All Natural Summertime Dog Treats

My ultimate goal other than having our family eat real food exclusively is to transition even our pets to real food. Not table food like leftovers but a balanced diet (for cats and dogs) of meats, animal-friendly vegetables, healthy fats, and suitable fruits.

This IS their natural, innate food range after all (concentrating in protein).

With our nine month old puppy, Jax, who is an Australian Cattle Dog (aka, a Red Heeler), I buy kibble with "chicken" being the first ingredient. (Remember, ingredients are listed in the order of predominance by weight. The first five listed tend to be the main ingredients.) I also am super picky on the treats I buy him. I try to stay away from treats that list "wheat" or "corn" as their first ingredient.

Look at the prices of these commercial “gluten free” or “corn free” or “grain free” treats at the pet stores and breathe a sigh of relief because YOU can make them at home for a LOT less!

Today, I’m going to concentrate on SUMMERTIME treats for your dog. This recipe is a take on a favorite copycat recipe for a frozen dog treat that has been floating around the internet, but I modified it to add more nutrition. It typically sells for $4-6 for only four servings. Uh, no, I won't be buying that said the dog mama who has bought her pup countless toys since she got him 7 months ago.

Jax enjoying his summertime treat.

Frozen Yogurt Summertime Dog Treats
printable recipe here

32 ounces regular or Greek yogurt (not nonfat)
1 banana
2 tablespoons peanut butter
2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons flax meal
2 teaspoons nutritional yeast

Mix all the ingredients together in a blender. Pour into paper cups or mini plastic cups* like I used. (I found mine at Wal-Mart, but they are available on Amazon also. We didn't have paper cups in the house.)

Place cups on a cookie tray (that fits in your freezer) and freeze until hard. To store, after yogurt mix is frozen, place cups in a large, resealable freezer bag. To serve, either thaw slightly or microwave for about 10 seconds. Pop out of the cups and give to your sweet, spoiled pooch!

This is not his normal food bowl but was used for photo purposes. Ha!

* The neat thing about the plastic cups is that the frozen yogurt mix popped right out when I pushed with my thumbs on the bottom. The plastic cups were unharmed and could definitely be used again to make more if you used these.

What I added and why.
Flax meal - If you have flax seeds then you can grind them in a blender to make your own meal but they do need to be ground for your dog to reap the nutritional benefits. Flax meal is an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, protein, and fiber.

Nutritional yeast - Nutritional yeast is high in protein, fiber, and folic acid. It's also full of vitamin B-12 which is usually found exclusively in animal products. Vitamin B-12 is important for your dog's overall health, oral health, and is a natural flea repellent (because of the Thiamine found in B-12). In rare cases, dogs may have sensitivities to this yeast.

A few other nutritional things that could easily be added that you may have in your kitchen without changing the desirability (or flavor!) of this recipe include: coconut oil (omega-6 fatty acid plus other benefits), ceylon cinnamon (for the same reasons cinnamon is good for us applies to our furry friends), any frozen fruit or vegetables that are dog-friendly**, and eggs or cheese. If your dog has a Kong toy then you could freeze some in it or use the water bottle ice cube trays (I've seen these at Wal-Mart) to freeze some of the mix in to put in their Kong.

Did you notice any drawings or writing on the peanut butter in my picture of the ingredients? It's deadly warnings so no one uses this jar that gets double-dipped in with spoons that have touched dog slobbered on toys! ;)

Other summertime treat ideas:

• Slice up an apple and put in an ice tray and fill the rest of the way with homemade chicken broth (make sure you did not use onions in your broth). Use your imagination for all kinds of variations of this idea.
• Similarly, fill a Bundt pan with water and an assortment of dog-friendly fruit**.
• Just give frozen pieces of dog-friendly fruit** (strawberries, apples, watermelon, pears, pineapple, raspberries, etc.) or vegetables (pumpkin, carrot, sweet potatoes, etc.) to your dog.

** A favorite holistic pet site I suggest for finding a comprehensive, researched list of raw foods that are safe for your dog such as the fruit and vegetables is this one.

One simple thing Jax likes is just to have a bowl full of ice cubes to play with and lick while outside on a hot day. Water gets all over the porch, but it evaporates (or is licked up) in no time.

Even the cats were wanting to eat the summertime dog treat, but I haven't researched yet if these ingredients are safe for them (especially the dairy part).

Let me know if you try this and whether or not your pup likes it. Jax LOVES it!

This was after my boy had his treat and was asking for more!