Ethical Dog Treats?
Saturday, May 22, 2010 at 4:51PM 
So, you know Russ and I use the ethical shopping guide to complete our shops. It is a little sad as we wonder the aisles with our iphones checking out the most ethical product - we often joke about the irony of the situation and deem that what we are doing is what we can at the moment.
The more we talk about these things the more I realise, if anything, buying what you need and what is as ethical as it can be (cause nothing is ‘ethical’ in the Western world really!) is more about self control than anything. Take dog food and dog biscuits, our local supermarket doesn’t stock anything that is in the book as ethical. Most things are tested on animals :(
So I did some looking on the internet and found some great recipes for dog biscuits that I can make - buying products from the local shop that were on the ethical list! The best thing is this one can go in the bread maker and it is SO EASY.
I did adjust the recipe a little as I have heard that garlic is not good for dogs, so here is my version:
Bread Machine Dog Biscuits
3/4 cup - Beef, chicken or vegetable-broth (I used chicken!)
1 - Egg
3 tb - Oil
1 cup - Plain flour
1 cup - Whole-wheat flour
1/3 cup - Oats
1/3 cup - Wheat germ
1/3 cup - Bran
1/4 cup - Low fat milk powder
1 1/2 ts Yeast
Place ingredient in bread maker according to manufacturer’s directions and press “Dough” cycle.
When machine beeps, remove dough to lightly floured countertop and with a rolling pin, roll dough out to 2 cm thickness.
Using a dog bone cookie cutter (or any small seasonal cookie cutters), cut out dog biscuits and place on a lightly greased tray or one sprinkled with cornmeal.
Re-roll scraps and repeat till all dough is used up.
Place in a warm location and let rise 30 minutes.
Bake at 160 degrees for 30 minutes until brown and no longer soft.
Place on a rack to cool.
Store in an airtight container.
Viola! Just over 100 ethical dog treats.
Diane Greenwood
Darren sent through the recipes that he uses as well:
Homemade dog biscuits/treats
Source: http://down—-to—-earth.blogspot.com/2008/01/homemade-dog-
biscuits-or-treats.html
2 cups water mixed with 2 tablespoons Vegemite OR two cups beef or chicken
stock. This can be homemade or from stock powder.
1 cup bread or plain/all-purpose flour
2 cups wholemeal or rye flour
1 cup rolled oats or instant oats
½ cup powdered milk
1 teaspoon yeast
If you want to add Omega 3, add 2 teaspoons of flax seed oil or emu oil to
the mix.
Please note: The biscuits will get their flavour from the liquid you use.
If your dog likes vegemite, use that, if your dog likes beef or chicken,
use the stock option.
Please note: The amount of liquid you add will depend entirely on your
flour, oats and how much humidity is in the air. Start with 2 cups, but you
might need to add another cup - in small portions until the dough feels
right.
You can make this in your bread machine or by hand. If using the bread
machine, use the dough setting and add the ingredients in the order listed
above. Feel the dough after it’s been mixed to make sure it feels smooth
and not too dry.
If making by hand, put all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix
thoroughly. Remove the mixture from the bowl and knead for five minutes or
until the dough is tender and smooth. It makes a lovely dough.
When the dough is ready, roll it out with a rolling pin and cut it into the
shapes you like. Here I’ve used hearts, stars and a loaf shape. The loaf
shape being the easiest. I can break the loaves up into pieces by making a
knife cut into half the loaf thickness. Don’t cut right through.
Place on a greased or paper lined baking sheet and allow to rise slightly
for about 30 minutes. Bake in a slow oven at 170º C (325 º F) one hour.
When all are baked, turn off oven and leave them in the oven overnight to
cool. Then store in a container or the freezer.
Here are the loaves with some pieces broken up. As you can see by this
photo, I didn’t cut right through the dough but they’re easy to break up.
Preparing them as loaves made them crisp on the outside but with a softer
interior. The hearts and stars dried out more as they’re flatter and
therefore much crisper. This amount makes 20 hearts, 6 stars and 50 loaf
pieces. My girls eat either two hearts/stars or 4 pieces of loaf in the
morning as well as their homemade dog food meal in the afternoon.
HOMEMADE DOG FOOD
Source: http://down—-to—-earth.blogspot.com/2007/06/homemade-dog-
food.html
1 kg beef mince - if you go to a butcher you’ll be able to get a lower
grade and cheaper mince. Our butcher is now charging $4/kilo.
1½ cups raw brown or white rice
1 cup raw barley OR lentils
1 cup raw pasta
2 cups chopped vegetables - it can be whatever you have on hand but NOT
ONIONS or LEEKS.
1 spoonful of Vegemite (optional)
Water
Place all the above ingredients into a big stockpot. Cover with water and
stir to break up the mince. Bring to the boil and simmer for 45 minutes.
When it’s finished cooking, top up the stockpot to the rim with water and
leave to cool.
When it’s cold, place into portion sized plastic containers and freeze
until you need them.We make this once a week. It feeds our two dogs for
seven days. The dogs love it and it’s got no preservatives or artifical
flavourings in it. It costs around $7 a week.
They also have a scoop of Omega 3 dog biscuits in the morning.
ADDITION: Alice weighs around 22 kgs and she gets two cups of this food per
day.
Reader Comments (6)
so what do they taste like?
Although I could try them I have not :(
Stanley loves them, I gave them to my parents dogs and they both loved them too!
I gave a couple to Edwina as well cause it was Oscars' birthday and he liked them as well.
So far the dogs love them - I think that is good.
I want to try make peanut butter ones next - I am sure Stan will love them.
That's amazing. I love it!
I've made a few different recipes of dog bikkies, will have a look for them and mail them over to you, Tilly loves it if I use vegemite instead of stock as well, while she's never been a huge fan of peanut butter.
Also got one or two recipes for home made dog food to replace canned stuff (although we tend to use an ozzie made natural dry food for the most part)
Thanks so much Darren, I have posted your recipes as follow ups so that we have them together. I have not tried any yet, but I think that I will give it a go in a week or two :) Thanks again.
Hi there
I have been wanting to do this since I saw yours so have got the recipe and will give it a go, although my bread machine is in storage so will give it a go by hand!!!
love mom xxxxxxxxxxxxx