From Flickr, A_Granel.jpg

I was catching up on my blog reading and came across a dog treat recipe from The Sweet Spot Blog that I wanted to share here!  The recipe is so easy, that I thought I would give it a try…

Peanut Butter Dog Treat Recipe

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 Tablespoon honey
1/2 cup hot water

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2. Mix flour and baking powder together in a small bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, wisk the peanut butter, honey, and hot water until smooth. Gradually add the dry mixture and mix well.  Note: Add a little more water if the dough is too dry or flour if it is too wet.

4. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and roll to 1/4″ thickness.

5. Cut with a cookie cutter and place on a non-stick cookie sheet.

6. Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly brown.  Let cool, then store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

I hope you enjoy this dog treat recipe; more importantly, I hope your dogs do!  As with any recipe shared on this blog, please check with your veterinarian if you are concerned about any of the ingredients.  I’m not a dog nutritionist, just a dog mom who loves to spoil her pups.

The post Homemade Peanut Butter Dog Treat Recipe from The Sweet Spot Blog appeared first on Keep the Tail Wagging, An Online Magazine for Dog Lovers.

What I love about this homemade dog food recipe is that he cooks the whole chicken and discards the bone.  I get mixed reviews on bones, but I don’t feel comfortable feeding our dogs cooked chicken bones.  I didn’t mix it with my hands though.  And I love the idea of saving the chicken stock for soup for the humans

PS – we have the exact same raised feeding dish for our dogs.

If you have a great, healthy and safe dog food, dog treat, or Kong stuffing recipe that you’d like to share with thousands of dog lovers, please head on over to the Contact Page and submit it to Keep the Tail Wagging along with your name.  The recipe will be attributed to you and promoting online on all the major social networking sites!

As with any change to your dog’s diet, please double check with your veterinarian.

The post Cooking With Anton (Video) | Making Homemade Dog Food Can Be Simple appeared first on Keep the Tail Wagging, An Online Magazine for Dog Lovers.

photo: rox sm

This isn’t the pumpkin treat, but doesn’t it look yummy?

Amanda, who writes A Mastiff Blog, and has two of these gorgeous pups, share the following dog treat recipe…

I love baking for my dogs (yeah yeah, I’m weird!) Here’s a treat recipe I use that is also holiday themed for Thanksgiving, last time I made it I even replaced the flour with Rice flour to make it 100% gluten free.  It way mushier, so I could only make cookie treats, not cookie cutter treats, but the dogs still loved them!

Peanut Butter Pumpkin Treats

1 can of canned pumpkin (not the seasoned pie filling, you want pure pumpkin)
2 heaping TBSP peanut butter (all natural is better)
2 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
2 1/2 cups flour + more to stiffen dough

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Mix the first 4 ingredients together well, then add the flour and mix in completely.  You should have a very sticky dough.  Add in more flour by the 1/4 cup full until a dough is formed you can work with that’s not too sticky.

Press the dough out into about 1/4 or 1/2″ thickness then use a medium sized doggy bone cookie cutter (or whatever shape you want) and put them on an ungreased cookie sheet.Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour, flip 1/2 way through. You want them to be crunchy when they are done so they don’t mold.

If you have a great, healthy and safe dog food, dog treat, or Kong stuffing recipe that you’d like to share with thousands of dog lovers, please head on over to the Contact Page and submit it to Keep the Tail Wagging along with your name.  The recipe will be attributed to you and promoting online on all the major social networking sites!

As with any change to your dog’s diet, please double check with your veterinarian.

The post Dog Treat Recipe | Peanut Butter Pumpkin Treats from A Mastiff Blog appeared first on Keep the Tail Wagging, An Online Magazine for Dog Lovers.

Here is a homemade dog food recipe submitted by Bonnie of Calico June Designs!  Thanks, Donna

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Our Homemade Dog Food Recipe…

Serves 3 for approx a week; thaw out if frozen

• Boil 2 4-packs of chicken thighs in a big pot of water (about 2 gallons? we use our biggest pot)
• Remove once cooked and add several cups of rice, lentils, quinoa, or any other combo of grains
• You want the water to be about 2 to 1 ratio of the grains put in.
• Then add in shredded carrots, bag of frozen peas, any other vegetables, like shredded zucchini, squash, or any other seasonal veggie, some dried fruits like cranberries, blueberries, etc., and some fish oil caplets
• Cook on med low until grains fully absorbed, stir occasionally
• You can mix it up, with the grains, veggies, and fruits, but you want a combo of meat, grains, fruits and veggies, and fish oil
• Once everything else is cooked, and the chicken has cooled, shred it off the bone and add back in.
• Sometimes when we plate the food we’ll add in a raw egg

Two tips…

• We also take the chicken bones and puree them with some water in the blender…they can actually eat this (and it’s very good for them!), if it’s all pureed…they can only not eat poultry bones if they’re whole, as they can splinter, but if they’re pureed, they’re good to go!
• Also, the grains, we buy bulk (fairway and whole foods are good for this), and they have a good variety like quinoa and millet, which are both very good for dogs

As with any change to your dog’s diet, please double check with your veterinarian.

