Best Dachshund Training Treats Under 3 Calories

Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to train a Dachshund). They just need a lot of consistency and rewards, which are most commonly dog treats.

When training your Dachshund, what matters most to them is the frequency of the treats, not the size. While most Dachshunds will work for any food, when you are training, they need to be high enough value to make their effort worth it.

UPDATED: July 1, 2026

On focused training days, I do at least one 10-15 minute training session. On “off” days, I reward my dogs throughout the day when I see them doing something that I like (sitting, laying down calmly, going in their crate on their own, etc.)

That means that I regularly end up giving them 20-50 training treats a day.

As you all know, it’s easy for a Dachshund to pack on the pounds. To avoid that, I reduce the amount at meals to compensate if needed and I use training treats that are under 3 calories each (ideally, they’re only 1 calorie each).

Below is a list of my favorite Dachshund training treats.

Note: some of the links below are affiliate links, which means that we receive a small commission if you make a purchase.

What I Look For in a Training Treat?

Even though the treats listed below are my personal favorites and my Dachshunds love them, not all dogs may feel the same about them.

Also, I recognize that some Dachshunds may have health restrictions like requiring a low fat, low carb, or low protein diet.

In other words, you may need to find the best training treats for your own dog. To help you in your search, I suggest using these criteria.

Medium or High Value

This has a lot to do with your dog’s preference. Your dog decides how much they love something and how hard they are willing to work for it, so you can guess but won’t know for sure until you try them.

Generally, though, a high value dog treat is delicious, not a flavor that they get normally, sometimes described as smelly or stinky. These are treats that, basically, your Dachshund will do anything for.

A medium value treat gets their attention, and they eat it readily, but it’s not as exciting to them as the high value treats.

Note: medium value treats will be your baseline training reward. Save the highest value treats for special circumstances like teaching a new skill or rewarding them for following a known command in a challenging (distracting or stressful) environment.

Low Calorie

During dog training, you’ll give your dog a lot of treats so they need to be low calorie. Small dogs like Dachshunds can easily become overweight if fed too many calories.

For Dachshunds specifically, and other dog breeds prone to IVDD, it’s very important to keep them from being overweight because excess weight can put pressure on their already fragile spines.

Although there is a little more leeway with puppies because they are rapidly growing so use up a lot of calories, you still don’t want to overdo it.

I rarely use treats that are over 5 calories each and try to find ones that are under 2 calories each.

Small

This kind of goes with the above in that, generally, a smaller treat contains fewer calories.

There are also several other reasons to choose small training treats for your Dachshund.

• The smaller volume the treat, the more you can give your small dog without filling up their little belly and causing indigestion

• Rapid rewarding is key during training so you want your dog to be able to eat the treat fast in order to get to the next command

Sometimes I end up buying that cat version of the treat because they are half the size, or less, of the dog version.

Warning: you must make sure the ingredients are the same as in the dog version first.

With the higher quality treats, often the ingredients are exactly the same in both the cat and dog versions (be sure to check though by reading the labels carefully though!).

They Hold Together Well

It’s very disappointing to reach in your pocket only to pull out a handful of dust or microscopic crumbs. It feels gross, it gets stuck under your fingernails, and the treats are essentially unusable.

Some of the small treats, especially the semi-moist ones, are prone to crumbling.

You can test how likely they are to hold up by first giving them a light squeeze between your fingers before putting them in a pocket or treat pouch.

Healthy Ingredients

One important thing to note when choosing training treats for your Dachshund is that taste trumps quality to a certain extent.

In other words, in order to make your dog obsessive about listening to you and following commands, you need to choose a training treat that they can’t resist.

However, you want to choose treats that are as close to real, whole food as possible. Basically, these treats are going to become part of your dog’s regular diet, so choose wisely.

Avoid treats with a lot of fillers, preservatives, and treats not made in the USA or Canada.

With that being said, everyone appreciates a little “junk food” now and then. Sometimes treats with less-than-ideal ingredients are a great way to break treat boredom and renew your Dachshunds motivation.

Just use those sparingly. Think donuts vs. broccoli. If you mostly eat broccoli, eating a few donuts now and then won’t significantly affect your health.

My 5 Go-to Dachshund Training Treats

I’ve worked at a pet store for a year and learned a lot about dog food and treat ingredients. I’ve also been immersed in the pet industry since 2010. I’ve seen a lot of dog treats over the years.

These are my top picks.

1) Pupford Freeze Dried Treats

My #1 favorite dog training treats for my Dachshunds are Pupford freeze dried dog training treats.

They come in either single ingredient versions or a protein + fruit/vegetable recipes and are under 1 – 2 calories each.

There are many different flavors, but my favorites area:

• Tripe (highest value to my dogs)
• Rabbit
• Beef liver
• Chicken
• Turkey

For 10% off, use this Pupford training treats link and enter the code summitgretel10 at checkout.

Read my Pupford Treat Review for more info.

2) Vital Essentials Treats and Mini Nibs

I buy Pupford treats when I can, but if I’m really on a budget, I buy a bag of Vital Essentials Crunchy Mini Nibs (entree). It’s basically like buying Pupford treats in bulk.

There are definitely not many flavor options to choose from, but they’re high quality and are formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO dog food nutrient requirements (it’s designed as a food, not specifically a treat).

