Lots of Training Treats: Should You Cut Your Puppy's Food?

Short answer: yes, a little, so her total for the day stays the same. But the better answer is to stop treating it as two separate piles of food. Train with her own meal.

Here is why, and how to do it without counting every crumb.

The rule everyone quotes

Treats should stay under 10% of a dog's daily calories. That figure comes up again and again: UC Davis, WSAVA and VCA all use it, and VCA applies it to puppies specifically.

WSAVA adds the line that answers half of your question: treats should never replace a meal.

So there are two limits at once. Treats are capped, and the meal is protected. Cutting her dinner in half to make room for a pocket of chicken bites breaks the second one.

Why a training day blows the budget

Training is repetition. A ten-minute session can mean thirty or forty rewards, and a puppy in her first months might do several sessions a day.

Now look at the size of the budget. WSAVA's table, which is worked out for healthy adult dogs, puts the daily treat allowance at 47 kcal for a 10 kg dog and 79 kcal for a 20 kg one. Puppies need more per kilo while they grow, so ask your vet for her own figure, but the order of magnitude is the point.

Against that, WSAVA lists a single 17 g digestive biscuit at 75 kcal. A tablespoon of peanut butter is 81. An ounce of cheddar, 120. One biscuit, broken up for a training session, can be most of a medium dog's treat allowance for the day. In a lot of Indian homes the biscuit tin is the default training kit, which is why this matters.

Why not just shrink the meal?

Because treats are not complete food. Your puppy's main food was balanced to deliver protein, vitamins and minerals in particular proportions for growth. Swap a large share of it for treats and the proportions she actually eats drift away from the ones on the bag.

This is not a theoretical worry for big puppies. VCA notes that a puppy taking in more calories than it needs can gain excess weight, which can lead to orthopaedic problems, and that large and giant breed puppies cannot adequately regulate how much calcium they absorb. Labradors, German Shepherds and Rottweilers all fall into the large-breed group, and so, in practice, does any mixed-breed or indie puppy whose paws and parents suggest she is heading for a big adult size, even if nobody can tell you her breed. Their food was designed with that in mind; a pile of extras was not.

The better way: train with her own food

Measure out her whole day's food in the morning. Keep some of it aside in a pouch or a jar. Use that for training; whatever is left goes into her bowl at mealtimes.

The meal shrinks by exactly what she earned, nobody in the house has to do arithmetic, and the grandparent who likes to slip her a reward can be handed the jar instead of the biscuit tin without anyone feeling told off. Simple.

VCA's training guidance makes the same point: regular kibble works well as a reward because it is complete and balanced, so the diet stays complete even on a treat-heavy training day (VCA). Their worked example is a dog needing 550 calories a day, with 55 available for treats and 495 from complete food.

Will she work for kibble? Most puppies will, especially just before a meal. Train when she is a bit hungry, not straight after dinner.

When you need something better than kibble

Some situations call for a high-value reward: recall in a park, a noisy street, a vet waiting room. VCA notes that high-value treats are often high in calories, so use them where they earn their place and keep them tiny.

Three habits help:

• Break everything small. A pea-sized piece lands almost as well as a whole treat, because she is counting events.
• Mix it. Put a few high-value pieces into a pouch of kibble so she never knows which one is coming.
• Try vegetables. UC Davis lists 50 g of raw baby carrots at 18 kcal and 63 g of boiled green beans at 22; plenty of puppies will work for those. Our guide to [human food as treats](/blogs/news/can-dogs-have-human-food-as-treats) lists which kitchen foods are safe and which are not.

Later, as behaviours become reliable, VCA suggests moving to intermittent rewards, rotating food with play and praise. That brings the daily food count down naturally.

How to tell if the balance is off

Watch the puppy, not the bowl. You should be able to feel her ribs without pressing hard and see a waist when you look down at her. VCA also lists healthy stools, a steady growth rate and good muscle condition as things to keep an eye on.

If she is getting round, if her stools are frequent and soft, or if she starts leaving her meals because training filled her up, the day's total is too high. Cut the extras before you cut the meal.

Persistent soft stool, diarrhoea, vomiting or a puppy who goes off her food entirely is a different matter. Puppies dehydrate faster than adults; read our guide on [when to see a vet](/blogs/news/when-to-take-dog-to-vet-digestive-problems) and call sooner rather than later.

Where ChewCheer fits

Loosely, and on the treat side of the ledger. ChewCheer is a daily soft chew with chicory root fibre and inulin, and like every chew it counts inside that 10% budget. It is not a training treat: it is too big to hand out forty times a session, and nobody should try.

It also contains chicken, which matters if your puppy has a known reaction to chicken.

If you do give one, it comes out of the treat allowance, not the meal. Our piece on [when a puppy can start treats](/blogs/dog-gut-health/when-can-a-puppy-start-treats) covers the timing.

The short version

Yes, reduce her meals slightly on heavy training days, but do it by training with her own food rather than adding treats and trimming dinner. Measure the day's food in the morning, keep some aside for rewards, and feed the rest. Keep true treats tiny and under about 10% of calories; for large-breed puppies, be strict about it. If she is getting round, cut the extras first.

Frequently asked questions

Should I reduce my puppy's meals if I give lots of training treats?

A little, yes, so her total calories stay the same. The cleaner approach is to measure out her daily food in the morning and use some of it as training rewards, so the meal shrinks by exactly what she earned. Treats on top should still stay under about 10% of her calories.

Can I use my puppy's kibble as training treats?

Yes, and it is often the best option. VCA points out that regular kibble is complete and balanced, so it keeps her diet from falling short on a treat-heavy training day. Many puppies work happily for their own food, especially before meals when they are a bit hungry.

Why not just cut her food to make room for more treats?

Because treats are not complete. If treats take a big share of the day, she gets fewer of the vitamins, minerals and protein her puppy food was balanced to deliver. WSAVA says treats should never replace a meal. For a growing puppy that balance matters more than for an adult.

How many training treats can a puppy have a day?

Work it in calories, not pieces: under about 10% of what she needs in a day. Puppy calorie needs change as she grows, so ask your vet for her current daily figure. Then break treats into tiny pieces; a puppy counts rewards, not grams.

Are large-breed puppies different?

Yes. VCA notes that excess calories in large and giant breed puppies can lead to obesity and orthopaedic problems, and that these puppies cannot properly regulate how much calcium they absorb. Keeping treats small and using their own puppy food for training protects the balance of the diet they are on.

How do I know if my puppy is getting too much food overall?

Watch her body rather than the bowl. You should be able to feel her ribs without pressing hard and see a waist from above. If she is getting round, or her stools are frequent and soft, the day's total is probably too high. Your vet can score her body condition at check-ups.