It has been just over three years since our dog Brandy passed away. She was a different dog in that she didn’t care much for human food let alone her own dog food. Sometimes she would go two days before deciding to eat. The only thing she loved to eat was raw veggies like baby carrots, sweet peppers, snow peas and wax beans. We never had to spend money on dog treats.
Fast forward to today. My brother inlaw’s family got a Goldendoodle puppy named Loki last summer. We see them fairly often and they come to visit us at our house. Loki eats EVERYTHING and ANYTHING. I was at their place and had grabbed a slice of pizza with my right hand while reaching for a plate with my left. I turned back to put the slice on my plate and all I had left was crust. He had chomped the entire piece in one bite!!
We wanted to have something on hand for when he visits and to be able to bring him treats so he might be deterred from eating our food. I looked at the grocery store for healthy dog treats but couldn’t bring myself to pay what they were asking. I decided to look online for a homemade alternative.
Once again my pureéd pumpkin came in handy. Pumpkin seems to be a popular ingredient in dog treat recipes as it aids in both issues of diarrhea and constipation. I also wanted peanut butter to be in it for protein and because I had already seen how much Loki enjoys it.
Pumpkin Dog Treats
Ingredients
1/2 cup pureéd pumpkin
1 egg beaten
4 Tbsp honey
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup water
2 cups whole wheat flour
Directions
Preheat oven to 300°.
Mix wet ingredients.
Gradually stir in flour.
Dough should come together to form a ball.
Move to floured surface.
Roll out to 1/2 inch thick.
Use small cookie cutters to cut out cookies.
Place on parchment lined cookie sheets.
Bake at 300° for 50-60 minutes.
My cookie cutters yielded 24 treats.
Once cooled, these treats can be frozen for later use.
Now that we bring treats with us when we visit, Loki goes straight to my husband and sniffs his pockets.
He seems to really like the taste and is willing to do tricks to get one.
I should probably invest in a bone shaped cookie cutter.
Clever! 👍❤️
Gene just fixed my access to your site,which I haven’t been able to see for months.! What a good idea for dog treats I’m going to give them a try,thanks.