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Homemade Lean Treats: Healthy Rewards for Your Dog
Giving your dog a treat is a great way to show affection and reward good behavior. However, store-bought treats can be loaded with artificial ingredients and unnecessary fats. Here’s why homemade lean dog treats are a better option, plus some simple and delicious recipes.
Why Make Your Own Dog Treats?
- Ingredient Control: Ensure your dog gets the best, healthiest ingredients.
- Customization: Tailor treats to your dog’s preferences and any dietary restrictions.
- Rewarding: The process of baking for your furry friend is fun and rewarding!
- Healthier Option: Avoid artificial flavors, excess fat, and ingredients that are harmful to dogs.
Ingredients to Avoid
- Chocolate
- Grapes or raisins
- Onions and garlic
- Raw eggs or fish
- Avocado
- Xylitol (an artificial sweetener)
Ingredients to Embrace
- Lean meats: Chicken, beef, turkey
- Whole-wheat or oat flour
- Vegetables: Carrots, sweet potatoes
- Fruits: Apples, bananas, blueberries (in moderation)
- Plain yogurt or peanut butter (check for xylitol)
9 Fantastic Lean Treat Recipes
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Dried Meat Snacks: Simply slice lean meat, dry in a low-heat oven.
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Frozen Chicken Cubes: Dilute low-sodium chicken broth, freeze in ice cube trays – perfect for hot days!
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Sausage Ice Cream: Mix diluted broth, cooked carrots, and diced sausage into ice cream molds.
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Chicken Dog Treats: Combine cooked chicken, rice, flour, parsley, and egg for tasty snacks.
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Chicken Biscuits: Whole wheat flour, egg, water, and cooked chicken. Cut into shapes and bake.
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Liver Sausage Biscuits: Combine flour, carrots, oil, egg, and chicken liver for a flavorful treat.
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Chicken and Carrot Biscuits: Whole wheat flour, ground beef, carrots, sunflower oil, and eggs.
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Simple Chicken Treats: Cook chicken, mix with flour, broth, egg, and water. Bake into treats.
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Chicken Meatballs: Use oatmeal or polenta, starch, oil, and chicken for small, easy-to-store treats.
Key Takeaways
- Homemade dog treats are a healthier and more fulfilling alternative to store-bought options.
- Be mindful of ingredients – always choose ones that are safe for dogs.
- Treats can be a valuable training tool but should be given in moderation.
Remember: Even homemade treats should be part of a balanced diet. If your dog has any health problems, consult your vet before introducing new foods or treats.
Why Give Treats To Your Dog?
Pleasing your dog is always the number one motivation in this situation. Seeing your adorable pet excited to receive a treat is priceless.
A tasty snack puts him in a good mood. It is an element that arouses excellent psychological reactions in dogs due to its palatability.
The tasty little stick is also the ally of a good education. It facilitates exchange and allows training based on positive reinforcement.
The snack also helps to solidify the emotional bonds between you and the canine. It can go so far as to create certain gentle routines that reassure the dog, particularly in times of stress or when it is in an anxiety-provoking environment. Finally, it can be used as a dental treatment, like dog food.
Contents
What Treats Are Good For Dogs?
Your dog’s digestive system requires adapted recipes. Certain ingredients should be avoided completely.
Indigestible, or even toxic, avoid using certain sweet or savory ingredients in your cookie recipes. On the sweet side, forget chocolate, grapes, and dried fruits.
Other ingredients to avoid: onion, garlic, raw egg white, raw fish, raw potatoes, avocado, cabbage, or turnip. Also avoid canned fish or ham, which are too salty.
Once you have forgotten the black list of ingredients harmful to your dog’s health, here are those that you can choose with complete confidence.
The following recipes offer different easy-to-digest flours. Since most dogs are lactose intolerant, replace cow’s milk with plant-based or lactose-free milk.
Do not take this kind of precaution if your dog digests milk without a problem. If you want to avoid grains, replace them with cooked and mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes.
9 Best Lean Treats For Dogs:
Treats are often categorized based on their properties. But what about their use? In reality, the profile of snacks is also different depending on what you do with them and for what purpose you use them.
Of course, you can buy ready-made dog treats, available in pet stores or supermarkets. But you can also prepare them at home, in your kitchen, using ingredients that your companion appreciates and adapted to his needs.
Remember that just because they are treats doesn’t mean you can include foods that are inappropriate or even dangerous for your dog because you think they taste good. So, see below the lean treats for dogs.
1. Dried Meat Fillets:
Even simpler, this recipe gives you super delicious treats, while remaining healthy. Choose your dog’s favorite meat: chicken breast, chicken fillet, etc. Remove the fat according to the ingredients you have chosen.
Slice thin strips of your meat or small cubes. Then place them on baking paper, preferably on your oven rack rather than your baking sheet. This allows for better heat diffusion.
