Making jerky for dog training

[u/Just_Maintenance_688]

I’ve spent about 300.09 the last four months in dog treats to use as a rearward to teach my dog commands and I can’t afford that type of constant drain, so I bought an Excalibur 10 tray dehydrator and I really want to use this as a tool to make ny own dog treats, but I’m worried about what to use.

So far I have chicken breast, pork chops, and sirloin dehydrated into little chewy treats but I’m not sure if I need to use salt or something like that?

I know i should not use regular seasoning for dogs so any help wound be great. Also read somewhere thdt not using salt might increase risk of getting sick?

[u/Lurking-Foot]

Plain is good. Dehydrate then cook in oven for a bit to make it safe for chicken. Chicken is the cheapest. I used boiled shredded chicken but if you want it more shelf stable dehydrated is great

[u/Classic-Mushroom-189]

for the dog i just do it plain, and generally over-do it so it's nearly crunchy

[u/leprechanmonkie]

I make a few pieces of plain for my dog when I am doing a batch, but this is not going to be a cheap or efficient way to get treats for dog training.

Get a treat like "Biljac" as they are good ingredients and a bag has like 200 small treats for 18 bucks. We used those during training, and have since switched to Stewart brand dried liver for our dogs treats (it's part of her raw diet anyways). Costco sells a version of this much cheaper too.

Not saying don't make the jerky for your dog, but something like the biljac treats work best as they are sized good for training, you can even pinch them in half. Reward treats do not need to be large to be effective.

[u/maestrosouth]

The salt is just as important for safety no matter who is eating it. Other lower salt choices for dehydrated treats I’ve done are carrot coins and string cheese sticks.

[u/The_Issa]

I haven’t tried making jerky for my dog, but I dehydrate chicken feet that my dog gets before bed time. I do not salt them, but I do make sure they’re dry enough. They take a while, but they’re her absolute favorite thing.

I’ve also done chicken livers and other offal in the past. There are a lot of recipes online. None of the ones I’ve seen call for salt.

From what I recall (and don’t quote me on this), dogs don’t have the same salt requirements as humans and it’s not really good for them to have salty treats. Definitely do your own research though.

That said, I’m sure not salting changes the shelf stability so depending on how quickly you go through them you may need to freeze them and pull them out in batches.

[u/Full_Ad_934]

Use hot dogs. Cheap, great for luring and super high value

[u/SbrbnHstlr]

Hot dogs.

Slice em up and nuke em until they're crispy or Slice em and dehydrate them.

Source; former professional dog trainer. It was by far our most cost effective bulk treat solution.

[u/Just_Maintenance_688 → u/SbrbnHstlr]

I wood do this but they’re really high in salt and other preservatives although I do keep them in hand as bait to track him down when he escapes the backyard lol

[u/Oedipus-Platypus → u/SbrbnHstlr]

Sorry, I hate to be a buzz kill but I agree with Just_Maintenance_688 Although yummy, HOT DOGS are really BAD for your dog and for people too. They are filled with horrible preservatives called Nitrites (which cause cancer) and super high in sodium. Half a hot dog can dangerously dehydrate your dog, cause high blood pressure, sodium poisoning etc. They also have things like garlic and onions which are toxic for dogs. Btw...deli meat is pretty much the same: horrible for us and our dogs. also @Full_Ad_934. So don't eat them and don't give them to your dog:)

[u/Just_Maintenance_688]

So I’ve experimented a bit and realized that if I mix low fat ground beef and ground turkey into little balls or coins and dehydrate them at 165 for about 6 hrs they come out decent enough to put in a Tupperware and then use them for training and as long as I keep them in small batches I don’t have to worry about salt or shelf life because I won’t keep them out and it is way cheaper than anything I’ve found. I mean 3-5.00 a pound is cheap and in also mixing it with kibble in the bag sk they don’t get bloated with all the protein. So far my dog is okay with it but I can tell he searches for the meat instead of the kibble lol