Clicker treats... what do you use?

[Rips]

For those of you who train with a clicker - what treats do you use?

I only just got a clicker last week so we are only at the click=reward stage and already having a problem with lack of interest!

Although she is food orientated she is not majorly so... she would never really mug you for food even if you spolit her rotten. Today I tried with polo's because they are very handy, I usually break them in half. It worked well until something caught her attention, then she had no interest. Wouldn't take the treat.

The only treat that will always interest her is hard feed, handful of oats or beetpulp works everytime but I can't be feeding her that all the time and its too messy, and they tend to associate the treat with your hands then because they can smell it off them.

The problem is that shes out 24/7 so even carrots don't always work on a full belly of haylage!

[KateWooten]

I'm using a tiny pinch of black oil sunflower seeds, they love it and it's pretty healthy - I just remove it from their daily in-the-bucket ration. I'd avoid polo mints like the plague - pure sugar :eek: Tiny bits of carrot work for mine too. It's really a small little treat to aim for each time - picture a 'kibble' of dog-food if you have that terminology. A tiny pinch of sunflower isn't too messy - I mean, your hand's going to get covered in slobber anyway, right :D

[capalldubh]

Because we had a lami scare with Jackson not long after I got him, I stopped using carrots and apples. Left me with a bit of conundrum, but by trial and error I have found he is enthusiatic and will work for celery, broccoli, swede, black sunflower seeds and dried banana (I don't use the chips because they have added sugar and the bananas are the jackpot for when he does something very special). He is also very keen on orange peel, but I don't often have oranges around so this is occasional.

He is also on 24/7 turnout and never hungry (or at least I have to walk over to him with his beet in the mornings rather than him galloping across to get it so I assume not very hungry). Maybe it's just that yours hasn't got the hang of the game? In the end, it's not actually the treat that drives clicker training, it's the enjoyment of learning (which is why you need fewer and fewer treats the more you train :-)).

[svenja]

My mare is very fussy about her treats- turns her nose up at any manufactured horse treats, and even sugar is viewed with great suspicion.
However, she has a passion for apples (provided they are clean and have no dirt on them:rolleyes:). ut apples and carrots in smallish pieces and use those for clicker training.

[michelle c]

i use all sorts of food for my mare! carrots, parsnip, turnip, pony nuts, cool mix, apples, horse treats!!!!!:D i try to vary the food so she stays interested each time i train with her, i dont mix them together though. i only give polos, sugar free that is, when she finds something difficult or scary as these are her favourite and she will do anything for them!!!!:D

[Bay Mare]

Lucienuts :) Occasionally half polos but she gets, erm, very excited with polos!

[Christabel]

I use Simple Systems Puramint pellets - they're low calorie, sugar free and just the right size.

[Esther.D]

pony nuts, ponies like them, they are not messy and they are very cheap :D

[Bay Mare]

I use Simple Systems Puramint pellets - they're low calorie, sugar free and just the right size.


I bought two tubs of those for that very reason! She won't touch the damn things, even the yard dogs (who will eat anything and everything) won't touch the damn things :rolleyes: Mind you, I tasted one ... and I won't touch the damn things either :D

They smell nice though :D

Oh, Saffy really likes rosehips too so I'll have to use them for clicker as well I think.

[Rips]

Ahh - thanks for all the suggestions, I got some black sunflower seeds, just to try something different, had never heard of them before and they had them at work :p and she likes them! I guess she thinks its like grain :D

Are they good for anything?

I had a big box of some sort of dried banana treats which got lost in the garage during moving house. So I went looking for them... I found the box... minus the treats... just a whole box of mouse poo :o oops! It was still sealed, they had chewed right through the plastic!