Make your own dog treats

Before N started his car washing money earner, he tried making and selling dog biscuits. For teens it’s a nice bit of pocket money to earn, with little effort (if you know lots of people with dogs). Otherwise, if you have your own job and want to know what’s in your dog’s treats, then why not try making your own.

We tried them out on our dogs and they were a success. Our neighbour’s dog perked up after having the peanut butter version but with egg in, we couldn’t use those to sell. 

Dog treats with flour work better as a ‘biscuit’ in terms of being able to roll them and cookie cutting them out. With the veg/fruit and oats, it was easier to make them into balls or have freeform shapes. But they were still popular with the dogs (one of ours definitely preferred the peanut butter ones).

In terms of cookie cutters, I had a small Christmas set, so used the mini gingerbread man cutter. If N had got more serious I’d have looked out for a bone shaped one. But you could use whatever shape.  We stuck with fairly small treats, as we thought people would give those more frequently than they would a large biscuit.

Peanut butter and banana dog biscuits

Ingredients

• 1 cup of whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup of creamy peanut butter (don’t use peanut butter that contains xylitol as it is poisonous to dogs!)
• 1/4 cup of mashed banana
• 1/4 cup of vegetable stock

Instructions

Mix together to make a dough, then roll into small balls and flatten slightly.

Bake at 180C for 18 minutes, on a lined baking sheet.

(Wheat free) banana and peanut butter dog treats

Ingredients

• 165g oats
• 2 medium ripe bananas
• 130g natural peanut butter

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 170C/150C fan.
2. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment (optional)
3. Blitz the oats in a food processor, then combine well with the other ingredients to make a dough (it will be quite sticky, so you might need a little more oats).
4. Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and use cookie cutters to make shapes.
5. Place on the baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes until puffed up a bit, dried out and the bottoms are darker. 

They’ll firm up a little on cooling, but will always be a softer dog treat.

The treats will store in an airtight container in a cool dry place for a week. If in bags, they will soften after a couple of days, so just make up small batches.  

You can freeze them (flat on a baking sheet before putting in a closed container), but I’ve not tried this myself. Then just defrost as you need them.

Pumpkin and peanut butter dog biscuits

Makes 50! So half the volume if you’re not making in bulk.

Ingredients

2 cups (16oz/450g) pumpkin puree (do not use pumpkin pie filling)

• 2 eggs
• 3 tablespoons all natural peanut butter (unsalted)
• 1/2 cup (1½oz/43g) rolled oats
• 3 cups (15oz/426g) whole wheat flour

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350oF (180oC).
2. In a large bowl, whisk together all of the ingredients until combined and a dough forms.
3. The dough may be a little sticky, so dust your hands and rolling pin with flour. Pour dough onto a floured surface and roll out to 1/2 inch thick. Cut out using a cutter.
4. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown.
5. Place on cooling racks and let cool thoroughly. They will harden as they cool.

Put them in an air tight container and store for 6 weeks. Also you can keep them in the freezer for 3 months.

2 ingredient dog biscuits

Makes around 25 biscuits.

Ingredients

• 250g wholewheat flour
• 225g sweet potato puree (canned if you can find it, or homemade)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C/160C fan and line a baking sheet with baking parchment
2. Mix together the flour and sweet potato in a bowl. If the mix is too thick, add a little water to make it more pliable.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to around 1cm thick.
4. Cut out shapes using cookie cutters and put on the baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown

These can be stored in an airtight container.

Making sweet potato puree is easiest to do by baking sweet potatoes, then removing from the skins and pureeing the flesh.

Selling dog treats

Personally I think N should still make and sell the dog biscuits, as it’s pretty high profit for not much outlay.  But he gave up after a few weeks having not really tried to expand his clientele. Yes it’s low value, but for kids it’s a nice easy starter job.

Obviously if you use animal products you have to go through proper regulations and council checks (in the UK at least). So we avoided those, sticking with vegetarian/vegan recipes.  

It’s also worth having a couple of recipe options because not everyone wants to give their dog peanut butter or wheat.

If you’re just making them for your own dogs, then the world’s your oyster (just avoid any foods that are toxic to dogs).

You’ve got several options for selling dog treats.

• Always include the ingredient list. 
• Use cellophane bags – sell 5 in a pack. You can make your own tags or fold over logo information cards to close the bags.
• Or save jam jars and lids, sterilize them, then fill those with the treats. Especially good for returning customers to save plastic.

Places you could sell dog treats include:

• Neighbours or friends with dogs
• Sell them at school events
• Use an honesty box at your gate (just keep them out of the sun)
• Set up stall outside playing fields or popular dog walking places
• Dog-friendly cafes
• Dog walkers
• Dog groomers
• Farm shops

Hope your dogs enjoy these, and let me know if you have any other recipes you use.