Our three boys Mallick, Kamealeon, & Bandit (in that order in the picture) all have their own unique personalities and likes/dislikes when it comes to food. We have found over the years we have had them that they tend to shy away from processed treats from the store. With all the recalls and scary things you read about the treats at the store I am not mad our boys don't care for them.

Mallick has major separation anxiety Kam is older and has bad breath rather then give them pills or treats we do not have a clue what's really in them we wanted to go a more natural route. The treats we make them include all natural ingredients & after doing research on the web we found a few things we could try to help Mallick and Kam both. Bandit is still very young and doesn't quite have the issues our other two do so he just gets yummy treats ;-)

Step 1: Ingredients

Here is a list of what's needed to make the biscuits:

Whole wheat flour - added as needed approx. 4 cups

1 cup Corn Meal

Carrots - I use baby carrots 1-16 oz bag finely chopped

3-4 Bananas peeled & mashed

2 eggs

1/3 cup veggie oil

1 tbsp. brown sugar

2 tbsp. cinnamon

1-6 oz package catnip

We did a lot of research and found that catnip is not just for cats and while the effect is lessened for dogs it can have a calming effect and works for our Mallick to take the edge off when we have to leave the house. One of us is home nearly 24/7 thankfully so its not often we have to leave him. Cinnamon helps with bad breath which is great for our older fella Kam who unfortunately with his age has terrible breath.

Step 2: Preparing Ingredients

You want to make sure the carrots are well processed and in very tiny bits I use a small food processor to chop mine up nice and small.

The bananas I also process and since they are going in the same dough I dont bother to clean all the carrots out of the processor the bananas once mushed up real well bring the rest of the carrot bits when I dump it in the mixing bowl

Step 3: Mixing It Up

Add everything together in a mixing bowl minus the wheat flour this needs to be added in slowly. I add 2 cups of flour to start then add in a little bit at a time until the dough can be touched and it doesn't stick to me. Usually takes around 4 cups total. This can vary mostly I find due to the size of the bananas I use I just grab a bunch so sometimes they are larger and make the dough require a bit more flour to not be sticky.

I use an electric countertop mixer you can do it by hand but it takes some muscle once all the ingredients are included and it starts to thicken up. Turn the mixer on low at first to avoid throwing stuff all over the place ( I turned it on full speed once never again what a mess lol) Once the ingredients start to go together increase the speed.

Step 4: Roll It Out!

Turn the oven on to 350 degrees so it can preheat.

Roll the dough out on a floured surface till its about a half inch thick.

Use whatever cutter you want to make shapes for your furry friends :-)

I wanted to include my husband in this project so I asked him to make me a cutter shaped like a bone with his 3d printer. I should have specified I wanted it to be for about a 3 inch size bone. He made it 1 inch which was very small and hard to work with but it was still pretty cool & actually the size is better for 2 of our three boys.

Grease the cookie sheet and place the cut out biscuits on the sheet giving a bit of room between each.

Makes approx. 40 medium biscuits (about 3 inches)

Bake for 35 min

Once the timer goes off turn the oven off but do not remove the biscuits its important to leave them in the oven while it cools at least another 45 mins to allow the rest of the moisture to be removed and make them crisp.

Store them in an airtight container to keep them fresh

Step 5: Give Them to Your Pup!

All dogs have different tastes our boys love these treats. This is my first instructable I hope I made it easy to follow and that if you make them your dogs love them too.