I currently have my friend’s dog Sascha (yes, the famous Sascha of this post and this) stopping with me. She’s a border collie and ridiculously cute, but also a little monkey who requires a lot of attention. Sometimes I have to say no and I feel like the worst dog-lover, so today I decided to make it up to my furry friend and made her some delicious homemade dog treats.
Earlier in the year, Sascha had a few digestion problems and went on an elimination diet. It seems her problems mainly came from chicken, so in order to avoid that I went for a fully vegetarian treat. This was also useful for me, as although I’m not the best vegetarian if I eat meat it’s always when eating out, I never cook with it anymore. I found this recipe for spinach, carrot, and courgette dog treats over at Damn Delicious and decided to whip them up for one of my favourite pooches.
The recipe required pumpkin puree, something that I’ve not seen in Germany, so instead, I used some mashed butternut squash to help bind it all together. In the post on Damn Delicious, she has a cute bone-shaped cookie cutter – the only cookie cutter I own is in the shape of the Queen, not quite the same. Keeping her previous tummy troubles in mind, I decided to make the treats free form and chose to make them in little balls, or pebbles, so it wouldn’t overwhelm her tiny tum.
This recipe made loads – I was really hoping she liked them. I was actually curious to try one myself, as I’d eat all the ingredients separately just probably not all mushed together like this. Something in my brain really turned me off trying them though, I think because I knew they were dog treats they automatically became unattractive. I did have a nibble on one eventually, it tasted strongly of peanut butter, and was a bit dry and chewy – not a great review from the human taster! Sascha on the other hand…
She really, really enjoyed them. Like licking my hand, the floor, anything they had touched, enjoyed them. It was hard to stop her at two, but I was pleased my first attempt at doggy treats received such a glowing review!
They did affect her stomach a little, and I think it was due to the eggs, something I forgot she is sensitive to. It had a very mild effect though so I’m not worried, I will limit the treats in future though, just in case.
New Day, New Thing 