Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Pinterest Inspiration: Homemade Dog Treats

This weekend not only did we attend the grand opening for Portland's new Unleashed by Petco store and test Athena's sniffer at a free K9 Nose Work class, but we also did some extra special dog treat baking.

Mom, can I have that?

Ever since starting my Pitlandia Pinterest boards months ago, I have wanted to use one of my 'Dog Recipes' pins to bake a batch of dog treats.  This weekend I finally gave it a shot after realizing that most of the treat recipes call for ingredients that I already have at home (I've also been looking for an excuse to use my new bone shaped cookie cutters).

I ended up baking a batch of Pumpkin Peanut Butter Dog Treats using this recipe found on Pinterest:

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour oat flour
2 large eggs
2/3 cup pumpkin purée, canned or fresh
3 Tbsps peanut butter

"Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place all ingredients in the mixing bowl or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium for about a minute, or until the dough looks like a bunch of little dough balls. If you pinch a piece and it crumbles, add a little water. If it’s really sticky, it’s too wet and you’ll need to add a little flour. Gather the dough together and form into a ball. Place on a lightly floured work surface and roll it out to about 1/4-inch thickness. You can either use a cookie cutter to cut out cute shapes, or use a knife to cut squares or strips.  Place the cookies on a baking sheet.  Bake 15-20 minutes for softer treats or 30 minutes for hard treats."-Recipe provided by userealbutter.com

The recipe made 100+ little crunchy treats in bone, heart, and flower shapes!

Athena thought that these treats were absolutely delicious!  I will admit that I tasted one and found it to be just like an unsweetened peanut butter cookie.  Athena doesn't seem to mind the flavor because she's been gobbling them up like crazy (I would say that she seems to like them even better than packaged dog treats)!

'Waiting' for her 'OK' to eat her treat

Substituting Oat Flour for Wheat Flour in Dog Treat Recipes:

The treat recipe above is not grain-free, but I substituted wheat flour for oat flour to make it so.  I made my own oat flour by putting dried rolled oats in the food processor and pulsing to chop the oats into a fine powder (1 1/4 cups of oats yields 1 cup of oat flour).

Making Dog Treats Grain Free:

One reason that I've been discouraged from making any dog treats found on Pinterest is because most are not grain-free.  We try to feed Athena a grain-free diet as much as possible.  To make the above treats grain-free, you could substitute the wheat flour for potato flouralmond flour, or any other grain-free flour substitute.

Grain Free Dog Treat Recipes:

Peanut Butter & Carrot Treats (also gluten, dairy, and sugar-free)

Dog Treat Recipes (substitute flour for a wheat-free or grain-free treat):


Excuse me, but when can I eat that?

For even more homemade dog treat recipes visit my 'Dog Recipes' Pinterest board

Have you ever tried your hand at baking homemade dog treats?  What are some of your favorite recipes ?

17 comments:

  1. I actually made one that used ground chicken and no grains at all. It didn't look the way I anticipated but Ray seemed to like it. I'll have to look for that recipe.
    The one above sounds like a winner and I'm going to try it. I've been looking for a rice flour to use for the grain-free recipes too. So far I haven't found it locally.

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    1. I would love to see that recipe if you come across it!

      I think that the specialty flours like rice, potato, and almond can often be hard to find at the grocery store. Usually I have luck finding them at the smaller health stores. We are lucky to have Bob's Red Mill in town, so we can go to the mill store to get speciality stuff and many grocery stores in our area actually sell their products.

      Here's their website (you can buy online):

      http://www.bobsredmill.com/

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    2. Another place to find rice flour is an Asian Grocery store.

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  2. I tried making some dog treats over the break for the pups...but mine didn't end up nearly as pretty as yours (though Miss M and Jack Frost did like them. We used pumpkin, but I want to try more flavors. And I need to check out your Pinterest!

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    1. Well, mine aren't even nearly as pretty as the ones that were shown in the Pinterest picture so I was a little disappointed. But, I think that has to do with the oat flour vs. wheat flour.

      How cool that you also made some homemade treats recently!

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  3. Mmmm!! Maggie and Nigel would LOVE these treats!! We got a Snoopy dog treat cook(ie) book for the holidays this year and it came with cute little cookie cutters. We definitely want to use an alternative flour though because the pooches are also grain free. We'll have to share if any of those recipes are winners!

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    1. Oooo I have never heard of a Snoopy dog treat cook book! Sounds cute! Let me know if you end up trying any of the alternative flours to make grain-free treats. I'd love to know what your pooches think about them =)

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  4. Awesome! I keep thinking that I need to try homemade dog treats for the dogs, but I keep getting lazy and using standard baby carrots instead ;) I'm sure they'd like these even more!

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  5. Ohhhhh, look how professional they look! I'm impressed and will try these for Jake. Mine won't turn out pretty though.

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  6. Great recipe, I'm saving it for later, I'm sure Boomer and Dottie would love it!

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  7. Those treats look so cute and delicious! I hope mom will make some for me!

    She made some treats with peanut butter and bananas and oat flour for me not too long ago and I thought they were very tasty :)

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  8. We've never baked dog treats due to the grain-free dilemma but I know you can use substitute flours. I have hesitated to do so because I've never baked with potato flour etc. so I don't know if it poses any other challenges. Do you know?
    Only homemade snacks have been doggie ice cream.

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  9. I have a friend who uses chicken as training treats for her dog, who is a picky eater. She boils chicken and then bakes it to make it dry on the outside.

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  10. I made these today. I'm ok with using regular flour for my dog's, they don't have any allergies that I know of. I decided to go with the oat flour but used oats & honey for a bit of a sweet kick to it because Trinity's not used regular treats in training class due to the low value of them, plus I don't know how they are made and all that prossessed stuff isn't good for anyone. I used the 2 1/2 cups of the oat/honey flour made in my prossesor but it the dough was very sticky so I had to add more flour to it but never became roll out dough. So, I just made them into circles. The dogs like them so far. I'm hoping Trinity will eat them in class so we can slow down on all the cheese she gets (the girl loves cheese). I'll let you know how it goes :)

    Oh and I'm pretty sure you are gonna get me super addicted to Pintrest. I have one but barely use it. I love all the ideas from it!

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  11. I wish my dog was as obedient as your pittie! I’m sure Huck would chew on this even without me giving him a signal to! I love his stubbornness though. XD Since you’re a pinner yourself, I’m sure you’ve come across the Doggie Popsicle. Even though it isn’t summer yet, there can be very hot days. I’m sure Athena would enjoy licking her way to the toys and treats frozen within the ice. :D

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  12. Great recipe! I think grain free food is more beneficial than other foods for our puppies. I also give my dog grain-free food.

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