The post Homemade Dog Food Recipe from the Dog Lovers at Calico June Designs appeared first on Keep the Tail Wagging, An Online Magazine for Dog Lovers.

Our dogs love their Kong toys and we love the peace the Kongs provide, which is why everyone needs to know how to stuff a Kong toy!

That being said, here’s another Kong stuffing recipe in the How to Stuff a Kong series (of 2) that was submitted by Matt Tuzzo of Jersey Shore Dogs, LLC

Thanks, Matt!

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We have a great recipe for stuffing Kongs to help keep dogs busy either when owners are busy themselves around the house or for when the dog is left alone.

Ingredients:

• 3 Cans of 100% Organic Pure Pumpkin (we use Nummy Tum Tum Pure Pumpkin for Dogs)
• 10-12 dog small biscuits (we use BLUE Mini Bars from Blue Buffalo)
• The Honest Kitchen dehydrated dog food (our dogs like Force)
• Peanut Butter
• Water

Directions:

•  Empty 3 cans of pumpkin into a large mixing bowl
• Crush up dog biscuits until they are in very small pieces – almost a powder, but not (we put them all in a plastic baggie first and then pound them – makes less of a mess), then add to the bowl
• Add two large scoops of peanut butter to the bowl
• Add ½ cup of The Honest Kitchen dehydrated dog food
• Add 1 cup of water
• Mix until blended (very easy with a mixer – takes 1-2 minutes); note: if mix is a bit runny you can refrigerate for 30 minutes – 1 hour to thicken up
• When you are ready to fill the Kongs, put a biscuit or whichever small treat you choose at the bottom, then begin filling with mixture.

After many trials, we learned the best way to do this is to put the mixture in a large pastry bag (without a cake tip – and cut the end to make the hole larger) and it makes filling the Kongs a breeze! What used to take us hours is now down to about 15-20 minutes… even less if you have two people (one filling, one stuffing).

• Once the Kong is filled, make sure the mixture is packed in using a knife (sometimes you might need to add more if air gets in)
• Put the Kong in the freezer and move on to the next one!

This mixture usually makes about 10+ (medium-sized) Kongs. You obviously don’t have to use The Honest Kitchen or the biscuits listed above. Mix and match treats to see what works best for you and your dog. Just be sure the treats are small enough to fit in the Kong. You can even put one at the bottom, fill up the Kong halfway, put another treat in and then top it off.

As with any change to your dog’s diet, please double check with your veterinarian.

The post How to Stuff a Kong | Another Treat for Your Dog’s Kong Toy appeared first on Keep the Tail Wagging, An Online Magazine for Dog Lovers.

Sydney: “Did you say there’s food? I can eat.”

Here is a dog treat recipe submitted by Heather of Trupanion Pet Insurance (our carrier and the best pet insurance company ever)!  Thanks, Heather

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My thought is that making your own dog treats is not only a fun activity, it is one way to truly know what your dog is consuming, providing for a bit of control.  My own dog has an auto-immune condition, so I have to be vigilant about knowing everything that goes into her body.  This is a recipe that I have been making for years. It’s a high-calorie treat, so unless your dog needs to gain weight, this should be limited to special occasions only. Another benefit – it’s guaranteed to make your dog’s coat shiny and beautiful.

Beef Cakes Ingredients:

• ½ pound ground beef
• ½ cup whole grain cereal (like Total)
• ½ cup oats
• ¼ cup wheat germ
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 Tbsp molasses
• 1 egg yolk

Instructions:

• Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl
• Take large spoonfuls of the mixture and place on a section of wax paper
• Press with bottom of spoon forming little cakes
• Refrigerate for immediate use (within a few days) or freeze for future use

If you have a great, healthy and safe dog food, dog treat, or Kong stuffing recipe that you’d like to share with thousands of dog lovers, please head on over to the Contact Page and submit it to Keep the Tail Wagging along with your name.  The recipe will be attributed to you and promoting online on all the major social networking sites!

