dog treats Archives - Smart Dog University

Spent Grain Homemade Dog Treats

February 16, 2016

Spent grain? Huh? Homemade dog treats? Explain…

My husband is a hobby brewer (beer) and last weekend was a Brewing Weekend. I’m not going to pretend to understand it all (I’m only really interested in the final product), but during the brewing process (which looks a lot like the “double, double, toil and trouble” witches-around-a-cauldron scene from Shakespeare’s Macbeth), he winds up with some soggy “spent” grains. In the past, he’s thrown them in the yard (don’t get me started…) and we’ve noticed that the dogs love to eat the spent grain. Here’s what spent grain looks like:

dog treats, homemade, spent grain, dog treats, dog training, dog obedience, clicker, Frederick, Mt. Airy — Spent grain. Isn’t it pretty?

Because I was home and not working (for once) on a weekend, I got a bee in my bonnet and decided to make spent grain homemade dog treats.

I surfed around a bit (thanks, Google) and found a great recipe on Deschutes Brewing (great beer, btw). You gotta love a brewery who takes the time to add a dog treat recipe to their website. Anyway, it’s about as simple as it gets — four basic ingredients: peanut butter, eggs, spent grain, and flour.

You just mix it all together with your hands (always fun to roll up my sleeves and get right into the mix with my hands), roll it out, and then use whatever cookie cutters you have. I used hearts (it was just Valentines Day, y’know), dog bones, and of course a Labrador!

Those are the raw cookies. Wanna hear a secret? I tasted the dough. Raw. With eggs. And I didn’t get salmonella. I know, I know. It can happen. I live life on the edge. I’m a risk-taker like that.

That cookie dough wasn’t bad. If I was really going to dig in, I’d need some sugar, but the dogs don’t have the same sweet tooth we humans do so they’re just fine without it.

So those are the finished spent grain homemade dog treats! The dogs said they loved them. SOMEONE ate half a plate from the counter. There are only two dogs who can actually reach that high [::cough Nemo:: ::cough Schooner::], but there isn’t any incriminating evidence upon which to convict. So I guess they’re all innocent. Yeah, right.

Spent grain, by the way, can be acquired fairly easily if you live near a brewery or if you know some home brewers. Do not give the dogs hops in any form — that’s a big ol’ no-no.

The Best Dog Training Treats? People Food! (Video)

October 9, 2014

Have you read the ingredient list in commercial dog treats?

Have you smelled those commercial dog treats?!

Many of the popular dog treats found in grocery stores are (1) expensive, (2) filled with preservatives and by-products, and (3) smell just horrible. Yet, many of my clients still want to feed their dogs these ick-laden things to their dogs (and expect their dogs to remain focused and happy to work, even in the face of distractions).

Would you eat one of your dog’s treats?

And more importantly, would you enjoy it? I doubt it. [Yes, I know. Dogs love a lot of things we don’t find appealing.] My point is still: people food is a really good choice for dog training treats.

Concerns About People Food

My dog will beg for food if I feed her people food.
- Not even close. Dogs don’t beg at the table because of people food. Dogs beg at the table because they’ve been fed at the table! The begging is more closely related to WHERE the food comes from than WHAT KIND of food your dog is eating. In other words, if you fed your dog his own kibble from the table, your dog’s going to beg for his food at the table.
Dog treats are healthier for my dog.
- Take a look at the ingredient list below for T-Bonz. I think plain chicken breasts are a lot healthier.
It’s expensive to feed people food.
- It’s a lot cheaper to feed human-grade food to your dog. See below.

T-Bonz is a dog treat from Purina. If you shop at Target, you can pick up a 45 oz. bag of T-Bonz for $10.99. That’s $0.24 per ounce or $3.90 per pound.

Chicken breasts, also from Target, run $7.19 for 40 ounces. That’s about $0.18 an ounce. That’s almost $1 a pound cheaper than dog treats!

Still not convinced? No problem.

Chicken breast ingredients: chicken, salt

T-Bonz ingredients: Ground wheat, corn gluten meal, water, wheat flour, ground yellow corn, sugar, glycerin, beef, chicken by-product meal, hydrogenated starch hydrolysate, corn starch-modified, liver, soybean meal, salt, bacon fat preserved with BHA, natural and artificial flavors, added color (Red 40 and other color), phosphoric acid, dried whey, sorbic acid (a preservative), gelatin, animal digest, natural porterhouse steak flavor, calcium propionate (a preservative), soy protein isolate, BHA (a preservative), citric acid. I-4258

Ew, really?!

Yeah, clearly chicken’s the winner here no matter which way you look at it. It’s healthier, it’s more economical, and you can eat it!

