Does anyone else make homemade dog biscuits?

[chicken_china_mom]

I'm about to head into the kitchen to make some dog biscuits. Once my dogs smell those in the oven they'll be at the kitchen door drooling, lol. I was just wondering, does anyone else make them? What do you use in yours? My only problem is I can't make them dry out enough. I'm wondering if I got a dehydrator, would that help dry them out so they last longer? That's if my dogs don't devour them all moments after I make them! When my dog Sophie was pregnant a few years back, she lost weight during the pregnancy and was scaring me cause she would eat and eat, but kept losing weight, so I found some recipes for dog biscuits, and kinda combined them to make one of my own creation. I made fresh biscuits daily for her and fed her high fat/protein ones to put some weight on her, and it worked. I fed lower fat ones to my other dogs and everyone was happy. Of course, Sophie thought she should get the biscuits every day forever, lol. I make them with what I have on hand, and today it's chicken gizzards and meat baby food. I also add garlic powder to help with fleas, and parsley for fresh breath. They help my little Sweet Pea too since she is hypoglycemic as they are higher in protein and keep her blood sugar steady and even longer. What does everyone else use in their recipes?

 

[foweler]

My mom brought over a batch she made a couple of weeks ago. I don't know the recipe but the dog sure likes them. They are plenty dry and crisp and she used a cookie cuter that embossed "I love my dog" into them.

I'll have her send the recipe and post it here later.

 

[redhen]

I have one that uses some flour, peanut butter, wheat germ, honey, i think molassas(sp?), Um..i cant remember what else is in it. They love them! I'll try to find my doggie recipes.

 

[giasmom]

Yes I make my own.I have a little "Dog Bone" kit that came in a small tin can with 3 bone cutters of differant sizes and a basic recipe,that I've had for years. Its made by Fox Run, Craftsmen. I love it also with the basic recipe you can expand it to many differant versions. The basic recipe....
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup non-dairy powder milk
1 tsp sugar & salt
6 tbsp margarine
1 egg

Mix all ingredient together w/ 1/2 cup water Knead for 3 minutes Dough should form a ball.Roll it to 1/2 inch thick & cut into shapes. Bake on lightly greased baking sheet for 20 to 30 min on 350 degrees. Add stock instead of water or boullin to taste. Or you can add dry soup mixes to it also. Let dry on racks or put in dehydrator. sometimes I will add boiled chicken or liver, my babies prefer the chicken ones. You can also add veggies if you prefer.

 

[Nivrocco]

If you bake them at a lower temperature for a longer period of time you can get them crispier without burning them..

 

[redhen]

Quote:
OOh yumm! I like this one! So, if i put meat into the biscuits, do i have to keep them in the fridge?

 

[Judy]

You can also leave them in the oven after you turn it off for a few hours.

I bake them at 325 for 30 minutes then freeze all but a few days' worth, which I refrigerate. They are soft but for my dogs I'd rather have them soft. If I bake them too long, up to an hour, they are crunchy and do not burn.

I rotate between cooked chopped bacon (in the food processor), peanut butter, and grated cheese.

 

[consdrs]

1 cup rice flour (less prone to cause allergies)
1 lb chicken livers
1 tsp garlic POWDER not salt!
1 tsp onion POWDER

blend in blender until smooth. It's hard to make livers smooth... yuck. bake at 250 until crisp. could be an hour! you basically just want to dry them. I put these in a pastry bag (I have 2 small dogs) and dot onto a cookie sheet. if you add more rice flour I suppose it could be shape-able. I have also spread it out on a cookie sheet in a thin layer and half way through remove it from pan and cut into desired size and return to oven to continue drying.

problem is keeping my husband out of the finished product... he actually likes liver...... ewwwwwwww

makes you house smell horrible!!!

Connie

 

[Equus5O]

My mother bakes horse cookies, and dogs eat them as well. The recipe includes sweet feed, molasses, flour, and I've no clue what else.

She generally makes them for holidays, using cookie cutters, and decorates them accordingly.

 

[chicken_china_mom]

What I have been doing is using flour, eggs, whatever meat I have on hand, sometimes it's just some turkey or chicken flavored baby food, sometimes it's cooked chicken breast or gizzards, parsley, garlic powder, and the water the meat was boiled in. My kitchen smells "meaty" at the moment, but not bad. Kind of like it would smell at Thanksgiving or Christmas, lol. My littlest chihuahua knew what we were making as soon as she smelled the gizzards cooking and she stood at the kitchen doorway watching every moment of the process. We keep up a baby gate to keep the dogs out of the kitchen otherwise she would have been in the kitchen under foot sniffing around. I like the other recipes listed, and seeing as how my cats come begging for biscuits too, I would like to try a recipe with rice flour because I have a cat with food allergies. But I will have 6 VERY attentive dogs in just a little while. I saved half the gizzards so I can make some more biscuits tomorrow. Back at Christmas I made some biscuits and sent some home with my boss for her husky. She said her dog loved them and sat so nice to get them, and then when they were gone, she went nosing around for more and actually looked sad when she finally realized there were no more, lol. I told her I would make her some more, but this is the first time that I've made any since Christmas. If I were REALLY ambitious, and had a REALLY good income, I would make my own dog food too, but I just don't have that kind of energy or time. I love my dogs, but mommy's homemade biscuits will have to do!