Dog Treats

Dogs are man's best friend. They are loyal, playful, always happy to see you, and do anything they can to please you. So what do you do in return? You throw them a chalky, gross, plain dog treat that you have always been giving your poor dog since they were a puppy. Give them something they really want, something they'll beg for and at the same time is healthy.
In this instructable, I will go through basic tips and ideas on how to make dog treats, as well as share a recipe that my dog gobbles up!

Step 1: What Not to Feed Your Dog

Despite what most people believe, home made dog treats are healthy for your dog if you use the right ingredients. Many home made dog treats are just as healthy, and if not, healthier then the treats at the store. Here are some ingredients that you should never feed your dog or include in their treats:

-Alcoholic drinks and beverages
-Almonds
-Apple Seeds
-Apricot (pit can be fatal)
-Avocado leaves, stems, pits, and skin
-Caffeine
-Castor Bean
-Cherry Pits
-Chocolate or Cocoa
-Fruit pits
-Garlic (raw)
-Grapes
-Meats ( that are raw and may contain viruses)
-MSG
-Onions (raw; can be fatal to Akita and Shiba breeds)
-Peaches
-Potato Leaves and Stems
-Rhubarb leaves
-Sugar (excessive amounts can cause diabetes)
-Tea Tree
-Tomato Leaves and stems


Also note that some other ingredients such as dairy products, corn products, and garlic are common dog allergies and you should know how your dog reacts to these ingredients before feeding them excessive amounts of it. If you feed your dog foods that they are allergic to, they may vomit and become sick.

Comments

[Sam I Am]

cool! But my dog is big and would probably choke on one.

[the duck tape queen]

i made these for my dog and he loved them. but instead of turkey i used ham and instead of wheat flour i used white because i diddnt have any wheat kind.and i learned if you add a crunched um grahm cracker to the oats it adds more flavor.and i kinda forgot to read after i baked them and i just left mine soft my dog likes them anyway. great instructable.:)

[majjck]

Glad he/she enjoyed them!

[akufelicia]

My dog love bacon and seaweed, is seaweed ok for dogs? usually i make something from milk, bacon, seaweed, creamcheese, canned tuna, flour and few honey then bake them, my dog love them

[Civbert]

Yikes! I first thought that was the ingredients list for a dog treat recipe. Too complicated! :o ;)

[gustavo.leal]

Any problem in giving sausages for my dog?

[emericanskater]

my dogs vet told me i can give him those frozen fruit pops or peanut butter on a spoon(gives him bad gas tho. great for unwanted guest). i also just give my dog icecubes but ill have to give this a try it looks excellent thanks for posting

[sir_h_c]

I like to use chicken trimmings. When I trim up some chicken breasts or thighs and cut off all the extra bits of skin, cartilage, fat etc I'll put it all in a baggie in the freezer until I have enough.  The (pureed) chix supplies the flavor, oil and protein.  Add some flour or oatmeal and maybe a little water or milk and we have a happy Scout!

[Pompom]

I do believe my dog will and can eat and digest anything.  And sometimes en-mass, and still be healthy as a horse, especially for 15 years (though gosh, when she dragged home that rotten ham out of some neighbor's garbage, she had some terrible breath and gas for days, but she loves those kind of smells and didn't seem to mind except for the fact that we didn't want her to be around us all that much at that time).  She's a large dog, so there's that larger stomach benefit.  Not saying go ahead and try and see if your dog will survive eating a lb of chocolate or a bag of makeup, markers, wild grapes and vines, paper plates and such, but I guess I just wanted to give a shout-out for all those doggies who are proud to be themselves and pick their own foods and toys, get super excited and wild with playing, chewing, and in the end pooping out paper milk cartons, and who prefer Dad's brand food over any other brands along with organic brands she's been provided.  Only problem's been hip-diplacia and arthritis in these later years, but that's inevitable for her and just gotta give her exercise in moderation and supplement with aspirin when she complains.  Sorry, like to talk about my doggy too much sometimes.  Congrats to the author on being a Winner of an Instructable all the same. :-)  These treats sound very yummy, and I'm sure Twyla (my dog) would adore them as well.

[majjck]

Tanks. I appreciate you checking out this instructable and giving some input

[meejenbea]

my doggy says"I can has home made dogg cookies?" and "NOMNOMNOM!"

[reusesave]

my dog does that too

[junits15]

i have never heard that peaches were bad for dogs, just the pitts

[mszkimmii]

my vet told me corn was bad for dogs :(

[mszkimmii]

makes it hard for them to poop :D

[scubabeaver]

We are always told NOT to feed dogs pork or pork products. A good indication is if it is not included in packet/tinned dog food by reputibale food manufacturers do not feed it at home.

[Gunnar120]

Thank you so much! My dog is lactose intolerant, and most treats contain butter or milk. (he gets the poops... badly.) So this is perfect! (I have mainly just been looking for a list of foods he can eat)

[dodo91]

my dogs love raw eggs! it make there coats shinny! yum yum!

[dodo91]

dogs can eat raw meat. unlike our stomaches, theres can take more. i give my dog raw egg, and that makes her coat shiny. raw eggs for a human can be very bad. do you see where i'm going with this? our dogs have better stomaches. like tony said, there in the wolf family. wolves hunt and eat raw meat. as for chocolate, this is fatal. DO NOT GIVE ANY DOG CHOCOLATE! too much chocolate will kill a dog.