Other People-Food Choices

Cheese (buy a big block of cheese and cut it into hundreds of tiny pieces — this is super inexpensive!)
Hot dogs (dice them and then microwave — paper plate lined with paper towel, lay hot dogs in single layer, cover with paper towel, microwave until dried out. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn!)
Pepperoni, summer sausage, kielbasa
Luncheon meat (bologna dices nicely)
Spam or Treet
Leftovers from the grill (pork chops, steak, chicken, salmon, whatever!)

Make your dog (and dog trainer!) happy, bring tiny, pea-sized pieces of chopped people food to your dog training classes for your dog. And you, too — if you skipped dinner, just reach into the treat pouch and grab a handful for yourself!

Talk back! What people food do you use for dog training treats?

Dog Treats: CORE Superfood Protein Bars by Wellness

September 17, 2014

The more I learn about dog food and nutrition, the pickier I get about what my dogs eat. Including their treats.

For the most part, my dogs get homemade treats. I like to use chicken, cheese, beef — stuff you can get from the grocery store and prepare at home. Limited ingredients, no fillers, no wheat, no corn, no soy, no by-products. There aren’t a lot of manufactured dog treats I’ll feed to my dogs based on my high standards for nutrition and wellness.

I was introduced to a company called Wellness and their protein bars.

I read the ingredient list first thing and was satisfied: they passed my test.

Here’s what’s in the above: Chicken, Turkey, Peas, Flaxseed, Natural Flavor, Cane Molasses, Salt, Broccoli, Carrots, Sweet Potatoes, Mixed Tocopherols added to preserve freshness, Dried Cultured Skim Milk, Rosemary Extract.

So, they passed MY test. What about the dogs? Did they like ’em?

DID THEY LIKE ‘EM? They’re Labradors for goodness sake, of course they liked them.

No, seriously, they really liked them. Our littlest (and oldest) Labrador, Lily, reminded me this morning that we had some in the pantry. And that SHE should have some after breakfast.

This is how I found her this morning about 10 minutes after breakfast.

She had let herself into the pantry. I laughed and asked her “What do you want, Lil?” Don’t laugh, she can answer, honestly. She points her nose directly to the treat bin and then looks at me. I opened the bin and sure enough, there were treats in there. I’d forgotten we had them!

As I opened the bag, all four dogs — and the cat! — gathered ’round and started drooling. Let me amend that, the cat didn’t drool. Anyway, they all were quite happy with this turn of events and gladly gobbled every piece I doled out.

Clearly, I’m smitten with these dog treats. Here are some of the things I love:

Their ingredients, as I mentioned, are top-notch.
I love that they’re under 21 calories per treat.
They’re packed with nutrient-rich super foods like sweet potato, kale, broccoli, blueberries, pomegranate, carrots, and more
Contain no GMOs
Made right here in the US!

For me, as a trainer, I would cut these into tiny pieces — they come in thinnish “bars” which are far too large for training. That’d be the only thing I’d change.

Here are the available varieties:

Turkey & Duck with Kale, Beef & Bison with Blueberries, Salmon & Whitefish with Pomegranates, Chicken & Turkey with Sweet Potatoes

You’ll likely find these at your local boutique doggie supply store and the MSRP is $7.99, which is a fair price given the quality, ingredients, and goodness involved. I don’t hesitate in recommending these. Lily concurs.

These treats were supplied to me at no cost for my dogs to enjoy and for me to share with my impressions and opinions with you, the readers. I was not compensated in any way.

Easy Kong Stuffing Recipe – Video

September 5, 2014

I consider Kongs essential equipment if you have a dog.

I talk about them all the time, even did an article and video on how to teach your dog to love them. Because I’m sure each and every one of you rushed off and watched that video, I’m confident that you’re ready, by now, for a recipe to actually make those Kongs. Right? Right? Am I right?

You can stuff the Kong with just about anything (safe) that your dog likes.

The more experienced your dog is with the Kong, the more difficult you can stuff it. This recipe’s an easy, solid base recipe, to which you can add anything to make the Kong more difficult to unstuff.

Here’s how we do it ’round here.

Peanut butter (chunky, smooth, natural, organic, whatever)
Yogurt or cottage cheese (fat free, greek, lowfat, vanilla, flavored, fruit on the bottom, it doesn’t matter)

I tend to use equal amounts of each and I make enough to stuff 40 Kongs at once. I’ve found I use the Kongs much more regularly if I have them already made up.

It’s really easy. Just put all the stuff into one bowl, stir it up real good, then stuff the Kongs!

Easy peasy!

Your turn! Leave a comment and give me your best Kong stuffing ingredients!

Really Good Dog Treats: Cut ‘Em and Eat ‘Em – Video

December 5, 2013

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Treats your dog will love!

Don’t waste your money on grocery store dog treats.

