Dog Treats: Weekly Experimental Post!

So, this last week I made some cut out treats.  I'm completely behind on this plan to do different treats each week, but it's mostly because I've picked up so many extra hours at work the last couple of weeks!

I bought some basic cookie cutters off Amazon in a few cute shapes, then ordered some custom designed cutters from HomePrint3D on Etsy.  Their customer service is AMAZING and I absolutely adore the work they did.

Idgie was also highly impressed

The recipe I used to begin with is a really simple milk-bone type recipe:
3/4 cup hot water
1/3 cup margarine
1/2 cup powdered milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
3 cups whole wheat flour
In large bowl pour hot water over the margarine. Stir in powdered milk, salt, and egg. Add flour, 1/2 cup at a time. Knead for a few minutes to form stiff dough. Pat or roll to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut into shapes. Bake at 325 degrees for ~50 minutes. Cool. They will dry out quite hard. Makes about 1 1/4 pounds of biscuits. ((Make sure you put these on the middle rack... I had some on the middle and some on the bottom and the ones on the bottom were too done when I pulled them out!! ))

All three of the pups liked these treats as is with no extra seasoning in them. They're nice and crunchy and apparently tasty. =) I attempted a few batches with slight recipe changes and everything I tried, they loved. Beef or chicken broth in place of the water really got them excited. =) 

This recipe is pretty basic and nothing too thrilling about the cooking process - the excitement here is in the cookie cutters!!!! My initial batch was done with the cutters off of Amazon, and I used the fire hydrant and dog bone cutters for those.

After the etsy cutters came in, I had a blast making them with the logos!!

Each batch of dough made 12-16 of these larger cookies.

She really, really, really didn't want to hold still for this pic!!

Success!!!

My First Bama Bully event

Saturday morning I dove in head first to my first Bama Bully booth: GBHS' Barking for Bucks telethon.  My friend Apasra sent me there with $20 so I could get a shirt (THANK YOU!), Nick is coming by sometime a little later in the morning with Elsa, and I've got a few dog treats baked to help raise a little.

My southern side took over during packaging...

I'm pretty tired from working the night before (and somehow knowing I have to be back at work Saturday evening is making it worse...), but I am really excited because one of the ladies at work saw me making up the baggies and bought two of them from me right then and there!  That was encouraging because I was doubting all the effort I put into the setup (as usual).

I am not able to bring Idgie because I have only had her for one week.  Instead, Nick is going to bring Elsa by a little later in the morning.  I'll have enough time to setup and get settled in before she arrives and then he can walk her around a bit before she has to be contained at the booth with me.

I get there around 8:30 (I got held up trying to make a few extra treats after work) and meet Laura to finish setting up.  By nine the event has started and people are slowly trickling in.  Overall, people were really nice and interested in our adoptable bullies.  Nick brought Elsa around 10:30 and I had to leave to get to bed by noon.

She was a total ham and everyone loved it!

Nick and I walked around to the different booths before I had to leave. Everyone was really nice and I was surprised at how awesome Hollywood Feed is... they actually charge less for Canidae Life Stages food than I am paying off of Amazon!!! They also have a buy 10 get the 11th free with Canidae.  They gave us tennis balls that are a huge hit at the house!!

Puppy photos! Week of 7/7

We just found out Brusters does puppy sundaes!!

Mommy, I think it's a little too tight...

Got a Kong wobbler this week to keep things varied and interesting at mealtime. 

New Kong! Donated the old one to the humane society. :)

I wanna pump gas too!!

Dog Treats: Weekly Experimental Baking Post!

I want to start selling homemade dog treats and toys on Etsy, so I am going to be doing some experimental recipes that I will record on here and send out samples to a few loyal readers for feedback. I've got a few friends who will try the recipes out, but I also want some other people to try the products out.

This week, I am working on the beginnings of a trail mix for pups.  I'm testing a mix of dried chicken, dried blueberries, and cinnamon-honey-roasted peanuts.

The dried chicken is easy: take it out of a can, rinse off the extra fat, and put the small pieces of chicken in the oven for around four hours at 175 °F.

The blueberries are a bit more involved.  Begin by boiling the blueberries for around a minute to split the skins. 

Then put them in cold water to cool off quickly...

On the side, I added a bit of honey and boiled the juice down for a bit. Then, I stuck the concoction in an ice tray. The pups now have blueberry honey pops!

Take the blueberries out of the cold water and lay them out to dry off.

Then, into the oven at 200 degrees for four hours, stirring every half an hour to help them dry evenly.

Elsa and Britta are both just crazy about the chicken and blueberries.  I tasted one of the blueberries and it is really bitter.  I have NO IDEA why they're so crazy about it!!!  I'm not brave enough to try the chicken now, hahaha.

Onto the peanuts.  On a low temperature, put some cinnamon in the pan.  Then add honey and stir.  (I tried a recipe the first time that called for butter and they just burned in the oven.)