[Yerboogieman]

Too much will. A little won't, Xylitol even one stick of gum will make them very sick and a very good chance of death.

[Yerboogieman]

During really hot days we would give my dog vanilla ice cream bars, he would even get excited when he heard the ice cream man song.

[DELETED_tonyis3l33t]

(removed by author or community request)

[cree888]

Oops. I can spell; but typing I am not so sure of. "Over" was mean to be oven.

[cree888]

Great Instructable. Great recipe. Very similar to mine which every dog in the neighborhood loves. (at least none have died.) However, mine are hardened shortly after being removed from the over. My dog gives treats away to his doggy neighbors on Valentine's day---heart-shaped of course.

[bcclear10]

my dog loves cheese;-)i gotta try the peanut butter thanks for the tips

[majjck]

You're welcome thanks for the comment.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

loyal,faithful,trustworthy,Hmmmmmmmmmm.................(you clearly not met my dog.

[christinajay3]

I just had a question about corn. We are getting a new lab puppy in April and thought this would be good for training treats. We were told that corn is hard for dogs to digest but a lot of the dog foods have corn in them. Would it be better to use something else in your recipe instead of the corn mix? I am excited about trying your recipe. Thank you for the list of foods.

[majjck]

Labs are awesome. My dog Majjck (magic) is half lab, and half beagle! Thanks for the question christinajay3. Sure, you can substitute ingrediens for the corn muffin mix. Though it will be less sweet tasting to your dog (due to no sweet-ness from the corn) you can use whole-wheat flour which is what i would do. It will still taste great to your dog, dont worry. It gives your treats more nutrients, and it gives your treats a brownish tint. You should also add an egg to the recipe to prevent the treats from crumbling. So just add about 9 oz of whole wheat flour and an egg, and it should work fine in your treats just as the corn muffin mix would. Otherwise, follow the recipe the same way. Good luck with your lab and i hope he/she likes the treats. Also, if you are using these for training treats, i would make them smaller in size.

[NachoMahma]

. Great job.
. I don't understand "Meats ( that are raw and may contain viruses)" under the What Not to Feed Your Dog section. Dogs are made to eat raw meat. From teeth to tail, they're meat-eaters. BARF

[ericgrau]

No, raw meats and eggs are a horrible idea to feed to dogs. You're risking serious health problems: short term food poisoning, long term parasites (causing poor health even though you might not know what to blame it on), or both. You can blame the sick, cramped animals in the meat industry for that. Anything except sashimi grade meat or meat you raise yourself is tainted and *must* be cooked. You can try it and hope your pet can fight it off but I wouldn't. At least not with supermarket meat.

[NachoMahma]

. Just take the same normal precautions that one should take with any raw food. No need to get carried away. Many ppl smarter than I think cooked meat is a bad idea - http://www.google.com/search?q=%22cooked+meat%22+%2Bdogs

[lemonie]

The list of "don'ts" is worth including, but I am curious about some of them: -Apple Seeds -Apricot (pit can be fatal) -Avocado leaves, stems, pits, and skin -Cherry Pits -Fruit pits -Potato Leaves and Stems -Rhubarb leaves -Tomato Leaves and stems Do people feed these to their dogs? Short of making Amaretti/o I wouldn't feed these to anyone / thing? (Nicely done Instructable) L

[ericgrau]

Don't worry about fruit pits, that's a myth. I have a bag of apricot pits I like to munch on in fact and a trail mix that includes them too. They contain negligible amounts of cyanide but the thought of "omg cyanide?" got people all uppity about them. You'd need pits from a bushel of fruit, eaten all at once, to poison someone. Cyanide inhibits some enzymes and leaves the body completely, so eating tiny amounts over time does no damage at all. It does not accumulate, it does not eat away at anything. Some natural compounds like vitamin B12 include cyanide. The whole apricot-pit scare started in the 70's (60's?) when someone discovered that the trace amounts of laetrile from apricot pits helps prevent cancer. The laetrile molecule is bonded to cyanide. Needless to say that gave opponents easy fuel to start a real ruckus. Tomatoes and potatoes are part of the nightshade family. I don't know why anyone would eat them, but nightshade leaves and stems really are poisonous and famous for it. That's the real reason why people thought tomatoes were poisonous for so long. I mean eating nightshade fruit would be like telling us to eat hemlock fruit; people were too afraid to try.

[lemonie]

I'm not worrying about pits. Notice I mentioned Amaretti? L

[ericgrau]

Ah I had to look up Amaretti. Well I doubt it's any more dangerous to dogs. But at least you know why they even bother putting silly things like safe pits and nightshade parts people wouldn't eat anyway on there: past public scare.

[ericgrau]

Oh yeah, sorry, I didn't get to the point. The reason such odd things - and not a thousand other random poisonous items - would get used in such lists and now re-used in this list is because they are the product of public scare.

[majjck]

No lol, you wouldn't actually give to them. it's just things that you should never keep in a place where your dog can get them. Like if your garbage is full of cherry pits and your dog gets to them. That is the only way that your dog would get access to the bad foods. thanks for the comment.

[lemonie]

Yeah I see. I have known dogs to chew golf balls, pistachio shells, bacon-greasy foil etc... L

[Doctor What]

Way better than fake bacon in a bag.