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 an assistance dog candidate is serious work — you need treats that can hold a Golden's attention through long, complex sessions without slowing them down with big bites or rich ingredients. The most effective training treats are pea-sized, smelly, and high in protein so the dog eats them in one gulp and stays locked in. They need to feel more exciting than their regular food, because you're asking for a lot. Quick questions: how much does your Golden weigh right now, what specific tasks are you working on first, and does he have any food sensitivities or allergies?
He's about 28kg, we're starting with retrieve and hold tasks — picking up dropped items, bringing my phone. No known allergies so far.
inparticular.ai
Perfect — retrieve and hold is great to start because it builds the foundation for almost everything else. For a 28kg dog doing multiple short repetitions across a session, you need something tiny so you're not filling him up before the session is done. What does his current diet look like — kibble, raw, or wet food? And roughly how many reps are you doing per session?
He's on a good quality dry kibble. We're doing maybe 50 to 80 reps per session, two sessions a day.
inparticular.ai
At 50 to 80 reps twice a day, calorie load is a real concern — you could easily be adding a significant chunk of his daily calories in treats alone if you're not careful. That rules out anything dense or fatty. My recommendation is Zuke's Mini Naturals — the salmon and sweet potato variety. They're roughly 3 calories each, genuinely pea-sized, and the fish smell gives them high value without being so rich they upset his stomach during long sessions. Goldens tend to go mad for them. For assistance work specifically, the consistent small size matters because you want the reward to be identical every time — it keeps the reinforcement clean. Buy a bag, do a test session, and count roughly how many you're using so you can adjust his kibble portion accordingly.
That makes sense. Should I use the same treat for everything or have a higher value one for harder tasks?
inparticular.ai
For assistance dog training, a two-tier system is smart. Use the Zuke's Mini Naturals as your everyday marker treat for known behaviours and maintenance reps. For genuinely new or difficult tasks — the moment he first holds something properly, the first time he retrieves your phone without mouthing it — keep a small handful of real cooked chicken or Natural Instinct Pure Chicken raw nugget crumbled into tiny pieces in a separate pocket. The contrast between the two tells him clearly that he's just done something exceptional. Keep the high-value reserve rare or it loses its power.
Really helpful, thank you. One more thing — any tips for training from a wheelchair specifically?
inparticular.ai
A few practical ones. Keep your treat pouch clipped to your armrest or lap so the delivery is fast — slow reward timing undermines the clarity of what you're marking. Teach a clear hand target early so he has a default 'check in with you' behaviour when he's unsure. And because he'll be working close to your chair a lot, get him comfortable with the wheels and footrests as part of his normal environment from the start — reward calm, neutral behaviour around the chair itself. You're already thinking about this the right way by starting task work at one year old — that's a good window.
