Best Dog Treats: A Pet Nutritionist’s Top Picks

Treats are one of the simplest tools we have as dog owners. A well timed treat can reward good behaviour, strengthen the bond between you and your dog, reinforce training cues, and give your dog something enriching to work through during the day. For something so small, a treat carries a lot of responsibility.

The problem is that not all treats are created equal. Many bags on the shelf are loaded with unnecessary fillers, artificial colours, smoke flavourings, added sugar, glycerin, excessive salt, or preservatives that add little to no nutritional value. As a Certified Companion Animal Nutritionist, I evaluate every treat the same way I evaluate any other part of a dog’s diet.

What Makes a Good Dog Treat?

The best treats start with meat, organs, or fish as the primary ingredient, not an afterthought buried halfway down the label. Named animal ingredients such as chicken, beef, salmon, or duck are always preferable to vague terms like “meat by-product,” because named ingredients tell you exactly what you are feeding.

Dogs experience the world largely through smell, and their sense of taste is closely tied to it. This is why freeze-dried treats and dehydrated options often outperform baked biscuits during training. The concentrated aroma of a freeze dried liver or meat treat is simply more compelling to a working dog than a drier, more heavily processed biscuit.

My Top Picks For The Best Dog Treats

The following treats were selected based on ingredient quality, palatability, processing method, ingredient simplicity, nutritional value, and practicality for everyday use. Most are made right here in Canada, and a couple of standout non-Canadian options are included because, nutritionally, they were simply too good to leave out. Tap “Full breakdown” on any product for the detailed review.

Why People Give Dogs Treats

Most dog owners reach for treats far more often than they realize, and for good reason. Treats play a role in training and positive reinforcement, mental enrichment through puzzle toys and scent games, strengthening the bond between dog and owner, administering medication, crate training, reducing stress, and supporting dogs involved in sports like agility or obedience. With so many uses, it is easy to see how treats can add up quickly, which is exactly why treats should complement a dog’s balanced diet rather than compete with it.

Comparison Table

Curious whether chicken-based treats are a fit for your dog? Read more on signs of food allergies in dogs.

How Many Treats Should You Feed?

As a general guideline, treats should make up no more than approximately 10 percent of a dog’s total daily caloric intake. Exactly how many treats that translates to depends on your dog’s body size, activity level, life stage, and the calorie density of the specific treat.

If you find yourself feeding a lot of treats, particularly during training, it is worth slightly reducing meal portions that day. For frequent training, using very small treat pieces allows you to reward often without overloading on calories. Dogs tend to respond more to the frequency of rewards than to the size of each individual reward.

Recommendation From a Pet Nutritionist

When I am choosing treats for my own dog, my priorities are always the same. I want high palatability, high quality animal ingredients, minimal processing, a limited ingredient list, and no unnecessary additives. Every dog has their own preferences, but in my experience, treats made primarily from meat, organs, fish, or cheese consistently offer the highest reward value with the least nutritional compromise.

I also encourage rotating between different protein sources when possible. Beyond simply adding variety, rotating proteins can increase enrichment and may help reduce the chance of a dog becoming bored with a single flavour over time.

Conclusion

No single treat is perfect for every dog. That said, choosing treats with high quality ingredients, minimal processing, and excellent palatability will consistently improve training outcomes and provide a genuinely healthier reward, no matter which specific product you choose.

My best advice is to evaluate ingredient lists rather than marketing claims. A short, recognizable ingredient panel will almost always tell you more about a treat’s true quality than the front of the packaging ever will.

Frequently Asked Questions