Non-food reward ideas

[OvenSeeksBun]

My seven year-old German Shepherd is having an allergic reaction, and we have just started a 3-month trial on a hypoallergenic food to see if she has food-related allergies. During this time we cannot feed her anything besides her prescription kibbles. At the same time, I have to give her these steroid pills twice a day to clear up her rash and stop the insane itching. So now I'm shoving pills down her throat, and can't even reward her with a cookie

Any ideas for how I can "treat" her and reward her without food? She already gets lots of attention and praise etc. Not only that, but she's used to getting spoiled with treats at my parents' house, and it's going to be so hard for her over Christmas, spending so much time with "the grandparents" and them not giving her anything yummy to eat.

[AFWife]

Tennis ball or something similar to chew on and toss around? My GS used to LOVE her ball. They're cheap too. (Because you'll want about 50) Or one of those heavy duty plastic toys? Maybe something that squeaks?

[tinuviel_k]

Will she take kibble as a treat? My pup does, and it works great! She doesn't really care WHAT her food treats are as long as they are food!

[Ola_]

What food are you using?  Do they have a canned version that goes with it?  Often those have the same or extremely similar ingredients (I'm guessing you're using a prescription food from the vet, call them and ask about a canned food).  I wouldn't use the canned for meals as it would get expensive fast but you can use it for rewards, to hide pills in, and even slice it in disks and dry out in the oven to use as treats.  Another option, depending on the food ingredients, may be to find a single-ingredient treat that matches her food.  You can often find those even at regular pet stores, they're basically dehydrated meat pieces, no other stuff in it (dehydrated pork liver, lamb lung pieces, etc).  So that wouldn't mess with her allergy trial, but of course check with your vet too.  For food motivated dogs you can definitely use just the kibble as a reward - that's something I've done myself.  Just measure out the meal portion but don't put it all in her bowl, keep some aside to dole out as treats.  You can give her a small bowl as a reward or do a rapid-fire treat by feeding her a bunch of individual kibbles in quick succession.

Good luck!

[OvenSeeksBun]

These are some great ideas, thanks! She seems to like the new kibble so far, and I've been using it as a treat as well. We'll see how long this lasts though... it didn't fool her for long as a puppy! I will find out about the canned food, that would be awesome. The problem with this particular foor is that it's not just the ingredients but the way their processed. I think it's called "hydrolyzed protein" so the proteins are broken down into such tiny particles that they won't cause a reaction. So there are no actual treats I can buy to give her, but I'm going to look into the canned food!

[OvenSeeksBun]

double post

[Ola_]

What kind of food is it, Hills prescription Z/D or a different one?  The Hills one has a dry and canned version available, they also have treats you can get with the hydrolyzed protein.