Once you've coated the peanuts, stick them in the oven at 200 degrees for 45 minutes, stirring every fifteen.  Elsa isn't as crazy about these as the blueberries and the chicken, but she will eat them anyway.  Britta seems to like them pretty well. Personally, I like them but am thinking about adding a bit of vanilla flavoring to the mix next time to see how that goes.

In conclusion, of COURSE my pups love these treats, hahaha.  They love EVERYTHING!  To help determine how the treats REALLY are, I'm going to make a big batch of these treats to send out to friends later next week.  Once they've sent their reviews in, I'll post them here!!!

Are you interested in reviewing my treats?  Comment below with an email!  I will be in touch with a few people to review  

June BarkBox #1 Has Arrived!!

So, we have two BarkBoxes coming this month!!! Britta and Elsa each get a box and originally Nick and I were looking forward to it because it will allow us to have identical toys for them which means less tug-o-war sessions over the current favorite thing when they're together.
Instead, we have two completely DIFFERENT boxes that are showing up!!! I'm not even upset by this... the treats are always fantastic and this means Nick and I can split the treats up and each puppy can have four to five types of treats instead of only two or three!
This also gives me a chance to gush about the treats and toys that come TWICE as much as originally planned. =)

First off, let me just talk about customer service. BarkBox has it down!! We received a discount for having two boxes coming to our household, last month a toy didn't show up and they immediately sent us another toy, and I received an email from one of the owners just checking to see how we were liking our subscription.
For those of you that aren't familiar, BarkBox donates 10% of its proceeds to a different rescue each month.
My referral link is: http://ruv.barkbox.com/x/s7oA7g... You get 10% off your subscription and I get a free box.

We buy the Medium box for both of the pups since Elsa and Britta are currently somewhere between 25&30 pounds. The beauty of the subscription is that once they need a Large box, we can switch up to that!
 
So, now on to what everyone is reading this page for: the goodies that came in our first box this month!

Le Petit Treat - Quiche Lorraine
Valued at 7.1 oz for $11.99 

Treats in general go over well with both Britta and Elsa. These are going to be especially useful for training.  The two girls adored these treats and the heart shape is absolutely adorable!

Bocce's Chicken Cordon Bleu
Valued at 8 oz for $9.50 

These smell so good I want to eat them myself!!  The pups apparently agree since they almost instantly wanted seconds. :)

Harry Barker Cotton Rope Tug & Toss
Valued at $8 

This is a really good toy for Elsa. We are working on her becoming more interested in toys and building her prey drive some to help with her training.  This being both a tug toy and a ball, it's much more convenient for trips to the park!  I'm hoping it holds up better to her chewing than other rope toys we have had.

Edit: she has chewed on this constantly for the last three days and she hasn't broken any of the rope yet! This is a perfect toy for us!

Harry Barker Eiffel Tower Dog Toy
Valued at $12 

I was so excited when I saw this toy in the set! Mom is big into French impressionism and language and I'm a fan of the Eiffel tower and Monet myself. I'm really glad this came in Elsa's box because I think mom will get a kick out of it. Elsa is going to love anything I dangle in her face to play with, so I tend to get excited when I find something I like too. =) 

The best part? This toy has TWO SQUEAKERS IN IT!!

Edit: after only two days, this toy has a major hole in the bottom and a smaller one up top.  Elsa is a moderate chewer, at best.  It's adorable but NOT worth $12.

  

Overall Value ~$31
Six month subscription cost: $114 ($19/mo)
This box is definitely worth EVERY penny!

Stay tuned! The other BarkBox for this month should arrive in a couple of days!!  If the preview on my app is to be believed, it is a monkey theme. =) What items have you recieved in your BarkBox this month?

If you are curious about what comes in the small box, I recommend checking out My Subscription Addiction's BarkBox reviews!

Puppy Treats

So, I spend a lot of time bribing my baby to do what she needs to. As puppies, that's the best way to handle them. I feed her a handful of kibble when a child wants to pet her at the Farmer's Market, I give her a Kong stuffed with things to stop the incessant chewing, the list is endless.

I have found several treats that she enjoys and wanted to document them here in case I get too in the habit of certain things later and need to re-diversify.
- frozen peanut butter and bacon smeared on any chew toy
- frozen neufchatel cheese with tuna, bacon, hamburger, etc on any chew toy
- blueberries (frozen, fresh)
- apples
- carrots
- frozen cubes of low sodium chicken or beef broth mixed 1:1 with water... sometimes finely shredded cheese or tuna water in these as well
- hot dogs (of course!)
- kibble soaked in the middle of a kong with water and frozen into a yummy mush

Here is a list of things I want to try in the future:
- baked peanut butter treats (peanut butter, egg, maybe bacon?)
- puppy frozen yogurt (peanut butter, banana, plain yogurt)
- trail mix (leftover fruit, veggies, and meat pieces dehydrated)
- apple crunch pupcakes (http://www.cesarsway.com/dog-care/dog-nutrition/Recipe-Ideas-for-Quick-and-Healthy-Homemade-Dog-Treats#link5)