Homemade Dog Treat Recipes

      8 Comments on Homemade Dog Treat Recipes
Homemade Dog Treat Recipes

Homemade Dog Treat RecipesUse a Homemade Dog Treat Recipe to Show Fido your Love. A homemade dog treat recipe can be used to make wonderful doggie snacks. They are easy and fun, even if you hate to prepare things from scratch. These dog treats recipes are a wonderful way to reward your dog for their love and loyalty.

You can make some of the treats in the shape of a bone with a special cookie cutter that you can find on the internet or purchase at pet supply stories.

Homemade dog treats are much safer and healthier for your pet because you know exactly what ingredients they contain. There are so many worries today about dog food being tainted with chemicals and pesticides that it makes many owners nervous about feeding their pet.

By making the dog treats yourself, you can reward your pet with a healthy and wholesome goody made just for him. You can use a simple homemade dog treat recipe to whip up a batch of dog friendly snacks in minutes.

If your furry canine happens to be a picky eater who only likes certain foods, then you will be able to find a dog treats recipe for snacks even a picky eater will enjoy. You can adjust the treats from time to time for added variety and nutrition in your dog’s life. Homemade dog treats can be much cheaper for you to make compared to the ready made variety also.

Your homemade dog treats are sure to taste better than many of the current selections on the market. You can prove it by giving a taste test to your 4-footed best friend. Ground meats are easy to use and they can help you create some tasty homemade dog treats.  You can also use ground turkey instead of ground beef for less fat if your dog is a bit overweight. Always avoid adding extra salt to any pet treats. they don’t need it. Try one or both of the following dog treats recipes.

I-TAIL-ian MeatballsHomemade Dog Treat Recipes

1 pound of ground turkey
2 eggs
¼ cup grated Romano cheese
2 Tablespoons of  minced garlic
1 tablespoon parsley flakes
¼ cup bread crumbs.use the Japanese kind. Panko..dogs love ’em

1. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl until well blended.

2. Roll mixture into small balls, the size comfortable to use as a treat for your dog. These you can pan fry in a small amount of oil on high heat until the outsides are browned, but not cooked through. These will be crunchy and so doggone tasty for Fido.

3. Turn heat down to low and continue cooking for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool before serving. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

Simple Simon Birthday Bones

2 c. flour, whole-wheat
1 tbsp. of baking powderHomemade Dog Treat Recipes
1 c. peanut butter – natural is best
1 c. non or low fat milk

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.the perfect baking temperature.

2. In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients. In another bowl, combine the milk and peanut butter together until it is well combined.

3. Add the wet mixture into your flour/ baking powder bowl and mix all ingredients.

4. Put the doughy mix on a surface that is lightly floured and knead. Roll or pat it until it is about ¼ in. thick and cut out those dog friendly shapes. mailmen, postmen, trees.all those favorite and beloved friends of a dog can be created in moments.

5.  Place the dog treats on a lightly greased baking sheet then bake for 20 minutes or until brown lightly. Cool on a rack then store in an airtight container.

Your dog will thank you for the healthy homemade snacks.

And for more great tasting homemade dog treat recipes and other yummy homemade dog food recipes, click here.

 
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8 thoughts on “Homemade Dog Treat Recipes

  1. Beth Hapke

    Dear Brigitte –

    Shortly after it became public about the contaminated food and ingredients that were coming into this country from China, I decided to start making my own dog food.

    It is easy for me because I have two chihuahuas, so we are not talking about big mouths to feed.

    I use a crock pot that someone gave me for a gift. I’ve never liked crock pot cooking for people but it works out great for the dogs. The food has brown rice, barley, spinach, zucchini, carrots, sweet potatoes, chicken livers and chicken gizzards. (what is a chicken by-product anyway?). I sometimes vary the protein source and/or the vegetables and then I freeze portions.

    The dogs, who were never very enthusiastic about eating, often wake me up early so that they can go out and then eat. The food is gone in about a minute and they are licking the bowl enthusiastically.

    One of them used to have really bad, flaky dry skin and that is now gone. They seem more energetic and active which is good for middle aged dogs.

    I somehow wish I could market the product. I even created a high fiber diet for a friend’s dog who has the canine equivalent of irritable bowel syndrome and he is doing great.

    So, keep encouraging people to find alternatives to most of the commercial stuff that is out there and remind them that they should not be feeding anything to their dogs that they would not be willing to try.

    Thanks for all your information and insights and guidance always.

    Beth Hapke

  2. Brigitte Smith

    Hi Beth,

    The results speak for themselves, don’t they?

