# Would you feed this to your pup?



## labst60 (May 24, 2010)

I wanted to make some homemade dog treats for the puppy's arrival to help with training (both house training and clicker training).

I was a bit concerned about my girls handling the prepackaged dog treats (my mom always warned me of girls touchign the dogs food/treats b/c of salmonella - not sure where she got it from, but I didn't want to take any chances!)

For meal food - we'll stick with what the breeder uses (innova and puppy plates) - and she did say she'd send me home with some treats - and I'm happy to feed them to the dog- but the girls will be very involved in the training, and I just don't want them walking aroudn with a handful of potentially salmonella-laden treats and then touching the baby!

So - I looked on allrecipes.com (my fav site!) and found Peanut Butter and Banana Dog Biscuits - since I had everything on hand, I whipped up a batch. I made most of them the sizeof a huge pea - so we could use them frequently. A few I made into tiny bones - but those will be for "special treats" not just "regular' training.

So... here is the recipe - is there anything in here that you would think may cause the pup a problem? (I skipped the egg white wash b/c my pea sized biscuits were too small to wash!)

1 egg
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup mashed banana
1 tablespoon honey
1 cup whole wheat flour'
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 egg white, lightly beaten, for brushing

*Directions*


Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet.
Stir together the egg, peanut butter, banana, and honey in a medium bowl; blend thoroughly. Stir in the flour and wheat germ; mix well. Turn dough out onto a floured board and roll to 1/4 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes with a cookie cutter, place on prepared baking sheet, and brush tops with egg white.
Bake biscuits in preheated oven until dried and golden brown, about 30 minutes, depending on size. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack


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## spookiesmom (Mar 28, 2010)

I'd eat them!


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## labst60 (May 24, 2010)

I didn't have a 4-legged tester, but my 2-legged tester said that they weren't too bad! 

Just like with kids though... alll the "avoid this" and 'don't feed them that " can get overwhelmng and confusing.

From what I read, it seemed like these woudl be okay...

I was really confused b/c a lot of recipes called for cornmeal - and I thought we were supposed to avoid corn... or did I just misunderstand or imagine that?


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## LJSquishy (Feb 27, 2008)

Some dogs have an allergy to grains, but not all. Wheat is one of the more common allergens if they do happen to be allergic to a grain. As far as I know from research, grain is not a natural part of the canine diet (in the wild) so many of us feed grain-free treats. If your pup seems to tolerate grains they would be fine to use. I would limit them to a few per day probably.


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## Sylie (Apr 4, 2011)

I wouldn't feed it to my dogs simply because it is high in calories. I just use the regular tiny kibble for training, and sometimes still need to skip a meal. For extra special rewards I give them real meat. My dogs are so food crazy they don't care what it is. It is just my opinion, but I don't think dogs need "cookies".

As for the salmonella in kibble...*hope not*... that could kill a puppy. I don't think you need to worry if you use a high quality, well tested food.


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## michellerobison (Dec 17, 2009)

spookiesmom said:


> I'd eat them!


 
That's so funny I was going to say that too,sounds delicious.


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## edelweiss (Apr 23, 2010)

Some kibble has been recalled on occasion because of salmonella. It has to do w/the drying process somehow. Mostly they are safe. Eukaneuba was recalled when Kitzel was still on it so I took him off & just never gave it back (that is what the breeder started him out on) after they fixed it.


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## labst60 (May 24, 2010)

Thanks everyone! 
For some reason... I never thougth of "real meat". I just didn't love the idea of the girls always having dog food intheir hands (yuck!) and I was going on my mom's advice about the salmonella. I did a quick google search and came up with this article (among others):
Hazards - Salmonella Is Traced to Dry Pet Food - NYTimes.com

The puppy does seem to like the treats (we do a large pea-sized piece for a treat) but I fear it is "filling him up" and that's why we are having meal-time trouble (not eating enough) and then poop-time trouble (unpredictable b/c he isn't eating regular meals!)

How exactly do you train a pup this size when you need to give treats to train - but treats fill them up so very quickly? Of course, we are using praise as a "treat" too...but it really doesn't go as far as the yummy stuff!

For those of you who use real meat - do you mind explaining a little more - what kind of meat? (All the "food rules" are overwhelming me!) Do you just grill up a piece, mini dice and freeze to use as needed??


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## Sylie (Apr 4, 2011)

Well, Bentley is still too young to start obedience training, so a tiny bite for potty training shouldn't be a problem.
For real meat, I either give them some of what I have or I freeze small bits when trimming. I use the meat for more demanding tasks, like recall.
A young Malt really eats a tiny portion. I measured it. Even full grown MiMi only gets about a quarter cup of kibble twice a day.
What brand of food are you feeding him?


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## silverhaven (Sep 6, 2009)

I use Pure Bites freeze dried liver treats the most. I cut them up into the tiniest pieces, even sometimes they just get a pinch of the powder that is at the bottom of the bag. The quantity doesn't seem to bother them as long as they get the taste.


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## labst60 (May 24, 2010)

Thanks!

Right now he is getting a mix of Innova puppy and Puppy Plates (given to me by the breeder - he was eatign that mix there.) He seems thoroughly unimpressed by it! My guess is that he is eating about 1/8 cup of it a day - most of what he does eat is hand fed.

The breeder also gave us some canned food (Critcal Care?) in case he wasn't taking the food well - and instructed me to mix it with the kibble. I tried that this mornng - and it made no difference- still not really interested.  And he hadn't had any treats since around 8pm last night - and it was 6am this morning - and just me and him - no other people/distractions and he still only did a few bites. But again - later in the morning he DID poop - so he must be getting something! (You can tell I still have a nursing baby since I go soley by mood/poop when determining adequate food intake!!)

We have started to teach him to sit (mainly as a way to stop unwanted behavior - running away, jumping, etc) and we're at about 70% sucess the first time I give him the command - closer to 90-95% for subequent tries in the same "practice session". We're keeping it short - less than 5 minutes at a time. And when he's in his playpen, he needs to sit for me to pick him up out of there - he learned that one REALLY quick!


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