In addition to being ridiculously expensive, those treats often contain artificial ingredients, colors, and flavors. They also usually contain by-products (a nice way of saying chicken beaks, cow entrails, and other gross stuff).

Smart trainers use treats their dog loves and that are good for them.

I like to use real, human-grade food when I train my dogs. I know what’s in it, it’s pretty inexpensive, and hey, I can eat it, too!

Cheese and meat lend themselves to terrific dog treats.

Easy to cut into bite-sized pieces, human grade, and really delish. Oh, and easy to find and buy!

Get a value pack of cheese and some pepperoni (or summer sausage) from your local grocer. In a pinch, you can even use luncheon meat, although it’s a little harder to handle because it’s thinly sliced.

Cut into 1/4″ strips.

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Remove the paper before feeding to your dog!

Then lay flat and cut into 1/4″ slices. Turn 90° and slice again.

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Stack and slice.

This is what you get.

dog training, homemade dog treats, dog treats, easy to make dog treats

Perfect pieces.

Next, do the same with the cheese.

And you’ve now got some really powerful dog training treats! And hey, if you need a snack, dig in!

dog treats, dog training, dog training treats, homemade dog treats, easy to make dog treats

Voila! Perfect dog treats!

I put all the treats in a Ziploc container with a lid, store all the treats in the fridge ’til I need them. We’re always ready to train, even at the last minute!

Your turn: What treats does your dog go ga-ga for? Leave a comment below!

Easy Dog Training Treats on the Run

September 1, 2013

Schooner is in socialization overdrive right now. I’m finding places to go every day so I can get him out and around lots of different sights and sounds. The more he sees in a happy and comfortable way, the less excited he’ll be when it’s time for him to settle in and get to work with his partner. We’re still a good ways away from turn-in day, but the earlier he sees and experiences new situations, the faster he’ll become a pro at handling the public life of a service dog. And the better service dog he’ll be.

I’ve made an effort to have a treat bag full of training treats ready to go at the beginning of each week. One of my (many) Sunday night chores is stuffing the treat bag full of delicious, pea-sized food treats. Schooner is picky — I can’t get away with most packaged dog treats with him. He’ll turn his nose up at leftover chicken from dinner, for goodness sake! He’s definitely not interested in artificially flavored anything! He’s a real challenge in that department.

Sometimes I have him out in public for several hours. Summers in the mid-Atlantic can be tough on dog treats. I’ve had processed meats go bad before I get back home — ew, so stinky (and embarrasing when the lady in the checkout line sniffs and then turns to look at me as the source of the stink).

I was rushing out the door last week and had Schooner in tow. I got him loaded in the car, made sure I had my purse, my keys, my phone, Schooner’s vest, his leash, his harness… And I forgot the treat bag. I ran back into the house, yanked the refrigerator door open (where I store his leftover treats, as most of them need refrigeration unfortunately) and found a bare treat pouch. Like Mother Hubbard’s cupboard it was.

Drat! Now, in addition to having no treats, I was going to be late for my meeting because I needed a high value treat to reinforce all of Schooner’s good behavior I was looking forward to getting. I’m an eternal optimist.

I glanced in the pantry for something, anything, when I spied The Honest Kitchen’s quickies. I’ve mentioned The Honest Kitchen before. They had, rather fortuitously, just sent me some of their new little training treats. I grabbed the little can, threw them into the car and off Schooner and I went to our meeting.

As I was walking into the building, I tossed the treats into my treat bag and kept right on walking, not missing a beat. Schooner’s loose leash walking was quite impressive, so I clicked and treated him for such nice work. I grabbed a quickie, popped it in his mouth and went right on stepping it off. He came back for more! His loose leash walking turned suddenly into “right next to my leg, not leaving my side” walking. It was pretty cool.

Throughout the meeting, he got treated for settling quietly. This is an amazingly hard task for a social butterfly like Schooner. It’s not like he blends into the woodwork and no one notices him for goodness sake. He’s a very large, very speckled, extremely friendly dog. In a restaurant. Or in the grocery store checkout line. He draws a crowd. And settling is right up there with loose leash walking as far as must-have skills. So a high value reward is imperative, as we want him to repeat that lovely settling behavior.

I’m happy to report that the quickies did the trick for this picky dog. The quickies are simply Icelandic Haddock. That’s it. Nothing else. Oh, and they come in the shape of a heart. Very cute. And they’re delicious — at least according to Schooner. And our cat. Who begs shamelessly whenever I carry the treat bag inside.

Oh, and the other nice thing. They don’t need refrigeration, these quickies. No surprise stinky-car in the morning.

Your turn: have you found a delicious, easy, small treat that your dog adores? Please share in a comment below!

This post is entirely my opinion and I did not get paid to write this post about The Honest Kitchen. I received three quickie treat containers from The Honest Kitchen to try out for Schooner’s training.

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