Best low-calorie training treats for Havanese puppies

The most effective training treats are pea-sized, smelly, and high in protein — gone in one bite so your dog stays focused, and exciting enough to beat whatever else is in the environment. For tiny breeds like yours, calorie load is a real concern from day one: a treat that's fine for a Labrador can quietly add up to a significant chunk of a Havanese's daily intake. What are you training for right now, and does your puppy have any dietary restrictions?

Good instinct — Havanese are prone to carrying extra weight precisely because owners love them and treats are easy to give. At 1.5kg, even a small training session with standard treats can push her over her calorie limit for the day. The key is finding something genuinely high-value that you can break or pinch into really tiny pieces, ideally under half a gram each. Can she eat poultry, or would you prefer to avoid it?

Then I'd go with Ziwi Peak Air-Dried Treats — the chicken version. They're made from 96% meat, organ, and bone, so the protein content is extremely high and dogs find them intensely appealing. Crucially for you, each piece is already small and you can pinch off even smaller bits, so you're genuinely talking about a couple of calories per reward. There's no filler, no grain, and no added sugar, which means you're not padding her diet with empty calories the way softer, chewy treats often do. They're shelf-stable, the smell is strong enough to keep a puppy's attention, and they hold up in a treat pouch without going sticky. For recall and basic obedience at this age, she'll work hard for them.

At her weight, treats should make up no more than 10% of her daily calorie intake — for a 1.5kg Havanese puppy that's roughly 150–180 kcal per day total, so you're looking at 15–18 kcal maximum from treats. With Ziwi Peak pinched into tiny pieces you can comfortably do 20–30 repetitions in a session and stay within that. Keep sessions short at this age anyway — 3 to 5 minutes is plenty for a 3-month-old brain. Multiple short sessions beat one long one every time.

Great choice for her. One practical tip: weigh out her daily treat allowance in the morning and keep it in a small pot — that way you can train freely throughout the day without losing track. It takes about ten seconds and makes the calorie management effortless.