Dog treats????

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REO

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I've been wanting to ask this, but I've had a nasty headache/migraine for 3 days.
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Anyhoo, I always enjoyed giving my dogs treats. Mostly Milk Bones. But I keep seeing warnings, don't feed this, or don't feed that!

I don't want to make treats (If I can help it) so what kind of store bought treats are good (ok to give) ?

My Roxy is very picky! Went broke trying to find treats she likes. She liked Milk bone biscuits. Are they bad? Patrick, I'm not sure what he might like. He's kind of picky too.

I miss giving treats but don't want to risk any harm to my "kids"

Thanks!
 
Robin it's so easy to do home made ones!! I do some with my food dehydrator, it was only like 14.00 at Wally World years ago but if you don't have one you can use a 200 degree oven. Use your left over meat and vegetables or buy cheap packs of chicken breast or cups of liver, maybe some cuts of beef plus use potatoes, carrots, green beans etc (I blanch those first) My dogs always loved those. You can do a whole big baking sheet full and then vacuum pack them to freeze.
 
Yup!! Miss Debby is right...its so easy. Have you tried baby carrots? My dogs love them! My dogs would never eat Milk Bones. How about just plain old hot dogs..just cut thin coin size pieces..very easy and just buy el cheap o ones!! One hot dog should last all day just giving a few pieces at a time. If you want something to last a bit longer..just put his favorite dry kibble in a water bottle with some holes in it

P.S> we haven't seen pics of your little rescue buddy in a long long time...hint hint hint
 
I microwave thin slices of a good quality hotdog and make hot dog chips for my working dogs. I also use string cheese bits for training. I got the peanutbutter treats from zukes and my dogs go ape over them. I have used freeze dried liver too.

If it is treat or working treat, in my opinion, you aren't feeding enough of it to hurt your dog. My dogs also enjoy their regular high quality dog food as treats. Chuck them on the floor for a scavenger hunt. LOL.

I made some liver treats for my dogs years ago. Stunk up the house soooooo bad I opened all the windows in the dead of winter. Guess I should have choosen something becides liver since I loathe liver. it was funny and well remembered.
 
I get a roast sliced for jerky and dehydrate it. Very quick and easy to do and it lasts for months, as I only use little pieces and I have a small dog. I feel good about it, as it has no additives.

I know you said you wanted something store-bought. How about checking with Smith & Foster? They have several pages of good treats. I've ordered the sweet potato ones before and my dog liked them.

I get lamb ears from Kanine Kountry. They are nice for a smaller dog and don't have any colors or additives on them--no mess on the carpet.
 
If we had a roast or chicken and fresh veggies & fruit we'd eat them ourselves. That would be splurging. *sigh* Price of food is so high, we're a Top Ramen type family. But the dogs get great kibble and wet food every day.
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It's that I wanted a big box of something. Our dogs are BIG and they are outside. But we like to take them to the lake and Roxy likes to have treats in the car. (like a kid with a box of crackers) It can't be meat or she gets snarky to Patrick. Which at home we tell her no & she listens, but would be hard in a moving car)

I kept a box of Milk Bones in the car for her to snack on. I was hoping someone might know of safe store bought treats for my puppy dogs.

Yes Heidi I do need a new pic of Mr Patrick! How I love that boy!
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I give my big dogs rawhide pieces. They love them and they have the best teeth. My oldest is 5 and her teeth look like a puppies teeth. When I leave for work they both get a piece to chew for the day. I know it only lasts for a short time but it keeps them happy while I'm gone. I buy them at walmart or really any pet store. They aren't that expensive.
 
Fresh fruit or veggies, dehydrated sweet potatoes, green beans, pieces of apple that peeled and seeded, peaches.....You can get store bought dehydrated sweet potatoes from petco and pet smart.
 
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I give my big dogs rawhide pieces. They love them and they have the best teeth. My oldest is 5 and her teeth look like a puppies teeth. When I leave for work they both get a piece to chew for the day. I know it only lasts for a short time but it keeps them happy while I'm gone. I buy them at walmart or really any pet store. They aren't that expensive.
Just a note.. when I was younger and living at home my moms little yorky was chewing on a rawhide and it got caught in her throat. My mom was panic stricken, I was able to get it out but it took awhile, I thought she was going to die. I also worked at a pet store and heard horrible stories of dogs(big and small) who choked on raw hides. Just an FYI. I'd feel bad if I did not say something and something happened.
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(Pig ears break down better, might be a good choice ???)
 
