today, daphne & i want to share a super simple dog treat recipe with you [and your pup].
i make a lot of daphs treats ; i like to know what goes into her body. we want her to be happy & healthy for a long time.
we do. blake & i eat well. we buy local, organic & from companies that are doing good things & using real ingredients. we feel confident in feeding daphne organic bananas [she loves them frozen] or crusts from rudy's bread [she will do anything for bread ; its her fave!]
i have no issue feeding her organic coconut oil, sweet potatoes or the last bit of quinoa and bell peppers.
obviously, she eats dog food. she is super food motivated, so we give her 'human' food as a treat, reward or just to show her that shes our favorite.
she gets plenty of exercise and we would never feed her things that her body cant take [raisins, avocados, coffee, chocolate, ect]
also, each day we leave for work // the gym // errands, she is allowed to be in the living room & the kitchen. we block off the rest of the apartment. before we leave, we fill a few toys [kong, tux, bionic] with treats & smother a couple bones with oil // peanut butter // honey.
she use to have really bad anxiety when we left & we found that hiding treats & bones around the apartment allowed her to focus on 'hunting' ; rather than stressing that we had left.
anyways, lets talk about treats!
we had a few wrinkly // soft apples laying around [i am a super picky fruit eater]. they were too soft for my taste, but i knew that baking them would be a great treat for daphne.
what you need :
*apples [ours were a few days from going bad // they were pretty soft]
*coconut oil [or raw honey // regular olive oil] [ps : coconut oil is really great for a dogs coat]
*cinnamon
how to do it :
1) preheat oven to 175* [or however low your oven will go ; ours is 200*]
2) core & dice apples into small pieces [you can chop the apples into whatever size you want. i diced so we had tons of pieces]. put into a medium-sized mixing bowl.
3) add 1-3 tablespoons of coconut oil [melt it for a few seconds if its too hard] & a few shakes of cinnamon. mix until all apple pieces are coated.
4) spread out onto cookie sheet & bake // dehydrate for 1-3 hours. [i let mine go for 90 min. they came out pretty soft & wrinkly]
5) store in an airtight container for a few days OR put in the freezer.
i suggest freezing the treats. having them frozen allows your dog to lick the flavor & they take longer to eat. having them in the fridge // on the counter means that they might go bad // grow mold.
both cinnamon & coconut oil are awesome for dogs.
[obviously, you know your dog better than i do ; so be sure they dont have allergies or super sensitive tummies before feeding them new foods!]
most dogs can be sensitive to new flavors, so you might need to take it slow.
daphne has eaten chocolate shakes, an entire pound of almonds, onion rings, wooden spoons, couch stuffing, rat poison, bike grease and other things i cant think of & we are convinced she has a steel stomach.
not all dogs are created equal!
looking for more dog-friendly treats?
