This past week I asked for suggestions on what other pet owners give their dogs as a treat - I got some really interesting ideas!  The suggestions ranged from very easy - carrots, beans, blueberries, banana - all great things to feed your dog - in moderation of course.  A couple of the suggestions were not something I prefer such as raw chicken necks (yuck). My dogs are not to picky and will eat a large range of fruits and vegetables.  

Carrots

I have three rescue girls - they all love carrots - I usually give them the 'baby carrots' because that's what we like.  Carrots do have some naturally occurring sugar, so don't over feed these - but as a small treat every so often - it's easy and no work involved.

Beans

Another common and often well liked treat.  Often times we are able to give these to our dogs straight out of our garden (organic garden, no chemicals).  Some studies have been done that indicate beans may not be safe for dogs in large quantities - so use this as a limited treat.

Bananas

I didn't know about this delicious treat until recently and I gave it to each of my girls one at a time.  Abby said - Yes, I like this.  Rue said - Yes, I like this.  Ollie said - "Yuck what is this?"  (no go for Ollie - tried more than a few times).

Making your own treats

I've made several different types of treats along the way for my dogs.  Baking a combination of pumpkin and peanut butter is a big hit here - but that takes a little more work - especially if you want them to look like cute little doggie bones.

In asking several facebook friends - I found that many of the recipes had similar ingredients - plain greek yogurt, blueberries, and peanut butter.  Some people throw in bananas, chicken broth (low sodium) and pumpkin.  However, in reviewing all these great ideas - I decided to try a simple recipe and see how my dogs liked it.

Here's what you need.

Blueberries

Peanut Butter and Plain Greek Yogurt

Mix up the yogurt and peanut butter - I mixed enough peanut butter to make it taste more like peanut butter than yogurt.  I also choose to use smaller individual containers so that I didn't have to make to many at a time (worked out good for me).  Mix it up real good so that it almost looks like a marble of peanut butter and yogurt.

Throw some blueberries (if your dog likes them) into it and mix it up.  Then find a suitable container to freeze it.  In my case, I used an ice tray.  Several people indicated in my query that a bpa free mold is best.

Nothing fancy, yep some of them have been eaten!

No dog photos this blog post although if you could have seen Abby sitting there wondering what I was doing with all these great ingredients in front of the camera instead of heading to her mouth it might have been an interesting photo!

Blogging with Pet Photographers

This is a personal project that I try to participate in each week (as much as possible).  This post is part of a 'blog circle' which is with several other Professional Pet Photographers around the world.  Each week a different theme is provided to the group and we, as pet photographers, interpret the theme in our own way.  Follow the link provided at the end of each of my blogs to the next pet photographer's blog - and when you arrive back at my blog - you've completed the entire circle of blogs for this theme.  For more pet photographers sharing their take on this theme, head over to visit Jessica Wasik of Bark & Gold Photography, celebrating National Donut Day all month long with Hunter's favorite treat recipe

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If you would like to discuss or book a custom pet portrait session, send an email to [email protected] or give us a call/text Linda at 813-610-2671 in the Tampa Bay area (Hillsborough/Pinellas/Pasco/Polk counties in Florida).  We have flexible rates and packages to fit most everyone’s budget as we believe that having wonderful photographs of your pet is important to so many people.