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They are building a Pet Smart here!
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Maybe Roxy & Patrick can pick out their own treats
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She liked tangelo, apple and banana, but doesn't seem to care for them so much now. We got her from the SPCA as an older pup so she was raised with treats from us. But Patrick was a grown dog and was in a rescue for years before I found him. (and chained in a yard for years before that) and doesn't really seem to want treats. Though he's realizing that it's ok to enjoy himself!
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What about horse cookies?
 
Mine love all sorts of treats. I try to stick with grain free and a similar protein as their food (duck and fish).

There are a lot of good dog treats on the market, just check around. Mine LOVE any dried sweet potato treat: they even had chicken or duck jerky wrapped around dried sweet potato.

They love veggies too, baby carrots.. Apples, dried cranberries.

I mix peanut butter and water, freeze in a Dixie cup (peel paper off before serving) or an ice cube tray.. I even add their favorite treats inside.
 
Ditto to Jacks'thunder post........our first dachshund Rocky loved the rawhide bones, chips, knots until one day he was acting like he did not feel well, not eating and walking around slowly and kind of hunched over. We were living in Finland at the time so I made a Vet appointment as soon as I could but could not explain his symptoms on the phone (my Finnish was not that great). Anyway the next day our doorbell rang and Rocky tried to do his usual barking but began to choke, he was gasping for air and his eyes were rolling back! My husband put pressure on both sides under his ribs and diaphragm area and out came a piece of rawhide!! I think because rawhide gets so sticky/slimy it was stuck on the side of his throat then when he barked it dislodged blocking his airway.We could have lost our sweet boy that day so needless to say we have never given rawhide to any of our dogs even our new Lab puppy. Please keep close watch on you dogs if you do give them any rawhide!!
 
Yikes! I won't give rawhide then to be safe. I do toss them the hoof trimmings when we're trimming hooves and they love those! At least I know where those've been! And I do give them bread once in a while.

I see many treats, yes. But don't know which ones are safe or not. WHY aren't Milk Bones safe?
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I've never had a problem in 5 years of giving them. Maybe I will have to find something different for them. They love horse treats. Carrot and apple ones are their favorites.
 
I worked for a small animal vet a long time ago.. I never give rawhide anymore. I don't give the store bought chew hooves (bigger than just tossing pieces trimmed off your horses) and I don't like greenies. Have seen way too many blockages and choking. My vet also said her number one stuck item is corn cobs. Folks think it is cool for the dog to eat on the corn cob like a bone. She said they often get stuck and have to be surgically removed. Very expensive operation.

The only chew thing my dogs ever get possessive of is something similar to rawhide. When they chew the rawhide and get it soggy then swallow itn quickly, (when another dog walks by) It becomes a major mass in the intestines and can get stuck or they can actually choke to death. Its true.

I do love those new (expensive) elk antlers. Worth the money. My dogs love them, my puppy picked one out herself in the dog food store. It really lasts and they do pick it up and go have a chew on it. Doesn't just lay there like a nylabone.

For treats I do like those natural choice fruit flavored treats. Can be broken easily into small pieces for training. My new zukes soft treats peanutbutter flavored are the "killer favorite" right now. When I get out the bag my obedience dogs start performing and trying to do heeling, sits and downs without being asked so they can earn a treat. Forward thinking dogs. For overly excitable puppy it does make her not be able to think so I switched to string cheese for training and use the killer yummy zukes treats for locking her up in her crate when I need to. I say the word kennel and she runs in for her treat.
 
