Guest blogger Joe Hughes
3 Treats pet parents can make their dogs
Pet parents have a deep love for their dogs – I hope. And when we see films, such as Marley & Me, tears start flowing from our eyes like water from a faucet that’s been left on. If you’re like me, you want your dog to live the best life possible with homemade treats that will make your pup jump for joy.
But you can’t just give your dog everything you eat either.
There are a lot of foods people eat (tomatoes and chocolate, for example) that are toxic to dogs. I’m going to share with you a few baked treats that are safe for your dog to eat and super easy to make, too.
1. Peanut Butter and Sweet Potato Biscuits
Peanut butter is one of a dog’s favorite treats, and it’s amusing to watch your pup slap his mouth together after eating it, too. You can make a delicious homemade biscuit (doggy biscuit, not a traditional biscuit or roll) with peanut butter and another treat: sweet potatoes.
This recipe is very easy to make, and you’ll need just a few ingredients to get started:
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
- 2/3 cup smashed sweet potato
- 2 eggs
- 3 cups flour
Dogs love sweet potatoes, so this is a treat you’ll find yourself making often. You’ll want to set your oven to 350F and place parchment paper over your baking sheet before getting started.
You can try using a bread machine with this recipe if you wish, or you can mix all of the ingredients by hand:
- Sweet potato
- Eggs
- Peanut butter
Mix until thoroughly combined and then add in your flour, starting with 2 cups and adding in more until the dough isn’t sticky. You’ll want to combine slowly and not rush through this process for best results. Lightly flour a surface where you can knead the dough before rolling it out to 1/4″ thickness.
Cut into your desired shapes and bake until golden brown. Let cool before serving.
2. Standard Dog Biscuit
A standard dog biscuit may seem a little plain to you and I, but dogs seem to love them. When making this recipe, we’re going to use chicken broth, but you can also use beef broth if your dog favors beef over chicken.
My pup doesn’t do well with beef, so we’ll stick to chicken here.
You’ll need:
- 1 cup oats
- 1 cup wheat flour
- 3/4 cup chicken broth
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
Super simple to make, you’ll want to preheat your oven to 350F again, and start to mix your flour and oats in a medium bowl. Add in 1/2 cup of broth and your peanut butter. Mix everything together well until a thick dough is formed.
If you find that the mixture isn’t a thick dough consistency, add in more broth as needed, mixing until a dough consistency is achieved.
Roll out your dough to 1/4″ and cut into little bone shapes or any shape you wish. Bake your biscuits for 20 minutes or until they’re golden brown in color. Make sure that the biscuits cool completely before serving, as they can be very hot.
3. Applesauce Treats
If you have some spare applesauce, oats and an egg handy, you can make your pup a great applesauce treat that he or she is sure to love. This treat is simple to make, and if you want to help relieve your dog’s stinky breath to go along with their clean teeth, you can even use applesauce with cinnamon mixed in.
You’ll need the following ingredients:
- 1 cup instant oatmeal
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup applesauce
Preheat your oven to 350F again and pour your applesauce and oatmeal into a large bowl, mixing it well. After everything is mixed together well, add in your egg and continue to mix until thoroughly combined. Grease your cookie tray lightly and scoop out the mixture into small cookies. Make sure to separate the cookies well before baking so that they don’t cook together.
Bake for 20 minutes, and then take out and allow to cool.
You’ll find that since all of the ingredients are already cooked aside from the egg, you won’t have to keep cooking for additional time to get the right texture. Just make sure that the cookies don’t just fall apart when picked up.
Allow the treats to cool, but remove from the tray immediately to ensure that they don’t stick.
These treats are all so easy to make for your dog, and they come out really well, too. Your dog will love the extra treats in the house, and you’ll love seeing your pup’s tail wag like crazy when you feed them their new treats while they snuggle up to you.
Enjoy making your own dog treats.
Since our dog, Sydney, has many allergies, we will be baking the applesauce treats. He loves fresh bits of apple, carrot, berries and sugar snap peas. If your dog should be on a low calorie diet, try giving him or her cut fresh veggies. Do limit fruit to special moments as too much natural sweets can still cause diabetes.
About our guest blogger
Joe Hughes – Village Bakery
Joe Hughes, known by most as the Village Baker, is an expert in homestyle cooking techniques, with a primary interest in baking. He runs the very popular website, http://www.village-bakery.com, which provides the latest homestyle cooking news, techniques, tricks, and recipes. He can be reached at Joe@Village-Bakery.com
Tails Around the Ranch says
Pawsome recipes! We bake our treats so we know they are healthy and not filled with chemicals or additives. Thanks for sharing.
dogleadermysteries says
Thanks for commenting. You are right, what we leave out of our pets food & treats is as important as what we put in. If you want to share a receipt with us, I’d bark all day about it. 😀
dogleadermysteries says
Oh, that sounds great. I will help you with a re-blog & social sharing.
colinandray says
Be very carefully with any peanut butter based plans because a number of brands now include Xylitol as a sweetener. Xylitol is not good for dogs and can in fact be fatal.
JZ Eats says
Need cat treats too!!
Sarah Ferguson and Choppy says
Choppy enjoys this post immensely.
Pet Chat says
Always like finding new recipes! Thanks