Vital Essentials does also make mini freeze dried treats, but they’re generally more expensive than Pupford treats. They do come in one flavor that Pupford Treats do not though – Tripe, which my dogs go nuts for.

3) Crumps’ Naturals Mini Trainers

Crumps’ Port Heart Mini Trainers are made with just a single ingredient (pork heart) and complement a raw food diet.

These treats are less than one calorie each and are made in Canada.

4) Crazy Dog Mini Train-Me!

These are are tiny, moist training treats, but unlike a lot of moist training treats, they don’t crumble in my pocket or treat bag. They’re a great way to add variety to the texture of the rewards (I mostly use crunchy treats).

The coolest thing about these treats is that they come in a variety of fun flavors like taco, chili dog, and pizza.

I consider these treats more of the “junk food” type. They have a long ingredient list, but there is nothing in there that is a red flag for me. Meat is always the first ingredient and they are made in the USA.

5) First Mate Mini Trainers

FirstMate Mini Trainers have only 1 cal per treat.

These high reward treats are designed to be a meat-based alternative to a typical biscuit.

Note: my Dachshunds view these as medium-value treats; they’re good for casually “capturing” good behavior around the house.

Non-Traditional Dog Training Reward Options

When most people think of training treats for their Dachshund, they head online to buy a bag. However, not all training rewards have to be commercially-made…. or even food.

Non-traditional ways to reward your Dachshund include:

Human food you can use

Sometimes you may want to use human food cut it into tiny pieces as training treats.

This usually ends up being less expensive than store bought dog training treats but is often messier (although, you can put a thin, latex free disposable glove on to help keep your hands clean).

Some examples of human food that can be cut into tiny pieces and used for dog training treats are:

• String Cheese
• Hot Dogs
• Cooked lean ground beef

Your Dog’s Normal Food

You can simply use a portion of your dog’s daily food allowance as rewards (kibble or freeze dried raw works best for this.

The bonus is that you don’t have to do any math to make sure your dog isn’t eating too many calories in a day.

However, because this is something your dog eats on a daily basis, it may not be that rewarding for them. I consider a dog’s daily kibble to be a low to medium value reward.

It can work for routine rewarding around the house when you see your dog making good choices.

Toys!

While rare in my experience, some Dachshund are not that motivated by food rewards, or at least they aren’t as obsessed with food as they are a ball or their favorite toy.

Using toys as rewards is a whole other training topic, but just be aware that you can use toys in addition to, or instead of, food rewards for some Dachshunds.

For example, I might hold a ball and ask a dog to lay down. Once they do, I mark (clicker or “Yes!”) and roll or throw the ball for them. They love it!

Don’t Forget the Dog Training Equipment

Besides having training treats on hand that your Dachshund absolutely loves, there are some supplies that may also make training sessions easier for you and more effective.

A Convenient Way to Hold the Treats

In order to make training rewards “rapid fire”, they need to be conveniently and quickly accessible.

The easiest way to hold dog treats when training is by using a treat pouch.

My favorite is the Ruffwear Treat Trader Pouch.

I like it because:

• It’s deep enough to hold a lot of treats

• It clips around your waist using an included webbing belt

• It has an easy-access magnetic closure, which pulls open quickly by grabbing a red tab on the outside

• It’s not huge and bulky

It can be worn with the included waist strap or clipped to a belt, has a magnetic closure, and has one small outside pocket to hold poop bags or a clicker.

If I’m being honest though, sometimes I just stick dog treats right in my pockets when we are not in training class.

Yes, that can be messy, and means that I sometimes walk around smelling like dog treats, but it’s the easiest for me when we are on the go.

A Visual Go-To Place

When you are training your dog, especially if you are taking a training class, you’ll want to establish a go-to place they should rest between training exercises.

The goal is to get your dog to sit or lay down in one spot to rest (practice self-control) and wait for your next command. This is often called teaching a “place” command.

In order for this command to make sense for your dog, they need a visual marker to tell them where they should sit or lay down.

You can accomplish this by using some kind of mat to visually marks the spot you want them to go to.

My favorite thing to use for this is a memory foam bath mat.

Even a folded towel would work but make sure you are always using the same color and size mat, at least at first, so your dog starts to recognize it.

A Clicker for Marking Commands

I refused to use a clicker in any dog training attempt before I got my puppy. It was because I really didn’t understand how to use one.

I was afraid that my dog would become dependent on the clicker – never doing the command unless I used one – and there would be many times I didn’t have a clicker with me.

However, I can attest that a clicker does make your dog pick up a command way faster than not using one.

The concept is that a clicker, versus using your voice, produces a precise sound at the precise moment your dog does the thing you want them to do.

This way they learn, more quickly, exactly what they should do when you say the command.

I use the StarMark Clicker because it makes the sharpest, loudest noise and has not started to wear out or gotten quieter with a lot of use.

However, you can choose to use a marker word like “YES!” instead of a clicker or in addition to (that’s what I do most of the time).

Final Thoughts

Choosing the right small dog treats for training will help motivate your dog and reduce the chance that too many treats will make them fat.

Whether you choose one of my suggestions, or search for your ideal dog training treats, the selection process for puppies and small dogs should include the size, calories, and ingredients.

It’s important to choose something that is small and low calorie while being of high enough value that your Dachshund is willing to do what you want over what they want (typically, to just get the treat without working for it. Ha, ha).