    I’m so glad your chihuahuas are doing so well on their homemade dog food.

    And thanks for the feedback. I really appreciate it!

    Regards,
    Brigitte

  3. Gale

    Garlic can cause kidney failure in dogs and cats and should be avoided; garlic is in the same family as onions.

    Cheese is loaded with sodium and is not good for dogs prone to heart disease.

    When my first Cavalier developed MVD, I took a year long course in Animal Nutrition at a Veterinary College, and I make all the treats my dogs get, and I sell them too.

    There are tons of recipes on the web that contain damaging ingredients, some of them include raisins and chocolate.
    BE VERY CAREFUL.

  4. janine

    My doga love chicken jerkey from sams club. I have to say that they taste pretty good to me. They say its all natural chicken and flavorings. I would like to know what type of flavorings would be good when I make my own jerky. If anybody has any ideas letme know. Maybe the fresh chicken jerkey is enough I don’t know. I will find out tonight. I am making my first batch.
    thanks

  5. char

    Hi, I have a maltese and a white poodle both which have bad tear stains I’ve tried everything from water to food with no corn or wheat. please help what can I do??

  6. Richard Cantu

    Thank you Brigitte for the Simple Simon Birthday Bones recipe and thanks also to Beth Hapke for for her post regarding her crock pot dish. It’s an older post so she may not get my thank you, but hey, Thanks to both.

    I make homemade chicken jerky and beef jerky for my dog and for me! I also make dehydrated liver and dehydrated organ treats for her. I will tell you how I make them. If you decide to make them you will be surprized with the results.

    My dog is a very finicky eater, and I do mean very. I’ve spent a lot of money on very expensive canned food only to see her walk away and refuse to eat. I’ve read the advise about waiting them out, but after two whole days I give in, not the dog. But when it comes to Golden Rewards chicken or duck jerky she will tear them up right away, except for the fake chicken jerky that feels like rubber. She’ll turn her nose up on them. I became alarmed regarding the chicken and duck jerky I was buying for her. I kept reading more and more about the harm jerky can do to a dog up to and including death due to stomaches, etc. being ripped open to contamination of the chicken at the source.

    I’ve been making jerky treats for my dog for about 3 months now. Mary is an American Cocker Spaniel. She stands about 12 inches at the shoulder and weighs about 25 lbs.

    I don’t marinade my chicken jerky and I don’t salt and pepper them. Just plain chicken. That’s how my Mary prefers hers. When I first started out I marinated the chicken strips in a combination of soy sauce, worchestire, water, sometimes a splash of vinegar, a little bit of pepper, sometimes some honey for sweetness, but never salt. Mary would eat them sometimes right away, or at least by the end of the day or sometimes not at all. It was only when I stopped marinating the strips that Bam! she will eat them right away. Most dogs will gobble up anything fed to them. But mine won’t. The same thing for the beef jerky which I use top round or tri-tip, no marinade. Remember that dogs don’t have our umami driven taste buds. Ultimately you’ll find out what your dog likes on your own. They are carnivores, which is why I question feeding a dog or cat a kibble devoid of moisture, and that has been rendered and cooked at such a high temperature that no added vitamins and supplements can survive that process. Not to mention the dye and whatever binder the manufacturer uses to so that they retain their shape. And the ultimate test of them all; would I eat a kibble? I don’t think so!

    Where was I? Oh yeah….For the chicken I buy boneless whole chicken breast which I place in the freezer till it’s frozen. I’ve also bought chicken breast strips at Walmart but they are very expensive. They are excellent to use and convenient. But at around $6.00 per lb I choose to buy the boneless chicken breast. I’ve also purchased chicken breasts fillets at the mexican meat markets. I think Walmart has chicken breast fillets as well. One breast has been enough for my dog. So if you have more than 1 dog, a breast for each that will last at least 7-10 days given sparingly.

    Where ever I buy my meat for my dog at least I can rest easier knowing with some assurance of their source which is probably in the USA (I hope)! The majority of pet food manufacturers will say they know where the source of their chicken comes from but refuse to divulge the information that us pet owners want to know. And they are not required to disclose them.

    I turn my oven on as low as possible. I have an oven thermometer and my lowest setting I can go is 180 degrees. I don’t worry if I forget to preheat the oven but I normally do.

    Working with my frozen chicken breast I trim away the fat. Breasts are larger now-a-days (80% larger than they were in the 1950’s and 60’s) and where I get mine they weigh about 3/4 to 1 lb each. Don’t get me started on the chicken industry.