As with any change to your dog’s diet, please double check with your veterinarian.

The post Homemade Dog Treat Recipe from our Friends at Trupanion Pet Insurance appeared first on Keep the Tail Wagging, An Online Magazine for Dog Lovers.

Today’s homemade dog treat recipe was shared by Amy Rzepka of Beecology…”Being Beekeepers, I had to try this recipe when I saw it?my dog, JJ loves these cookies?they are good enough for me to serve to my children, too!  I am not sure where I saw the recipe, but it is a keeper!” ~ Amy

photo: librarianidol

Banana and Honey Cookies

Ingredients

* 2 cups water

* 2 bananas, mashed

* 2 tablespoons honey

* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

* 1 egg

* 4 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

* 1 teaspoon baking powder

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Lightly grease 2 large baking sheets.

3. Combine water, mashed bananas, honey, vanilla, and egg in a large bowl.

4. Stir in whole-wheat flour and baking powder.

5. Beat dough with an electric mixer on medium speed until ingredients are thoroughly combined, 1 to 2 minutes.

6. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until no longer sticky, 5 to 8 minutes?you might have to add more flour.

7. Roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness and cut into mini shapes with your favorite cookie cutter.

8. Place dough shapes on prepared baking sheets.

9. Bake in preheated oven until cookies are lightly browned, about 20 minutes.

10. Turn off the oven and leave cookies until thoroughly dry and crisp, 30 to 40 more minutes.

11. Remove baking sheets from oven and allow cookies to cool on pans for 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire rack to fully cool.

If you have a great, healthy and safe dog food, dog treat, or Kong stuffing recipe that you’d like to share with thousands of dog lovers, please head on over to the Contact Page and submit it to Keep the Tail Wagging along with your name.  The recipe will be attributed to you and promoting online on all the major social networking sites!

As with any change to your dog’s diet, please double check with your veterinarian.

The post Homemade Dog Treat Recipe | Banana and Honey Cookies from Beecology appeared first on Keep the Tail Wagging, An Online Magazine for Dog Lovers.

photo: ilovemypit

Here is a homemade dog treat recipe submitted by Sonia of PawPosse.com!  Thanks, Sonia

Sweet Potato Chews; a safe alternative to rawhides

Simply peel sweet potatoes, cut into slices 1/4 – 1/3 inch thick, and bake at 250 degrees for about 3 hours. Flip halfway. If you don’t have a non-stick pan, use wax paper or a light coat of olive oil to keep them from sticking. You can also put the slices in a dehydrator if you have one. They’ll store in the fridge for up to a week.

These treats are full of vitamins and minerals, appeal to your dog’s sweet tooth, and are easier to digest than rawhide. The first time I made sweet potato chews, my dog Nala did tricks every time I went to the fridge in the hopes they would earn her a chew!

I’ve got a few more recipes in my blog post “Can Dogs Eat Fruit?”

If you have a great, healthy and safe dog food, dog treat, or Kong stuffing recipe that you’d like to share with thousands of dog lovers, please head on over to the Contact Page and submit it to Keep the Tail Wagging along with your name.  The recipe will be attributed to you and promoting online on all the major social networking sites!

As with any change to your dog’s diet, please double check with your veterinarian.

The post Homemade Dog Treat Recipe | Sweet Potato Chews appeared first on Keep the Tail Wagging, An Online Magazine for Dog Lovers.

I got this recipe from a local Australian Shepherd breeder.  She emailed this great dog food recipe to me; this is what she feeds her Aussies along with a raw food diet and she has crazy healthy dogs.  I tried it with our dogs (not the raw portion), mixing it with their kibble and they enjoyed it.  I love that she included the cost.  I got everything at Costco and made enough for three dogs that lasted a week.

photo: micsten

LONGSHADOW AUSSIE DIET RECIPE (DOG FOOD RECIPE)

Diet doesn’t include seasoning chicken as shown in the image above.

• 6 CHICKEN DRUMSTICKS*
• 4 CUPS WHITE RICE
• ½ CUP BARLEY
• ½ CUP OATS
• ½ LB. CARROTS
• 1 LARGE APPLE
• ½ LARGE YAM OR SWEET POTATO
• 3 EGGS WITH SHELL
• 6 FISH OIL SOFT GEL CAPS
• 6 FLAX SOFT GEL CAPS

*I use chicken thighs instead of the drumsticks, because it’s really hard to get the bones/tendons out of the mixture.

photo: ben gwilliam

A good blender is a necessity for ease of preparation…This will make a large quantity of natural, high quality food, meant to be fed once a day. The requirement of a larger percentage of protein is met by the 2^nd daily meal being a raw, fresh, bone in chicken thigh, breast or an equivalent sized meat serving.

