This is a specific conversation about Dog training treats — high value, small size — ask about yours and get one honest answer for your exact situation.
inparticular.ai
Training a large-breed pup with a whole family involved means you're burning through treats at serious speed — that's completely normal, but it can get expensive fast. The treats that actually work for training are pea-sized, smelly, and high in protein — something the dog wolfs down in one bite without losing focus, and more exciting than their regular food. To point you in the right direction: how much does your Bernese weigh right now, what are you mainly training for, and does he or she have any dietary restrictions or sensitivities?
He's about 35kg already, we're working on basic obedience — sit, stay, come, walking nicely on lead. No allergies that we know of. Main problem is we have four kids and everyone wants to train him, so we're going through a big bag in about two weeks. It's getting really pricey.
inparticular.ai
35kg at 8 months — he's going to be a big lad. Four trainers means you genuinely need volume, and that changes the recommendation. Before I suggest anything, one quick question: are you currently using something small and soft, or bigger biscuit-type treats? The reason I ask is that a lot of families unknowingly use treats that are too large, which doubles or triples consumption without improving results.
Honestly a mix — whoever buys them grabs whatever's on the shelf. Probably too big a lot of the time.
inparticular.ai
That's almost certainly where a big chunk of your cost is going. My recommendation is Pets at Home's own-brand Training Treats — but specifically for budget and volume at your scale, go with Markus Muhle NaturCroc Soft Training Treats, or better still, get a bulk bag of JR Pet Products Puffed Chicken Training Treats on Amazon UK. The JR puffed chicken ones are air-dried, genuinely tiny, incredibly smelly (dogs go mad for them), and a 500g bag costs around £12–14 and lasts far longer than it looks because they're so light. One bag goes a long way even with four kids training daily. Cut them in half if you want to stretch further — they break easily. No grain, no additives, and Berners generally do really well on single-ingredient treats like this if sensitivities show up later.
That sounds good. Will a single-ingredient treat like that actually be exciting enough to keep his attention? He gets distracted pretty easily outside.
inparticular.ai
Yes — puffed chicken is one of the strongest-smelling treats you can buy, which is exactly what you need for a distracted dog outdoors. The smell carries further than soft meat treats, and Berners are food-motivated enough that single-ingredient chicken consistently outperforms fancier multi-ingredient options. The key with the distraction problem isn't the treat itself, it's making sure whoever is training him keeps sessions short — 3 to 5 minutes maximum per person. Four kids doing 5 minutes each is actually brilliant structured repetition. Keep the treats in a sealed tin rather than a zip bag to preserve the smell.
Really helpful, thank you. We'll try the JR puffed chicken ones.
