Short answer: the best training treats for a small dog are pea-sized or smaller, soft enough to swallow in about a second, and made from one thing — real meat. Freeze-dried liver, beef, or chicken bites are the gold standard. Keep all treats to no more than 10% of your dog's daily calories, and cut the rest of their food back to match.
I'm Preston Smith, co-founder of Bully Sticks Central. We've sold single-ingredient chews to hundreds of thousands of dogs, and small-breed owners ask us this more than almost anything else. Here's what actually works.
Why does treat size matter so much for small dogs?
A 10-pound Chihuahua needs roughly 250-300 calories a day. A single commercial biscuit can run 20-30 calories — that's 10% of her entire day in one reward. Now try running a 30-rep sit-stay session. You've just fed her dinner twice over.
The American Kennel Club and most veterinary nutritionists use the same rule of thumb: treats should stay under 10% of daily caloric intake, with the other 90% coming from complete, balanced food. For small dogs that budget disappears fast, which is why treat size — not treat brand — is the first thing to fix.
Practical target: about the size of a pea, or roughly 1-3 calories per piece. If a treat is bigger than that, break it up. Most soft treats tear into four or five pieces without any trouble.
What makes a good training treat?
- Tiny. Pea-sized or smaller. You want to reward often, not feed a meal.
- Soft and fast. A treat that takes 30 seconds to chew kills the rhythm of a training session. Save the hard chews for downtime.
- Smelly. Dogs work for scent. Liver, fish, and organ meats punch above their weight here.
- Single-ingredient. One ingredient means no fillers, no mystery binders, and a much shorter list of things to blame if your dog's stomach gets upset. It also makes an elimination diet possible if allergies ever come up.
- Not rawhide. Rawhide is chemically processed and doesn't digest well. We don't make it and we don't recommend it.
Best training treats for small dogs
1. Freeze-dried liver or beef bites
This is the one to reach for first. Extremely high-value, almost pure protein, and freeze-dried pieces crumble into perfect small-dog portions with your fingers. Great for teaching a new behavior or working around distractions.
2. Small pieces of single-ingredient meat chews
Our single-ingredient chews are 100% real meat, 100% natural, and fully digestible. Snip a piece into pea-sized bites and you've got training rewards with no fillers and nothing artificial.
3. Trachea or organ pieces
Light, airy, and easy to break down into tiny rewards. Beef trachea is naturally low in fat and contains glucosamine and chondroitin, which is a nice bonus for small breeds prone to joint issues later in life.
4. A dab of plain peanut butter
Useful as a lick reward for stationary work — nail trims, crate training, vet-visit desensitization. Just confirm the label is xylitol-free; xylitol (sometimes listed as birch sugar) is toxic to dogs. More on that in our guide to peanut butter dog treats.
5. Their own kibble
Not exciting, but honest advice: for low-difficulty repetition at home, measure out part of your dog's daily kibble and train with it. Zero extra calories. Save the liver for the hard stuff.
How many treats can a small dog have during training?
Count them. A 10-pound dog on a 280-calorie diet has about 28 treat calories to work with — roughly 10-20 pea-sized pieces of freeze-dried meat. That's plenty for two or three short sessions.
Three or four five-minute sessions a day beat one long one anyway. Small dogs have short attention spans and small stomachs; frequent, brief, high-value repetitions are how the behavior actually sticks.
What about puppies?
Small-breed puppies are the most calorie-sensitive of all, and they're also at risk of low blood sugar if meals get skipped. Keep pieces truly tiny, train right before or after meals rather than in place of them, and check with your vet about calorie targets for your dog's growth stage. We wrote separately about when puppies can have bully sticks if you're weighing chews as well as training treats.
What to avoid
- Rawhide. Poorly digestible and a choking risk, especially at small-dog jaw size.
- Anything with added sugar, salt, or artificial colors. Small dogs have small margins for junk.
- Grapes, raisins, onions, garlic, macadamia nuts, and chocolate. The VCA Animal Hospitals toxic-food list is worth a read before you share anything from the kitchen.
- Treats too hard to eat quickly. Fine for chewing, wrong tool for training.
The bottom line
Pick something tiny, soft, smelly, and made of one real ingredient. Count the calories. Train in short bursts. That's most of it.
Everything we make is 100% natural, single-ingredient, 100% real meat, fully digestible, no rawhide, and ethically sourced from grass-fed American and Argentinean farms — and it's 100% high-quality guaranteed. If a chew doesn't work for your dog, tell us and we'll make it right.
This post was last updated at August 6, 2026 22:34
