Treating your dog with homemade treats is a great way to spend some quality time together with your four legged friend and make them feel like true family members. How often do you catch yourself baking some delicious treats for your dog? This could be just as much fun for you as for your beloved dog. Trying something new is always exciting!

At first glance making your own treats might sound time consuming and silly. Why make them when you can just go to the store and purchase many different kinds and flavours of snacks? Well, just like we mentioned before, baking your own batch of treats is a fun way to spend time with your pet. They can get involved in the baking process just like little kids. They might not have crafty hands and delicate skills, but you can make sure that they make excellent taste testers and that no spoon or bowl goes into the kitchen sink without being thoroughly licked clean by your little helper.

Besides the fun baking grants you, by making your own homemade treats you know exactly what goes into your dog’s mouth. You don’t have to worry about additives and ingredients that could harm your four legged friend like added sugars. Even though goodies made specifically for dogs are supposed to be harmless sometimes they might contain ingredients that are better to be avoided. Therefore we advise to always read the ingredients on the back of packages. However if you make your own snacks you don’t have to worry about any of that. You know exactly what goes into the treats you give to your pet.

Before baking you have to make sure that you know what ingredients are safe for dogs and what are those that we might love but for our dog it can be harmful. There are some more evidently harmful ingredients like refined sugar, but understandably you want to make sure that every treat you give your dog is made of safe ingredients. Even some natural ingredients are better to be avoided, therefore as a rule of thumb, always check each ingredient’s safety beforehand, and give a small sample to your dog before making a big batch of treats to see how they react to it.

Here are some ingredients that are safe for you to consume however they can cause irritation, digestive problems or even more severe illnesses to your beloved dog (some of these might be only harmful when consumed in a large quantity, but we believe it is better to be safe than sorry):

• Chocolate, processed sugar and sweeteners
• Coffee and caffeine
• Avocados
• Dairy products (can cause bloating)
• Macadamia nuts
• Citrus
• Onions and garlic
• Grapes and raisins
• Yeast dough
• Salt
• Raw eggs and meat (due to potential bacterial contamination)

As we mentioned earlier, it is best to always look for information on any type of human food before feeding it to your dog.

On the other hand, here are some ingredients that are safe for dogs to consume:

• Apples
• Oranges
• Bananas
• Watermelon (make sure to remove the seeds first)
• Blueberries
• Carrots
• Zucchini
• Pumpkin and sweet potatoes
• Green beans
• Potatoes
• Cooked rice
• Oats
• Unsalted peanut butter (make sure to choose the natural ones that have no additives in them)

There are many more human foods that dogs can eat without any issues, so we encourage you to look up further ingredientes to work with!

Pumpkin & carrot cookies

What you’ll need:

• ¾ cups of pumpkin puree
• ¼ cup of shredded carrots
• 1 egg
• 1 cup of flour (you can use whole wheat flour, however the gluten can upset the stomach of some dogs, therefore if you’re afraid that this might happen to your dog you can use oat flour)

Mix the ingredients together and add some water if it is needed. You should look for a dough consistency that can be rolled out and cut into small pieces. Bake them for 30 minutes or until they are golden brown.

Peanut butter bites

What you’ll need:

• ½ cup of peanut butter
• 2 cups of flour
• 2 eggs

Mix the ingredients together and gradually add water to it until it becomes a rollable dough. Then cut it into shapes or choose fun cookie cutters to make unique treats. Bake them for 15-20 minutes or until they are golden brown.

Feel free to experiment with different ingredients from our list above. You can always switch out some ingredients to  substitute it with others. You can always add different kinds of lean meats or fish to increase the protein content of the treats. Just keep in mind that it has to be tasty for your dog not for you. You don’t need to add various spices and salt for them to enjoy their snacks.