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Caution on the hotdogs, cheese and peanutbutter. Hotdogs make my male Aussie upchuck every time, he just can't handle them and Cheese upsets my small female (she gets the scoots) and does the same to my sister's heeler. PB gives my other female HORRIBLE gas...as in she'll peel paint off the walls it's so awful. I also had a doxie who couldn't tolerate peanuts (same AWFUL sulfur reaction)

For high value training treats my dogs love chicken gizzards. I just boil them and cut them in small pieces. In our agility classes the other dogs always love them, I've yet to see a dog refuse them but they're kinda rich (all organ meat will be) and may be too much for the non working dog's waist line :p I also often freeze pumpkin up for my dogs, pumpkin is good for keeping them regular. And they absolutely adore licking the spoons, but I'd like to try dehydrating pumpkin in thin/small snack sizes but I haven't bought a dehydrator yet.

I forget the exact recipe but I had blended up some tuna, rice flour and maybe an egg for keeping things together and baked and cut it into small treats. I'd do a bunch and freeze them up in little baggies then take out as needed. those were really good alternatives (I was doing nose work so wanted a different smell) and I'm sure you could use any canned meat as substitute (i'D watch the salt content on that though and make sure it's in water not oil, the oil ones also caused various reactions with my sensitive dogs)

Now for the ones that can tolerate cheese and bread, sometimes for highly visible training treats i'd microwave a piece of cheese between two slices of bread, just enough to melt the cheese but not enough to make the bread hard, flatten it out with a rolling pin (or a heavy can of soup, lol) then cut/rip off pieces. When I'd toss them, the white bread helped them see in the grass better. Down side is every time I fix grill cheese they're expecting a bite, lol.
 
Robin,

Chevy adores the cookies we buy for the horses. I think he eats more than

the horses do....he drools for them.

They are called Dobbin's Delight Apple and Oats. We pay $16 for a 20# bag.

They are not as hard as the Apple A$$es (guess the editor doesn't like that word but you can get the drift) we used to buy for the big horses /

Chev didn't like those.

He also snuffles thru the kids bedrooms looking for missed pieces of grain.

Beggar Biscuits are an all natural heart shaped cookie available at most grocery

stores here. Chevy likes the Turkey ones.

Recently Walmart started carrying a, made in the USA, cookie made from apples,

Chicken, and one other product. The cookie is shaped as to which flavor it is.

I just threw the bag away so don't remember what they are called....

It's a 24 oz bag and is kind of a beige color with pictures of the cookies on the outside.

The important thing is to buy cookies *made* in the USA not just distributed by a company

in the USA. Or one I caught one time where the packaging of the cookies was made in the USA.

They seem to find all kinds of ways to get that *USA* on the label, to fool you.

Chev isn't much about the Milkbones or the ones that are distributed at Costco with the Kirkland brand

that seem to be handed out at the latte stands. He is a cookie monster but is kind of fussy.
 
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Oh geez, this reminds me that some years back I purchased a little kit of dog treat cookie cutters complete with a recipe book for making them treats. It is somewhere with the stuff I plan on doing someday. Sigh. Robin, if I find it I will share some recipes with you.

The only treats our indoor babies get are a couple of blueberries. They help prevent the stains under their eyes. I believe most store bought dog treats are not good. Especially if made in China. They don't even use care in processing food for humans in the USA so I can imagine what the filth is with whatever is intended for animals.

I would do some research to see what veggies are ok for them and experiment to see what they might like.

A treat for our Anatolians is a piece of thawed raw chicken. We buy the 5 lb bags when they are on sale. They devour them and it is ok to feed it to them the bones as long as it is raw chicken.
 
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Woops. I spoke too quickly. Poppy just came home with treats for the little guys. They are Blue Stix by Blue Buffalo. Label says they are fortified with natural ingredients.

Glucosamine & chondroitin for healthy joints.

Taurine to support heart health.

Vitamins A, C, & E to support the immune system.

Corn, wheat, and soy free.

Ingredients are deboned lamb, whole ground brown rice, oatmeal, maple syrup, vegetable glycerin, gelatin, apples, salt,flaxseed, carrots, sweet potato, blueberries, natural smoke flavor, taurine, rosemary. I did not realize rosemary was ok for doggies. I grow it, dry it and use it in cooking often. We'll see how these work. Our Chihuahua does not need a treat half as much as she needs exercise. She is getting rather portly.
 
vickie gee,I am very interested in your comment about blueberries for eye staining.Will it work for saliva staining around the mouth?My 11 yr old Corgi pants a lot and her under jaw is very stained.do you feed them frozen or fresh?
 

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