Precook chicken in 8-10 cups of lightly salted water until fully cooked. Remove chicken, let cool add all dry ingredients and simmer on low until rice and mix is fully steamed.

Chop carrots and apple and put in blender. Add water to cover and blend until smooth. This is important; carrots in pieces are difficult for dogs to digest. Micro yam or sweet potato 3 minutes, cut in pieces, add to blender mix. Next add whole eggs with shell. Don’t worry, the shell will be pulverized in the blending and is a high natural source of calcium. Add blender mix to rice.

Remove chicken from bone, discard bones, chop or tear into pieces and add. Cool sufficiently before serving. It only takes one “whoa, way too HOT!” experience for your dog to decide to pass on this stuff… I have even found they prefer it cold. I’m the one that has a problem with that!

This will make approximately 8 servings and can and should be refrigerated. Freeze in serving size bags or containers, if not consumed in a 24 hr. period. I feed my adults about 2 cups each. I make it as easy on myself as is possible. Feed this am or pm as long as the other feeding is raw meat. I do keep a reasonable amount of kibble on hand for schedule screw ups… or I admit, an occasional bout of laziness!

Lastly, here are a few choices I have made for my own dogs:

• Once a day multi vit.
• Once a day probiotic (acidopholis) added to each individual serving, available at any drugstore and most grocery
• Butcher bones, the best for teeth and front end muscle development. If not bones then large Milkbone type biscuits the harder the better.

I have a liquidator grocery supply store near me so I am able to minimize the cost of a lot of the ingredients. Here are a few prices I pay for your comparison. 

10lb. bag of chicken legs and thigh pieces $7 @ Walmart

20lb. bag of white rice $12 @ Grocery Outlet

Fish and Flax $8-$12 @ Vitacost.com or Drugstore.com

The post Dog Food Recipe | Longshadow Aussie Diet Recipe Plus the Cost appeared first on Keep the Tail Wagging, An Online Magazine for Dog Lovers.

JustFoodForDogs homemade dog food recipe: USDA Certified Turkey and Whole Wheat Macaroni

16 oz           Ground turkey, raw
1/2 oz          Turkey, liver, raw
8 oz             Macaroni, whole-wheat, dry weight
1 oz             Carrots, finely chopped
1 oz             Zucchini, finely chopped
1 oz             Broccoli, finely chopped
1/2 oz          Cranberries, finely chopped
1 tbsp          Safflower Oil

Human non-allergenic multiple vitamin-mineral Calcium supplement (Calcium carbonate containing 40% calcium and less than 1% phosphorus)

IMPORTANT NOTE: Percentage of human daily dosage of multiple vitamin-mineral & calcium supplement to be used for dogs:
15lb dog = 10%
30lb dog = 20%
45lb dog = 30%
60lb dog = 40%
75lb dog = 50%
90lb dog = 60%
105lb dog = 70%

Cooking Tips on How to Make Homemade Food For Dogs

When cooking ground turkey for dogs, the skillet method is preferred. Using a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, cook meat, stirring and breaking it up with a spoon or spatula until it is cooked through (do not overcook). Let it cool until it is just warm to the touch.

To cook whole wheat macaroni in your fresh dog food (use only whole wheat), bring water to a rapid boil in a saucepan. Add the macaroni and cook for 7-10 min or until soft, stirring occasionally. Drain, rinse under cool water and let cool to the touch.

The right vegetables and fruit for dogs are a very healthy addition to your dog diet, provided they are prepared, packaged and stored properly. They must be cooked so your dog can digest them properly. When preparing vegetables for dogs they should always be finely chopped and steamed. This allows vegetables to retain their nutrients while being suitable for dog digestion.

Fresh produce is always good for dogs. If possible, always use fresh but if one or two items are unavailable and you must use a frozen alternative, make sure there is no added salt or other seasoning or flavoring.

UPDATE: Thank you, Margaret, for pointing out that the recipe isn’t clear when it comes to vitamins or serving. If you have additional questions about this recipe, please contact JustFoodForDogs.com. I’m sure they can answer all of your questions, because this is one of the recipes they provide for their clients.

The post Homemade Dog Food Recipe | JustFoodForDogs Turkey and Whole Wheat Macaroni appeared first on Keep the Tail Wagging, An Online Magazine for Dog Lovers.