This is a lickable dog treat. Flavored liquid (“savory chicken”, “smoky
bacon” or “braised liver”) is dispensed from a plastic container with a rolling
ball top. You simply shake up the
container and let your dog lick the rolling ball.
In the “paws up” column, all three of my dogs (and the cat)
seemed to like the taste (all preferred the chicken to the bacon). It is also easy to deliver and keeps your
fingers clean. I tried it out for some
heeling practice and it is nice to be able to deliver reinforcement for a
longer stretch of time without having to stop and reload for more treats.
In the “paws down” column, all my dogs periodically try to
just eat the whole bottle instead of licking the top. It also was not very high value for my most
easily distracted dog. If anything else
interesting was going on outside he would quickly abandon the Lickety
Stik.
Overall I think the Lickety Stik could be useful for
exercises like heeling, where you want to reinforce a longer duration of
behavior, or for dogs who have trouble taking treats nicely (i.e. without
chomping on your fingers). However, it
may not be the highest value reward for your dog, so if you’re training with
high distraction, you may still need to get your hands dirty with the hot dogs!
Happy Training!