Rotisserie chicken. It's my golden treat-- the one they get if nothing else is working.
I found out that WalMart sells the day-old chickens in the cold Deli section for $4. Easier to carve than a hot one. Just chunk it up and freeze it if you won't use it all in a few days (just the meat-- NO BONES!!). I also keep string cheese and hot dogs handy.
For store bought treats, we've also used the NB rolls, but we've started using Red Barn rolls, as they don't crumble like the NB ones do, unless you want them to crumble. We buy the huge rolls and just chop into little pieces and freeze. Things like that are really good when you need to be able to crumble it on the ground (takes them longer to eat the treat, making the reward last longer, and as Kristen pointed out, the sniffing and licking manufacture calming signals)-- the Red Barn ones just don't fall apart when you don't want them to.
Cloud Star Soft Buddy Biscuits are a HUGE hit-- I like them because they're soft, but can still break into pieces (makes them stretch a little further), and I can pop a few in my pocket for impromptu treating or for when we're weaning off of the bait bags. Also, you can save Cloud Star proofs of purchase and get "treats" for humans through their website.
My lab also loves the Kong IQ treats that are 100% Salmon. That's it. Just baked Salmon wafers. THEY STINK. But when I've really needed her to pay attention, they certainly get her to stop and look at me. I just carry hand wipes when we're out in public.
In the house, I use their kibble. They like it, and luckily they are all food motivated enough that they work for anything edible when distractions are low. That makes it easier for me to adjust their meals to keep them from getting fat.
Erin(TheRedQueen)'s recipe for training treats with tapioca starch, peanut butter and molasses have also been very, very well-received. I freeze large batches and they last a little while.
Fo distractions, I find the smellier the better-- and most dogs will flip for chicken.
"In these bodies, we will live; in these bodies we will die.
Where you invest your love, you invest your life." --Marcus Mumford
--Amalie