Baking - For the Dogs

I used to work at a small natural pet product store and one of the great things about that was I got all my dogs' treats at half price. Before leaving that job I really stocked up but recently I finally ran out of most of the treats I had purchased. I made it 5 months so that is pretty good!

I've been buying some bulk crunchy treats that are affordable, my dogs like, and that work for reinforcing things like coming back inside after a potty break when I call, or going into their crates, but I needed something with wow factor. You know, the meat loaded treats that your dogs go crazy about but that also empty out your wallet when you buy them. So recently I've been trying out some different dog treat recipes. The bonus of making your own is that you know exactly what is going into them, you can adjust recipes for dogs with allergies, and they haven't been sitting on a shelf for months.

Here are a couple of the recipes that I've tried lately:

Muttly Meatballs

If an oatmeal cookie and a Thanksgiving feast had a love child, it would be these meatballs. With the oatmeal, cinnamon and honey, you get the cookie, but then you throw in turkey, parsley and sweet potato.

I was tempted but haven't yet tried one myself. Really! They smell that good. The dogs will do just about anything for these meatballs. I make them as small as I can but they are still pretty big for Rat Terriers so when using them I break them in half or even in 4.

ingredients

1 lb cooked shredded or ground Turkey

1 Egg

1 Sweet Potato, baked

1 Cup Quick Cook Oats

1 tsp. Cinnamon

2 tsp. Honey

2 Tbsp. Fresh Parsley

directions

1. Bake punctured sweet potato in 400° oven for 35

minutes or until soft

2. Remove skin and place soft potato in a bowl

3. Combine parsley and egg and add to sweet potato

4. Add turkey, oats, cinnamon, honey and parsley, mix

with your hands until well combined

5. Roll turkey mixture into balls, slightly smaller than a

golf ball and place on greased cookie sheet

6. Cook at 350°for 15-20 minutes

Crumble-Free Bow-Wow Brownies

This recipe scared me at first. I am very much one to follow recipes exactly as written, so this whole idea of just throwing in whatever you have lying around, and mixing according to texture turned me off. But I took a leap of faith. I mean, if I am honest with myself they could taste like cardboard and my pack of terriers would happily eat it. They are by no means connoisseurs of fine baking - they eat poop and cardboard so I would say they aren't real picky. I've made this recipe twice now - once with salmon and once with canned chicken. Both times it turned out really good. Using the tapioca flour gives the treats the texture of a gummy bear with a crunchy outer layer. They get hard though when left out so I put a days worth in my treat dish and keep extras bagged in the refrigerator or freezer.  These make great treats for Nose Work because they are soft treats but won't mess up your search area with crumbs.

Puree in a food processor:

• 1 cup raw or cooked protein (see some suggestions below)
• 1-2 eggs, depending on the moistness of your other ingredients

Put the puree into a bowl and stir in 1 cup tapioca flour, or a mixture of tapioca and other flour. You may need more or less, depending on the water content of your protein sources.

Mix well. It will stay a little sticky, but if it is too sticky to handle, add more flour.  Toss it between your hands to make a patty and plop it into a greased pan or onto a greased baking sheet. Bake at 350F for about 15-20  minutes. Longer if you used raw ingredients. Cut with pizza cutter while warm.