    I use a very sharp thin-bladed knife similar to a regular chef’s knife but the steel is not as thick. I used to use my chef’s knife but I guess I’m not as adept with it so I use the thin one.

    I begin slicing from the top of the breast and work my way down. I slice the breast length wise all the way through it’s width. Since the breast is not flat at the top my first two or three slices won’t be as wide as the rest when I am finished. I cut the slices as thinly as possible. I end up with I’d say around 8-10 slices which are 1/8″ thick and sometimes I end up with 1/4″ thick slices but usually it’s a combination of both. I then make strips from each slice about 1/2″ wide because I don’t feed my dog the entire slice. You can leave the slices whole it’s up to you. By the time I’m done slicing, they are almost completely defrosted. About 15 minutes later they are defrosted and into the oven they go.

    I have a 10″x14″ inch baking pan and I have a wire rack that I place on top of it. I’ve read that people use their oven racks and also cooling racks, the kind bakers use for cakes and cookies. I place the chicken strips on it and I don’t let them touch each other. I use the middle rack of my gas oven. I do check them and turn them every hour or so. Sometimes I’ll forget to turn them but at that low of temperature it hasn’t mattered if I have forgotten to check on them or turn them. I’ve even started baking them in the oven around 9pm and gone to bed! Next morning they are perfectly done. They will not burn. Knowing your oven temperature is important.

    I bake them for approximately 10 hours but I start to really check for doneness around the 8 hour mark. I want them completely devoid of moisture. Allowing them to cool just a few minutes, they will be brittle when you bend them. If they are still just a little flexible that’s OK too. The most I have left them in the oven is about 12 hours.

    I keep them bagged and refrigerated at all times because I do have concerns about spoilage, bacteria, etc. I read lots of recipes that call for turning up the heat to kill of any bacteria, marinating them with a splash of vinager, which I have used when I used to marinade my batch. But I don’t concern myself much now. My thinking about this is (1) they are refrigerated (2) they don’t last but about 7-10 days (3) a dog’s very acidic (PH1) stomach can handle a little bit of contamination, spoilage, etc. And, Just as I believe that a utimately a dog will never starve if there is food around, I also believe that a dog will not eat anything that has gone bad enough to make them sick. But I will have a bite now and then just to taste for anything foul. Never have I tasted anything to indicate spoiling meat or foul or sweet-smelling odor. I also give them an “eye” to make sure they look alright.

    Would I eat a piece of store bought chicken or duck jerky, hell no!

    For the dehydrated liver and dehydrated organs, which are the hearts and gizzards, it’s quite easy and only requires 2 hours in the oven. Again at 180 degrees. I boil some water. I then turn down the heat drop the liver in and gently boil it for just a few minutes. I’ve also sauteed them in a little bit of olive oil or butter. the liver is very delicate and I am careful to not over cook them. Either way, boiling or sauteeing the liver, be gentle cooking them. 2-3 minutes on each side or until I don’t see anymore blood. I Immediately drain them in a colander or I scoop them out and onto a plate. The gizzards I will gently boil them for about 6-7 minutes.The hearts I will cook them 2-3 minutes. I The hearts and gizzards do not require slicing them, they are so small. I will slice the liver into strips long enough to where they won’t fall through the rack they go on. Then into the oven’s middle rack but unlike the chicken jerky, they only require 2 hours in the oven. The liver and organs are my dog’s favorites, more so than the chicken jerky or beef jerky. the beef jerky is her second favorite. I don’t know one dog that doesn’t go crazy for liver. That’s the wolf in them. The organs are the first things that a wild carnivore like the wolf will eat first.

    For the beef jerky I use top round as well as tri-tip. The main thing about choosing a cut of beef is that it be as lean as possible. The ultimate would probably be beef tenderloin. I go with top round it’s lean and cheap. Perfect for jerky. I’ve also used Tri-tip. I cut thin slices across the grain which is quite visible on both cuts. Again into the oven. I cut the slices into thirds for the strips. They will require at least 12 hours or longer. You’ll see little sweat beads of moisture during the baking process. I don’t stop cooking them until there are no visible beads of moisture on them. There will be some done sooner than the others. Take them out leaving the ones that are still sweating until they are done. That’s all there is to them.

    I don’t mind making these treats. It’s a labor of love and the whole process doesn’t tax me at all to prepare and to cook them. I guess I probably should buy a dehydrator to use but hey I got the oven and I don’t pay for the gas I use because the townhouse I rent includes gas. Until I have to pay for the gas I’ll keep using my oven which produces excellent jerky results.

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