Cook over very low heat (80°C) for 4 to 6 hours. Check the cooking so that the meat is completely dried, once it has blackened.
2. Frozen Chicken Cubes:
If your dog loves chicken, here is a simple and tasty tip. In a saucepan, pour around 50 cl of water as well as a cube of defatted chicken stock prepared without adding salt. Once the broth is diluted, fill an ice cube mold.
For an even more succulent recipe, do not hesitate to add small pieces of chicken breast that you have previously cooked. In addition to being easy to digest, this meat is rich in protein. After one to two hours, your ice cubes are ready!
3. Sausage Ice Cream:
You will need ice cream molds. Again, dilute defatted, low-salt broth in hot water, then set aside. Cut two carrots into pieces and steam or boil them. Likewise, cut sausages into small pieces. You will find them without cereals on specialized sites, and chicken.
If you prefer classic store-bought sausages, be careful not to overdo them: they are high in fat, which would slow down your dog’s digestion. Some also contain herbs and spices, which is prohibited. Once the broth is ready, the carrots are cooked and the sausages are cut, prepare your ice cream molds.
4. Chicken Dog Treats:
Cooky and Harper love chicken and these homemade dog treats drive them crazy. You will need 1 cup of diced chicken, 1/2 cup of cooked rice, 3 tablespoons of rice flour, 1 tablespoon of parsley, and 1 egg. If you don’t have chicken on hand, you can dice your dog’s favorite meat for this simple substitution recipe.
5. Chicken Biscuits:
Just as healthy, chicken biscuits are a real treat for your dog. Mix 210 grams of whole wheat flour, an egg, and 250 ml of hot water. When the dough is homogeneous, you can add 160 grams of chicken fillet previously cooked and cut into small cubes and mix then knead for better distribution of the meat.
Then roll out the dough with a rolling pin until it is about 0.5 cm thick. You can now cut out the biscuits with a bone-shaped cookie cutter and place them on baking paper in the oven preheated to 180°C (th.6). They are ready when they are golden brown.
6. Liver Sausage Biscuits:
Your dog will love these liver sausage biscuits!
To prepare, mix the flour and baking powder in a bowl and set aside. Then, in another bowl, mix the carrots, oil and egg. Then add the dry ingredients and the chicken liver. Pour everything into a buttered and floured mold. Cook in the oven for 35 minutes.
To prepare a treat biscuit for your dog, you can use as ingredients 1 cup of grated carrot, 1 cup of grated apple, 2 cups of natural peanut butter, 1/2 cup of flour, and 2 eggs.
All you have to do is mix everything together, spread the dough on a workboard, and cut it into strips to get the cookie shape you want. Cooking time is 20 to 25 minutes. You can see that each recipe is so easy to make.
7. Chicken and Carrot Biscuits:
Rich in proteins and lipids, this biscuit recipe will please your dog.
After preheating the oven to 180°C (th.6), simply mix 400 g of wholemeal flour with 200 g of raw ground beef, 200 g of grated carrots, 100 g of sunflower oil, and two whole eggs. Then make balls of dough (diameter of 2 cm with a thickness of 0.5 cm), place them on baking paper, put them in the oven, and take them out as soon as the biscuits are golden brown like cookies.
8. Chicken Treats Recipe:
Ingredients: 2 chicken fillets, 200 g of wheat flour, 1 teaspoon of salt-free chicken stock, 1 egg, 250 ml of hot water.
Preparation: lightly cook the chicken cut into small pieces. Preheat the oven to 180°. Dilute the chicken stock in a small quantity of hot water, then add it to all the ingredients. The dough is combined, rolled out, and then cut with a cookie cutter. Place the pieces on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and bake for 30 minutes.
9. Chicken Meatballs:
If you give a large quantity of treats during a training session, this vegetarian recipe is recommended, because it is easy to prepare a large quantity of pellets that you can keep dry for several weeks.
Take 200 grams of oatmeal or polenta; 400 grams of potato starch; 100 milliliters of oil and minced chicken and mix the ingredients in a salad bowl. If the dough is too dry, add water. Prepare small meatballs that you will cook in the oven at 150°C. Then leave to cool in the turned-off oven, but do not hesitate to turn it back on with the door ajar if the meatballs are still damp.
Conclusion:
Biscuits, sticks, and sticks are the most commonly used forms of snacks for training sessions. Their usefulness is obvious.
These snacks help motivate and reward the dog on the different techniques, values, and habits to acquire. Snacks can also be used to divert the attention of a dog who is a little too active and destructive.
Whether to reward the dog during its learning session or to please it, offering a small treat provides great satisfaction.
However, there is no question of giving anything. Each treat has its advantages, disadvantages, and above all its specificities. Depending on the type, snacks help more or less to keep the animal healthy as well as mentally stable and happy.
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