How to Choose the Right Bully Sticks for Training Your Dogs

Reviewed By Tom •  Updated: 11/05/20 •  4 min read
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Training your dogs requires patience, time, and the right snacks to reward and incentivise them. Opting for non-food type treats is a healthy option as your dogs doesn’t run the risk of overeating and becoming obese. Bully sticks are an efficient alternative to food snacks. Knowing how to choose the right bully sticks for your training sessions may help your dogs train faster and help you enjoy the process. Here is a list of how you can choose the right bully sticks for training your dogs.

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1. Look for Natural Products

Natural-based bully sticks are more beneficial to your dogs compared to products that contain hormones, preservatives, and artificial colouring. Some dogs can react to any chemical-based treats and lead to health issues such as upset stomach or mouth sores. These, however, can be avoided by making sure that you purchase bully sticks that contain all-natural ingredients. You can get bully sticks that are made from all-natural protein-sources, which mean that every treat you serve enhances your dogs’ health.

2. Opt for Odourless Sticks

Some dogs can get put off by certain odours. This means that if your dogs don’t take to a certain scent, they may refuse the bully stick. This may slow down the training process because the point of the bully stick is to incentivise and to motivate your dogs. However, if they don’t see the need to train because the treat is not something to look forward to, you may struggle to encourage your dogs to master the commands you are trying to communicate. Odourless bully sticks are a safer option in that your dogs won’t associate the treat to a particular scent.

3. Mix It Up

If your dogs don’t find the treat tasty, they won’t look forward to eating it – meaning the training process may slow down. You can purchase different flavours to determine the type that your dogs prefer. Flavours of bully sticks range from chicken, beef, peanut butter, and bison. If your dogs take to these different types of flavours, you can then mix it up to avoid the monotony of a treat and to encourage productive training sessions.

4. Determine Durability

Durability is important because the training process is long and you want to avoid giving multiple new treats. The more durable the bully stick is, the longer your dogs will chew on it, and the more you can use the same treat at different intervals during the training session. You also want to encourage play during training sessions meaning your dogs can play around with the durable stick compared to one that he or she can gobble up at once.

5. Choose Chewable Treats

The texture of the bully sticks can either repel or be appreciated by your dogs. Chewable bully sticks are fun and easy on the teeth and jaws. Your dogs won’t find chewing laborious and tiring. Chewable treats may encourage their curiosity as to why the treat isn’t finishing and becomes enjoyable.

6. Consider the Size of Your Dogs

When purchasing bully sticks, you must consider the size of your dogs. If you are training puppies, you may want to opt for small-sized sticks. Medium dogs may find small-sized sticks too easy to chew and swallow, meaning medium to large-sized sticks may work better for these. If you are training large-sized dogs, you can get the giant-sized bully stick so that it still is a fun challenge for them.

7. Analyse Product Reviews

Take a sweep at the product reviews that may be posted on the vendor’s website. You can also do an independent search engine sweep to see the different kinds of experiences that consumers have had regarding a specific brand of bully sticks. The more positive the reviews, the more likely you may have positive experiences training your dogs using the particular bully sticks. You should use your discretion when analysing negative product reviews as not all are authentic.

Conclusion

Choosing the right bully sticks for training your dogs requires some research about the products. You need to find out if the bully sticks are made from natural ingredients, are odourless, flavourful, durable, chewable, and also consider the size of your dogs. Analysing reviews about a brand may also help you pick the right bully sticks. Make sure to monitor how your dogs respond to the treats to determine whether you need to change the treats or continue to use them for training.

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Tom

Tom has always loved to write since he was little - he wanted to be either a writer or a veterinary doctor, but he ended up being a professional writer while most of his works are based on animals. He was born in San Francisco but later moved to Texas to continue his job as a writer. He graduated from the University of San Francisco where he studied biotechnology. He is happily married and a soon to be father!

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