This is a specific conversation about Dog treats — what's worth giving — ask about yours and get one honest answer for your exact situation.
inparticular.ai
Two Dachshunds at very different life stages with a weight gap is a genuinely common challenge — you need treats that work for both without overfeeding the heavier one or short-changing the younger. The best treats are high in protein, low in additives, and sized so you can control portions easily. A lot of popular brands are mostly cereal and flavouring, which adds calories fast on a small breed prone to weight gain. Single-ingredient dried meat or fish skin is usually the smartest starting point. Can you tell me roughly how much each weighs, what the weight gap looks like, and whether you're treating both at the same time — training, rewards, or just daily snacks?
Yeah so the older one is 10, she's about 9kg which is a bit heavy for a dachshund, and the young one is 3 years and around 5kg, which is healthy. We treat them together, mostly just as rewards and occasionally training the younger one.
inparticular.ai
That weight gap tells you everything — 9kg on a standard Dachshund is genuinely overweight, and treating them side by side means your older girl is likely getting the same calories as the younger one despite needing significantly fewer. Does your older Dachshund have any dietary restrictions, joint issues, or is she on a vet-recommended diet? And is the younger one on any particular food that might clash with certain treat ingredients?
No restrictions, though the vet has mentioned the older one needs to lose a bit of weight. No joint issues yet but she's starting to slow down a bit. Younger one eats standard dry kibble, no issues.
inparticular.ai
Right, so the priority is finding something you can give both dogs without guilt — low enough in calories that your older girl can have her share without it working against her weight loss, but still genuinely palatable so the younger one isn't short-changed. I'd go with Lily's Kitchen Bedtime Biscuits. They're small, wheat-free, made with real meat, and low in calories — around 3 kcal per biscuit. That means you can give your younger dog two or three and your older dog just one and it doesn't feel unfair to either of them. They're not a training treat by design, but they're small enough to use that way for the younger one. The ingredients are clean, no nasty fillers, and the size is genuinely ideal for Dachshunds. Available on Amazon UK and widely stocked.
That sounds really sensible actually. How many should the older one have per day realistically if she's trying to lose weight?
inparticular.ai
As a rough guide, treats should make up no more than 10% of a dog's daily calorie intake. For a Dachshund trying to drop to around 7–7.5kg, her vet-recommended daily intake is probably somewhere around 400–450 kcal depending on activity. At 3 kcal per biscuit, one or two Lily's Kitchen Bedtime Biscuits a day is genuinely fine and won't sabotage her progress. The bigger win is that she still gets a treat when her younger housemate does — which matters a lot for their dynamic. Just make sure whoever feeds them knows the split so it stays consistent.
Perfect, that's really helpful. I'll grab those.
inparticular.ai
Good call. Stick to the one-treat rule for your older girl, and if you ever want something for the younger one's training specifically, small pieces of dried chicken breast are hard to beat — higher value, single ingredient, easy to break into tiny bits. But for a shared daily treat, Lily's Kitchen Bedtime Biscuits are a solid fit for both of them.
