Hi - I have a nine week old terrier and I'm looking for ideas for suitable little treats to use for training. I don't want to use his normal food really as the novelty might wear off! I've seen puppy treats in pet shops but most seem to be 3-6 months. Thank you.

The sky's your limit really. :) My (and the dogs') current favourite is the 2 kilo packs that Natures Menu do of COOKED chicken cut into pieces. Each piece is about an inch so for smaller dogs it easily cuts into lots of pieces, they absolutely love it and a bag lasts for weeks and weeks and is kept in the freezer.  Of course, you can buy chicken pieces in the supermarket as well, but it works out a lot more expensive.

Then you have sausages and hotdogs, again cut to size (assuming the dog likes it, I have two that don't like sausages), liver or liver cake. The only dog treats I use are Natures Menu ones that are 95 % meat, comes in various meats, again can easily be cut into smaller pieces as they are nice and soft. The one boring dog treats I use are B & M's own small dog training treats, a bag for 99 p with really tiny treats in (smallest I have ever seen), my son uses them when training his Papillon. But she's not picky, most of my dogs would not eat dog treats other than NM as they are too boring. :)

I use Applaws small dog food as treats for everything from my GSD to a Yorkie and a Chihuahua who come to class, healthier than most treats as no additives, colours etc.

We use the treats made by fish4dogs.  I'm not sure if there's a minimum age to give this however!!   And you can bake some lambs liver which make great treats - just watch him sitting by the oven when you are cooking this!!!   You'd have to restrict how much liver you give however.

Aaah congratulations Val !

I used the same goldmali :D They smell and look great too so it's quite high value for my terrier - which I found was important as they can be very distracted!

I also use the kibble for puppies from Germany's Platinum - I collect samples at every show and they last me a while. They are nice and moist so again high value.

I often wonder if the age limit is more about excess feeding and treat size rather. So you can still feed under the three months, just go steady with the amount and don't try popping a whole one into pups mouth. I was using 4 months + treats from 8 weeks with mine for toilet training, and she did fine on them.

Cooked chicken does it for our pups and is relatively cheap and healthy.

Thank you all, some great ideas - I have to be a bit careful because my other dear terrier is 12 and has to have a low fat diet and no way will he want to miss out on treats!

I too use the Natures Menu they're one of the few that cuts up smaller without crumbling into pieces. Thinly sliced meat dehydrated in warmish oven will also cut into small high value treats.
I also bought a sample bag of Origen fish kibble its nice and smelly. Lilys kitchen puppy in the pink packet is the smallest kibble I've seen, petit pois size and is great to use as treats.

>because my other dear terrier is 12 and has to have a low fat diet and no way will he want to miss out on treats!

I had an elderly toy poodle who couldn't have any fat in her diet.  So, when all the gang had a treat, she had a raw carrot or a bowl of cooked veg.  They do get used to it if you harden yourself, and stick to it.

Burns do Carrot treats, which are dried carrot pieces. I find them quite handy to have around, when I feel they've been spoilt in the day and just want to give them a quick reward.

I also give mine the chicken strips from the Pet Munchies range, they can be broken up into smaller pieces. They do tiny tiny training treats also which can be useful for a quick reward.