Home-made Dog Training Treats

I have a Border Collie X Dog called Oz. He is a hard working, hard playing dog with more energy and vitality than I will ever have. Each month Oz and I have a retraining and recap of tricks learnt session. This does us both good as it reinforces his capabilities and where he is lacking in discipline, and where I am lacking in control. This session is also used to introduce new commands and training.


I point blank refuse to give Oz any of the usual treats whether they be specifically for dogs or humans: I don't like spending the money on such things, and I have to keep Oz's protein intake level to below 20% or I have a hyper-active Collie on my hands ...... a normally active collie is more than enough for me thank you very much.


I make my own treats for Oz. OK it is time spend getting the ingredients together and time spent in the kitchen, but these are things that I like and prefer to do.

Double baked hard tack type biscuits are what I make for Oz, they help to supplement his already very good diet, and to strengthen the bond between man and dog.

I am only going to include just three of my (and Oz's) favourite training treat recipes in this instructable, because these are the 3 that I obtain the best results from Oz with.

A dogs digestive track and metabolism is set up as an opportunist omnivorous hunter/scavenger, and so I like to use Offal, Fish and Eggs along with cereal based products in the training treats I make.

Here are the 3 recipes I like to use:

A) Liver Hard tack training treat

350g Liver

125g Plain Flour

250g Corn meal

2 Eggs

1 g Sea Salt

2 g Garlic granuals.

Double bake at 160c for 20 minutes ... allow to cool for an hour between baking sessions.

B) Tuna flavoured Hard tack Training Treat

1 can of drained Tuna Flakes ~~ 170 g

175 g Corn meal

65 g plain flour

2 medium eggs

I gram Garlic Granules

A pinch of salt

Mix and knead together all the ingredients in a bowl

Oil a shallow baking tray.

Punch the mixed dough into the baking tray, ensuring that it is of an even thickness. Score the surface with a knife (to make mini bit size pieces), Prick the whole surface with a fork and bake in a moderate oven for about 30 minutes, remove from the oven and allow to cool well away and out of reach of a salivating dog.

The results we are having with these Tuna treats are exceeding the results we obtained from the Liver treats.

C) Sardine Flavoured Training Treats

1 can of Sardines in Tomato sauce.

100ml (volume) Plain flour

100ml (volume) Corn meal

a good pinch of dried Garlic

a good pinch of salt

2 medium eggs.

Method as in the posts above.

Oz  almost fights me for these Sardine flavoured treats

A very Attentive Collie, who will do anything for one of my home-made training treat pieces.