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
Chewy treats are a real training killer — if a dog is chewing and wandering off to hoard, you've lost the reward moment entirely. The fix is a treat that dissolves almost instantly: pea-sized, intensely smelly, high in protein, and gone in one lick-and-swallow. That keeps focus locked on you, not on the treat. Tell me a bit more — how big is your Lab, what are you working on training-wise, and any allergies or ingredients you want to avoid?
He's about 32kg, still a bit bouncy and adolescent. We're mainly working on recall and loose-lead walking. No known allergies, but we tried those soft chicken training treats from a big brand and he'd take them, trot off, and drop them on the floor to sniff later. Completely useless.
inparticular.ai
That's a classic Labrador move — they're food-motivated but also opportunistic, and a soft chewy treat gives them enough time to think 'maybe I'll save this for later.' You need something that smells incredible and is gone before he can make a decision about it. What were the treats you tried — do you remember if they were moist and bendy, or more like a dried cube?
Moist and bendy, yeah. They came in a resealable pouch. They smelled fine to me but clearly not exciting enough for him.
inparticular.ai
Moist and bendy is the worst format for a hoarding dog — they have texture and chew resistance, which triggers that 'carry and cache' instinct. You need something air-dried or freeze-dried: it crumbles the second it hits the tongue, the smell is much more concentrated, and there's nothing to hoard. For a 32kg adolescent Lab doing recall and loose-lead work, I'd go with Ziwi Peak Air-Dried Dog Treats in the Lamb or Venison flavour. They're sold in small bags on Amazon UK, the pieces are naturally small and irregular, they dissolve almost instantly, and the smell is strong enough to compete with every distraction on a walk. Break them into pea-sized bits if any piece feels too large. One bag lasts a good few weeks if you're portioning properly.
That sounds much better. Are they high in protein and actually healthy, or is it just a gimmick?
inparticular.ai
Genuinely high quality — Ziwi Peak is mostly single-source meat with no fillers, grain-free, and the air-drying process keeps the protein intact without artificial preservatives. For training volume you'll be giving tiny amounts so the calorie count per session is low, but you should still knock a small amount off his main meals on heavy training days. At 17 months he's still filling out, so keeping his overall diet balanced matters. These treats hold up well for that.
Great, I'll order some. Should I use them for every training session or save them for the harder stuff like recall?
inparticular.ai
Save the Ziwi Peak for the harder stuff — recall especially, since that's a high-stakes cue and you want it backed by your best reward. For loose-lead work, which involves lots of repetitions, you can use a slightly lower-value treat and keep the Ziwi Peak as the jackpot when he genuinely nails it. That contrast in reward value actually speeds up learning because he figures out which behaviours pay best.
