Maine Pets

My dogs are getting a special treat today of home made sweet potato chews, lovingly made by yours truly. Snack making was inspired by a blog post on the Raise a Green Dog blog. Lots of great ideas over there! http://blog.raiseagreendog.com/

Recipe for Sweet Potato Chews

Wash sweet potatoes
peel and slice approx. 1/3" wide
bake at 250 for about three hours.



A few years ago I picked up a dehydrator at a yard sale for 5 bucks. I went to town making my own dog treats and played around with lot of sweet potato ideas. I sliced them in the same manner only I marinated them in as my mother would say "juice" from whatever I was cooking at the time, chicken, beef or turkey. Next time I make chews, I plan on trying this method for extra flavor. The expensive treats sold in stores are sliced even thinner than the ones I made and they wrap them around a special goody like a piece of chicken. I tried those to and they came out pretty much like the pre-packaged one only for a whole lot less money. Long baked sweet potatoes make great treats, same thing as any of the ideas above, only you need to dice them before baking and cooking time would be cut to about 2 hours instead of three.


It didn't take long for me and the dehydrator to grow apart. The dehydrator took about 11 hours to cook, and I never did get comfortable going to sleep or leaving the house with it on, so the only time I really used it was when we were home all day, but the motor buzz bothered us all. Good thing I only paid 5 bucks for it. I am sure there are wonderful dehydrators out there with shorter cooking times and quieter motors and one of these days, I will get another one. I spend a bloody fortune on dog treats every week.

Lately I have been stocking up on boneless white meat chicken, bought at 99. cents a pound. I bake the chicken in the oven with no salt added. After I cook it I bag it up and freeze in single servings. Recipes for the family or treats for dogs are ready to go after defrost.
For training treats, I just cut it up, wrap in paper towel and nuke it in the micro wave for a few minutes to remove moisture.

For those of you who hold on to the belief that you don't want to feed your dog "people food" why ever not? Plain white meat chicken is much healthier than the supermarket crap I see lots of you using for treats.
It is cheaper, and healthier and your dog doesn't know you didn't by it at in the pet food isle!
As long as you are not taking it off your plate with your dog staring and drooling at you, you will be fine.


If you haven't gotten around to carving that pumpkin, don't waste the pumpkin. Pumpkin guts make a great addition to your dog's food. Give dogs a few spoonfuls mixed in with their regular food for a special treat, or just feed right into a bowl. Pumpkin can be used for dogs with digestion issues, for both diarrhea or constipation. I used to buy LOTS of no sugar added canned pumpkin to Charlee's food back when we trained agility to bulk up her food with low calories and fiber, and help to make her feel full. Pumpkin is a great diet aid for dogs.

No matter what kind of treats you give your dog on Halloween-please be safe and watch out for Xylitol, a sugar substitute that dogs cannot digest. It is becoming more and more prevalent in snacks and foods and can be deadly.

About the photo-As you can see we baked our pumpkin seeds right along side the dog chews.
Yummy!