The packaging is very cute yet simple - a sweet doodle of a dog and a brightly coloured top strip. The packs come in three different colours to identify the three different types of treat:
1) Orange for chicken flavour
2) Pink for salmon flavour
3) Green for pork flavour.
You might wonder why the different flavours is coming across as a big deal that requires colour coding, and that was what attracted me to buying these treats in the first place. If you've seen the short intro post, then you might remember that Trigger has a bit of a sensitive stomach.
This has never stopped him trying all manner of things, but as a responsible human, I have had to think carefully over what treats are a good idea for him. This means that when a treat calls itself "kind to sensitive stomachs" I am instantly on board with it, and I didn't think twice about it when I saw Little Stars had one such bag.
They claim that each of the colour/flavour combos has a different benefit for your dog: Brain development, healthy heart, and hypoallergenic sensitive treats. I can't speak for the science, but given that they claim to have a team of vets to vouch for them, it certainly sounds legit.
What else is nice about these packets aside from the word of a team of vets that they can make your dog super smart? - I hear you say.
Call it a weird thing to like, but the size of these treats is just perfect to me. They're about the size of a penny, which makes them ideal for a variety of things. They're easy to hide in your hand when teaching a dog tricks without constantly running back to a bag or rummaging in a pocket, meaning that you can work on a trick for a little bit longer to ensure the learning is sticking with your most stubborn friend.And if you use the same techniques I do, where you hide the treat in your fist a lot while demonstrating a trick, then there's nothing more easy to conceal than these treats, all while still smelling good enough to keep your dog's attention firmly on the lesson.
The bag itself is a compact size so you can do like me and take the whole bag in one pocket - truly a portable snack. It was a great help when socialising our dogs on walks, as I could give multiple rewards for good socialising without worrying about weight gain, and I could keep the treats secure and fresh in a bag that easily reseals! Plus, no crumbs in my pocket when I got home, which is the best result for me.
The size is also helpful in ensuring you balance your dogs treats with the amount of exercise and food that they eat. I'm sure we've all had times when we've spoilt our furry friends with more snacks than they ought to have at any one time, but these little guys are so small that you don't have to feel so guilty about having a handful of them in a tough teaching session. 5 Kcal per treat doesn't sound so bad, right? Especially when it's allowing you to easily mete out the number of calories your dog is eating overall.
So, even if you have a dog that needs a special weight-loss type diet, these could be a treat to consider for easily keeping track of how much they're consuming without sacrificing all the fun. I mean sure, I'm not a trained vet, but you could easily fit these in if you're willing to do the maths, and the vets on Vets' Kitchen suggest that a calorie controlled diet is what these treats are designed to fit into, so don't just take my word for it.
But what do our judges think? After all, it's not up to the humans which treat works best - they can be the finest, healthiest snack ever but if they're not enticing enough, then that's no good to our judges.
Well never fear, because Willow was woken from her nap and sat on my feet before I'd even turned around! She was sniffing at my hands so eagerly, you'd think she hadn't eaten all day. She's quite a connoisseur of training treats at this point, so I took that enthusiasm as a good sign. She was easily convinced to lie down with just one treat, and swallowed it in one. Trigger, meanwhile, was already performing the tricks in step with her because he has been eating these treats for a few months now, and knows how good they are. What's an embarrassing paw-shake in return for a yummy chicken star?, he says.
You can argue that the drawback of these treats is that they don't last long, and I can't dispute that. One bite was all it took to swallow them and move on to the next trick. However, I will say that both dogs were very keen on doing more if it meant more of these treats were coming their way. Willow could not wait to get more and never looked away from me once, while Trigger was equally compliant, but quickly bored once he let Willow lick my hands clean of crumbs.
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All in all it seems that our judges are offering up the following scores:
Willow - 5/5 Best treat, smells great and so much to lick off hands. Need more please, I'll do anything.
Trigger - 4.5/5 Chicken is tasty and sensitive is good for me. Can go anywhere, but is small for a big dog, I like big treats better.
Human - 4.5/5 I rate these highly for being healthy as treats go, compact and portable for all your spontaneous treat needs, and with good taste and smell to get a dog's attention.
This means that Vets' Kitchen Little Stars range gets a final score of 14 out of 15. A very high recommendation indeed.
If you want to look at their products, diet recommendations, or policies more in depth there is a link for you to use: CLICK HERE. You can probably find these treats in a local pet shop as they seem quite popular.
Happy treating!
