When most people think of dog training treats, they think of using the tiny treats to teach dogs commands and tricks. Initially, I used training treats to teach Milo to sit and stay. I also rewarded him with a treat every time he went potty outside.

I hadn’t bought training treats in a while, so when Zuke’s sent me 6 free bags of Mini Naturals to try, I wasn’t sure what I would do with the rest of the treats after we tried them for the sponsored post I was doing for Zuke’s.

At first I was giving Milo a handful of treats at a time instead of using larger treats.

Then one day it hit me. Milo LOVES digging cheese out of his Kong ball. If I put the training treats into his ball, he would have to work to get them out but he wouldn’t get all of the calories of the cheese.

It worked so great that I made a video of it to share with you.

Using Zuke’s Mini Naturals in Milo’s Kong ball is a winner for me. You see, I work from home and spend a lot of time on the computer. While I’m working, Milo either sleeps or stares out a window. He doesn’t play with toys unless I’m on the floor throwing his favorite squeaky toy across the room, and I can only do that for so long.

Milo doesn’t have much to keep him mentally engaged when I’m between foster dogs like I am now. The Kong filled with tiny training treats is a perfect way to make him use his brain for a few minutes.

It apparently exhausts him because he always ends up taking a nap as soon as he gets the last treat out of the ball.

10 Ways to Use Tiny Dog Treats Besides Training:

When Zuke’s offered me a chance to run a giveaway for my readers, I decided to use the giveaway to see how everyone else uses tiny training treats.

I asked people entering the giveaway to tell me their favorite way to use small treats.

I wasn’t the only one who uses treats in a Kong ball, but I got a lot of other good ideas from my readers too.

My favorite reader suggestions for using small dog treats:

1. Encourage shy or fearful dogs to interact with people they don’t know. I love how Karina put this…people = treat = good thing.
2. Reward your dog for going into his crate.
3. Get your dog to sit still when you need to cut her nails by giving a treat after each paw is finished.
4. Use tiny treats to distract a dog from something you don’t want them to mess with and get their attention on you.
5. Keep small treats on you so you can get a stray, abandoned or loose dog to come to you.
6. Get your dog to come back inside after the middle of the night potty trip when she really just wants to play in the yard.
7. Throw the treats and see if your dog can catch them.
8. Get your dog to quickly go to the bathroom on walks because he gets a treat after he goes. I can relate to this one…when I first adopted Milo, he would take 2 blocks before I could get him to go!
9. Play hide and seek with the treats.
10. Everyone deserves a bedtime snack.

But the most common use of small treats besides training or rewarding good behavior was just because they are loved. Sounds like a lot of us want to spoil our dogs by giving out treats, and giving low calorie tiny treats means you can give more of them!

Thanks to everyone who entered the Zuke’s giveaway with thoughtful comments, subscribing to get a weekly email of my posts and sharing the giveaway post on social media. 

And the giveaway winner is….

Kristie Donelson

Kristie entered the giveaway so she could give the treats to her sister, who has an adorable puggle who thinks she is a lap dog even though she’s really too big to sit on a lap. Zuke’s will be sending 6 bags of treats out to Cleveland, OH soon!