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.
Pedigree Dentastix Fresh Daily Dog Dental Treats
The daily dental stick people ask for by name, sized for small, medium or large dogs
From£2.35
Pedigree Dentastix Daily Adult Dog Dental Treats
Daily Pedigree DentaStix dental chews in small and medium dog options
From£2.29
Pedigree Jumbone Small Dog Treats with Chicken and Lamb
Pedigree Jumbone chicken and lamb filled chews for small adult dogs
£2.65
Pedigree Jumbone Dog Treats with Beef Poultry
Pedigree Jumbone beef and poultry chews in small and medium dog sizes
£2.65
Vetiq Healthy Bites Immunity Care Small Animal Treats
An immunity-support treat for small animals, with echinacea and inulin added
£1.87
Good Boy Keep Um Busy Bar Small Chews Chicken
Long-lasting chew bars for dogs, pea-starch based with 26% chicken, pack of 4
£1.99
Dentalife Oral Care Dental Chew Small Dog Chicken
Twenty-one soft daily dental sticks for small dogs, sized to Purina’s 7 to 12kg guide
£4.35
Whimzees Toothbrush Daily Dental Dog Chew
A vegetarian daily dental chew for dogs, shaped like a toothbrush
From£0.69
Whimzees Stix Daily Dental Dog Chew
WHIMZEES Stix Daily Dental Dog Chew: complementary dog chew with potato starch
From£0.59
Iams Adult Dog Advanced Nutrition Small Medium Breed Chicken
Complete chicken dry food for small and medium adult dogs, 2.5KG
£8.05
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.
Related
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.