Clean-ingredient training treats for Irish Setters

Good call on switching — a lot of mainstream training treats are packed with E-numbers and preservatives that simply aren't necessary. The most effective training treats are pea-sized, smelly, and high in protein: the dog eats them in one bite without losing focus, and they need to be noticeably more exciting than their regular meals. Tell me a bit more — how big is your Irish Setter, what are you training for, and are there any ingredients you're actively trying to avoid beyond artificial colours and preservatives?

Perfect. Recall and loose-lead walking on a distractible Irish Setter means you need genuinely high-value treats — something with a strong smell that cuts through whatever else has grabbed his attention. What are you using at the moment, and what's in them?

Yes, both of those tend to be cereal-heavy with colourants thrown in — not ideal, and honestly not exciting enough for a setter's nose either. Here's what I'd switch to: JR Pure Pate Sausage, made by JR Pet Products. It's 100% meat — typically chicken or liver — with no grains, no additives, and nothing artificial. It comes as a soft, sliceable sausage roll you cut into tiny pieces yourself, so you control the size. The liver variety in particular has a strong smell that works really well for distraction-heavy training like recall. It's one of the cleanest ingredients lists you'll find, and setters tend to go mad for it. You can find it easily on Amazon UK — search 'JR Pure Pate Training Sausage'.

Totally valid question. Because you're slicing it yourself into tiny pieces — we're talking a few millimetres — a single sausage roll goes a long way. Keep pieces genuinely pea-sized or smaller and count his treat sessions as part of his daily food intake rather than on top of it. If you're doing a lot of training days, slightly reduce his main meal. At 30kg he's not a small dog, but with portion discipline it won't throw his diet off.

Good luck with the recall work — the liver variety is the one to start with for a distracted dog. Once he's reliably coming back for it, you can occasionally swap in the chicken version to keep things unpredictable. That variability actually sharpens response over time.