Dog treats for small dogs
The treat that suits a small dog is not just a smaller bag of the same thing — it is a piece sized so a Chihuahua or a Yorkshire Terrier can eat it without choking, and low enough in calories that a handful during training does not add up to a meal. Training-sized treats and soft, breakable ones cover most small dogs better than a biscuit built for a Labrador.
Why size matters more than the label
A treat that a Cocker Spaniel swallows without noticing can be a genuine mouthful for a Pomeranian or a Dachshund, and small-breed jaws and throats are simply narrower. Training treats — the small, soft, often liver or chicken-based kind sold specifically for repeated use — are built at the right scale for a small dog from the start, rather than being a large biscuit broken in half.
Calories matter more too, proportionally. A single medium-sized biscuit can be a meaningful slice of a 4kg dog's daily intake in a way it never would be for a 30kg dog, so a run of training sessions with a big treat adds up fast on a small dog's waistline.
What to look for
Soft, chewy training treats that break easily into pea-sized pieces are the most useful format for small dogs, because you can reward little and often without the treat itself becoming the meal. A single-ingredient treat, such as a plain freeze-dried liver or chicken piece, also breaks down more predictably than a mixed biscuit.
Where a hard biscuit is the preference, look at the biscuit's own size rather than the pack size — several ranges make a genuinely small biscuit rather than a standard one in a smaller bag, and that is the detail worth checking before you buy.
What we stock
Our training-treat shelf includes small, soft pieces built for exactly this — Pet Munchies' natural liver and chicken training treats are sized for repeated small-dog training rather than as an occasional biscuit, and there is a run of low-fat and small-bite options alongside them for dogs who need to watch their weight as well as their treat size.
If your small dog is on a specific diet — weight management, a sensitive stomach, or a vet-recommended plan — pick a treat from the same protein family as their main food rather than introducing a new one, and keep the daily treat total to a small share of what they eat rather than a habit that grows.
What we stock
Everything below is in stock with us, priced with delivery worked out, and packed and posted by hand in the UK.
Chicken-Wrapped Milk Stick Dog Treats
Chewy dog treats of soft milk sticks wrapped in real chicken for tasty, protein-rich rewarding.
From£12.99
Dried Catnip & Cat Grass Leaf Treats
A tub of dried catnip and cat grass leaves to sprinkle over toys, scratchers and bedding.
From£8.99
Whiskas 1+ Lamb Adult Dry Cat Food
Complete lamb dry food for adult cats in a practical 1.9KG bag
£12.39
Whiskas 1 Tuna Adult Dry Cat Food
Complete tuna dry food for adult cats, offered in several bag sizes
From£3.19
Whiskas Kitten Chicken Dry Cat Food
Complete chicken dry food for kittens, available in several bag sizes
From£3.19
Whiskas 7+ Senior Cat Complete Dry with Chicken
Complete chicken dry food for senior cats aged 7+ in a 1.9KG bag
£12.39
Catit Nibbly Jerky Chicken & Fish Treats
Soft chicken and fish jerky treats for cats, two named meats high on the list, grain free
£1.89
Catit Creamy Tuna Treats 4 Pk
Lickable 26% tuna purée tubes for cats, 4 x 10g, up to 3 a day in place of main meal
£1.89
Dreamies Meaty Sticks Adult Cat Treats with Scrumptious Salmon
Soft meaty stick treats for adult cats with salmon, individually wrapped, not for kittens
£1.59
Dreamies Creamy Adult Cat & Kitten Treats with Scrumptious Salmon
Creamy lickable salmon treats for cats and kittens, in a 40g pack with taurine
£1.59
Stop Bloody Scratching Treats Chicken Flavour 90 Tablets
Chicken-flavoured tablets from Pets Calm Down, made in the UK, ninety to a pack, given daily as a treat to support skin and coat condition in itchy dogs.
£22.99
Dreamies Shakeups Seafood Celebrations Cat Treats
Complementary Dreamies Shakeups tuna, salmon and shrimp treats, 55G
£2.05
Common questions
- How many treats a day is too many for a small dog?
- As a general guide, treats should stay a small minority of a dog's daily food intake, and this matters more for small dogs because a single biscuit is proportionally a bigger share of what they eat. If you are training heavily, use smaller pieces or count some of the daily kibble ration as training reward instead.
- Are training treats different from ordinary dog treats?
- Mainly in size and format. Training treats are made small and often soft so they can be given quickly and repeatedly without a dog needing to stop and chew for long, which suits a training session far better than a hard biscuit that takes a minute to finish.
- Can I just break a normal-sized treat in half for a small dog?
- You can, and plenty of owners do, but a purpose-made small treat is sized and often softer to begin with, which makes it easier to break down further and less of a choking risk than a chunk snapped off something built for a bigger dog.
- What treats are safest for a puppy of a small breed?
- Soft, single-ingredient training treats sized for a small mouth are the safest starting point, given in small amounts alongside their regular puppy food. Introduce anything new gradually and watch how they get on with it before making it a regular treat.
Written by Matt Garnett, who runs Giddy Pets and is a lifelong pet owner — not a vet. This is general information, not veterinary advice, and it cannot replace an examination by the vet who knows your animal. How we write these guides.