately.
No mat, and why we are not selling you one
A settle mat is the obvious fourth item for a class kit and we left it out. Small dogs often settle better on a coat or a folded towel that already smells of you than on a new mat that smells of a warehouse, and most classes will let you use either. Buy a mat later if the towel is clearly not working, rather than as part of the first order.
Getting through an hour without running out
Quarter the cheddar at home and keep the scallops whole in a separate bag. Breaking a scallop mid class with a leash in one hand is not a thing you want to attempt.
Run the warm-up on cheddar. Anything the dog already does, anything in the first ten minutes, gets the cheap rate.
Bring the scallops out only for the new exercise of the night, and put them away again after. A class course usually runs six to eight weeks, and a treat that stays special for all of it is worth more than one that was thrilling in week two. Treat pouch options for class lines up the pouches we carry for this.
Keep the leash clipped short from the moment you walk in. Lengthen it in the parking lot afterwards if you want to, not in the ring.
Two bags that survive the whole course
The alternative is a bag of soft commercial training treats, which for a dog this size means most of the bag going stale before it is used, and a pocket that needs washing. Two dry single ingredient bags, portioned in advance, last the course and carry straight over into ordinary walks. Treats for small dogs with big appetites covers the rest of our range at this size. You can filter the whole catalog on Explore, or start from our freeze-dried dog treats.
The circle-logo bandana is there as an add, mostly so you can pick your own dog out of a photo taken from the far end of the hall on the last night.
What small dog handlers ask
Three that come up at the desk before a course starts.
Is the pouch too big for a small dog's treats?
No, and bigger is easier here. Up Dog Shop lists it as holding a handful of small treats alongside keys and waste bags, which for quartered cheddar is most of an hour.
Should I use a harness or a collar in class?
That is between you and the trainer running it, and this leash is built to clip to both points of a front-clip harness if you go that way. Training with treats covers the reward side, which is the part this kit is actually about.
My dog will not eat in class at all. What then?
That usually means the room is too much rather than the treat being wrong. Work further from the group, closer to the door, and go back to the everyday rate. A dog that will not eat is telling you something about distance.
Related guides
Three kits aimed at other cues from the same course. They are listed together on the training cluster page.
