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As a canine nutritionist, there are few commercial dog treats I’ll risk feeding my dogs. The ingredients are often hideous, synthetic, or mysterious. The gimmicky “festive” treats around this time of year are even worse. The few brands I am willing to feed my dogs are outrageously priced. So, I make my own dog snacks.
Treats can total up to 10% of your dog’s diet without causing issues with nutritional balance. Making my own dog treats saves me significant money, lets me impress friends with beautiful handmade Christmas treat hampers for their dogs, and ensures my dogs get quality, nutritious treats. Sometimes, I even smuggle supplements inside the treat recipe.
Here are some top tips for making healthy, tasty treats for your dogs for the holidays and the rest of the year.
And yes, that’s my weird, lovely little whippet in the featured image, surrounded by some of the many different treats I make!
1. Keep It Simple
You don’t need to get too fancy. Your dog will thoroughly enjoy some cubes of cooked meat. If you want to make cookie or biscuit-style treats, try something simple like easy fish dog treats that are super healthy, cheap, and tasty.
Mixing pure pumpkin puree, oat flour, and cheese makes tasty treats. You can also incorporate simple but cheap and healthy ingredients like yogurt, applesauce, liver, heart, and bananas, all of which make excellent additions to easy dog treats.
RELATED: Easy Fish Dog Treat Recipe
2. Make Impressive Gifts Easily
Many of my friends are pawrents, like me, and I like to gift their dogs as well as them. I also make Christmas dog treat hampers for the dogs in our training classes. But I don’t want to spend much time or money doing it.
Here’s my secret hack for beautiful Christmas dog treats.
I buy mini truffle cups or candy cups in festive colors and chocolate boxes or mini cupcake packaging boxes. Red foil and white striped boxes work well for this time of year. I bake “pupcakes” into the mini candy cups, then, when cool, I place them in the presentation boxes, wrap and decorate the boxes, et voila, a beautiful, handmade gift that looks like something from a gourmet pet bakery.
The recipe I use changes yearly, depending on my available ingredients.
If you want to gift treats that last longer, you can go with a dog cookie recipe that bakes drier, and just fill a Mason jar with the baked treats, then close and decorate the jar in a kitschy, festive style. You can also pop a food-safe desiccant sachet in the bottom of the jar to stop spoilage from moisture. Just warn the recipient that it’s in there, and they shouldn’t let their dog eat it.
3. Make Treats in Bulk
Save time and money by making dog treats in bulk. Yes, it’s true that you shouldn’t give your dog more than 10% of their total calories in the form of treats, but nothing is stopping you from making big batches at once. Remember, you can freeze them until you need them.
I have a large commercial dehydrator with 12 big trays. And when I’m making treats, I make enough to fill the dehydrator. Sometimes twice over. I’ll often make enough raw mixture to freeze in multiple batches. It saves me time and allows me to capitalize on bulk discounts and sales on ingredients.
RELATED: Easy “Gingerbread” Dog Treats With Blueberries and Coconut
4. Sneak in Supplements
If you have fussy dogs that aren’t keen on supplements in their dinner, you can get sneaky and add the supplements to the treat mixture, as long as oven temperatures don’t harm the beneficial elements. One of my fusspots doesn’t like his multi-mushroom supplement, and the other doesn’t like the seaweed supplement, so I add these to strong-flavored treats, which fools them every time.
Be mindful that you can’t precisely control the amount of the supplement your dog consumes this way, so err on the side of caution, don’t overfeed, and be sure the supplement you’re adding isn’t something that requires precision.
I just sprinkle the seaweed supplement onto my beef jerky recipe before I pop it in the dehydrator, and I just bake the mushroom supplement right into fish or liver cookies.
5. Shop Smart to Save Money
It’s so easy to overspend on our pets. One study found that over 50% of pet owners gave equal or greater priority to buying healthy food for their pets over themselves. But if you shop smart, you can save money on dog treat ingredients. Start with a good money-saving app to let you make savings on key ingredients. Get to know local producers, farmers, and homesteaders, as you may get a great deal on seasonal produce.
I regularly barter with a couple of local homesteaders and hunters. I provide preserves, excess vegetables, or handmade items, and in return, I get deer, rabbit, lamb, chicken, and game birds, as well as some fresh fruit, veggies, and nuts when they’re in season. It’s a great way to support local people and make big savings.
6. Avoid Harmful Ingredients
Avoid ingredients harmful to dogs, such as chocolate, grapes, onions, and artificial sweeteners like xylitol. Stick to dog-safe ingredients only. During the holidays, people are often tempted to add festive flavorings to dog treats, like nutmeg, but that’s dangerous. Stick to ingredients you know are safe, and if in doubt, check with a reliable source or your veterinarian’s office.
Peanut butter is a BIG danger. Check the ingredients. Avoid anything with xylitol or palm oil/palm fat in it. Ideally, go for peanut butter than only contains peanut and peanut oil. Or, just follow my crazy-easy recipe below and make your own peanut butter (It’s cheap and healthy).
RELATED: Easiest Peanut Butter Recipe Ever
RELATED: Peanut Butter and Pumpkin Treats for Dogs
7. Use Leftovers Wisely
Don’t waste leftovers. You can use many safe, dog-friendly leftovers in homemade treats. For example, unsalted turkey or chicken are great choices to add to dog treats. The same goes for leftover sweet potatoes and plain veggies that you can puree and add to the treat mix. You can also freeze these leftovers until you’re ready to make a batch of treats.
Plus, you can use roast chicken carcasses, raw bones, cooked ribs and other bones to make a beautiful broth good for humans and pets, and use that as the liquid component of your dog treats, too, for an additional health boost.
RELATED: How to Make Bone Broth For Dogs (and Cats and Humans Too)