Dog Biscuits

Hi MJS,

I made cookies several years ago and I can't remember the measurements but here are the ingredients:

Cookie # 1

Whole wheat flour

peanut butter (natural, unsalted, chunky or smooth to preference)

safflower oil

chicken broth (basically the water from boiling chicken)

apple (finely grated)

carrot (finely grated)

eggs

baking powder

Cookie # 2

Whole wheat flour

peanut butter (optional as this cookie is very flavorful)

spinach

salmon

eggs

chicken broth (see note above)

safflower oil

baking powder

Notes:  dough needs to be of rolling consistency, and baked at a fairly low temperature for a longer time to crisp up without browning.  I think I used 250* for about 15-20 minutes.  I use safflower oil for the fat because it is the best oil for dogs when doing home cooking for them.  In the salmon cookies, I don't use a lot of salmon because it is so rich.  "Jest a tetch" is all that is needed, so I would recommend no more than 1/2 cup cooked salmon per recipe.

If you give me some time to think about it I can come up with measurements too, but these two cookies will give you ballpark ingredients to play around with.

Robyn

If you give me some time I'll come up with a recipe but I bet the sourdough will go over really well. My dogs love eating fresh, raw sourdough discards. I'm thinking oatmeal, whole wheat flour, apples, fennel or mint, flax and some starter. I can give it a try next week to come up with the right texture but I'm moving back into the house this week so things are chaos.

I chose apples and fennel because dogs love the taste. Mint for fresh breath and digestion. Flax for healthy coat. (ground flax) Oatmeal for texture. I'd add a little oil. I'm thinking either safflower as it's healthy and not too expensive or coconut. Probably don't need too much oil as the flax seeds add a good portion now. The coconut oil smells and tastes so good and monounsaturated healthy fat is good for dogs. Otherwise, I'd probably pick an animal source of fat or even peanut butter for the fat source.

I generally don't give my dogs too many grains but a few cookies won't hurt them and the sourdough culture helps the digestion. 

cut to the size of a sugar cube.  Salt free would be better.

Mini

Be very careful before feeding dogs yeasted foods.  Some dogs do not digest yeasts very well, and for others, yeasted foods can cause immune system problems.  My old dog used to get brewer's yeast in her vitamin supplement.. and then developed nail bed disease.  Once I stopped feeding her anything containing yeast (suggested by a friend), the condition reversed.  The damage was permanent, but at least her nails stopped rotting and falling off.

If anyone did a study using dogs, comparing brewers yeast to sourdough yeasts. ???

Klecko the founder of the St. Paul Bread Club has a book published that is all about dog biscuits.  "K-9 Nation Biscuit Book"  There are many great recipes in there.

Another book I can recommend is the Three Dog Bakery cookbook.  About the best I can think of is the Natural Care for Cats and Dogs book, author is a veterinarian, I think British.  Dr. Pitcairn.  That book has a wealth of information about nutrition for dogs, and a bunch of recipes.  That's the book I used when I developed my own dogs' food recipes.

Some cookbooks will use ingredients that are a bit "iffy" to me, because they don't really seem appropriate for dogs, so it does require some knowledge about canine nutrition, and more important about food allergens and sensitizers, and most importantly about your dogs' individual needs and contraindications.  My old dog digested chicken very well; my little one does best with beef, and the Dumpster dog will eat whatever her mouth fits around and survive.

Robyn