Treat Talk

Hello Internet,

Little and Big Beast both hope you’re doing well. For my second post I thought I’d talk a little bit about store bought treats. While I feed raw, I’m not a fan of 100% all natural raw. More power to you if you can achieve this, from my perspective, impossible feat, but my dog can’t function without cheese. Life is so hectic and I’m an under-achiever who loves convenience. I have a large collection of treats at the moment and generally like to have a range to rotate through since Lila is impossibly picky and I want to keep her interested.

Who’s picky?

My requirements for treats are:

1. Must be made in the USA or Canada. Too many unsafe ingredients in treats made in countries with different safety regulations on pet food. China has produced some particularly scary stuff.

2. Grain free. I go back and forth on whether I think grains are ever an appropriate part of a dog’s diet due to the structure of their digestive tract. I know some aware people who have dogs that do fine on grains. Lila, at least, really doesn’t tolerate them well. She can have little bits of grain now and then, but on the occasions I’ve thrown caution to the wind and tried her on a proper amount of buckwheat or oatmeal I’ve been very sorry. Therefore, Lila is on a somewhat strictly grain-free diet.

3. Fish free. So many dogs have so many allergies and Lila is no exception. Fish oil is everywhere and if Lila gets a taste of it, which she loves to do, I will 100% be scrubbing the carpets that evening.

My favorite treats are one-ingredient dehydrated meat. It’s simple, healthy, pretty much perfect. However, they’re pricey and I can’t seem to get them into teeny-weenie training sizes as easily as their multi-ingredient counterparts. Maybe time I invested in a dehydrator. What do you think Internet?

In my house right now:

Left to right: Peanut Butter Grain-Free Buddy Biscuits, Zukes Duck and Apple Links, My Little Wolf Duck Hunter Recipe, and Hula Lula Chicken.

I, and more importantly the Beast, love all these treats. When Lila was on an elimination diet at 3 months old, the only treat she’d eat was Hula Lula Chicken. I could not think up a more perfect treat, but sure wish they were less expensive! We’re loyal customers regardless. The Buddy Biscuits are great for social things since they’re cute and people, especially kids, love to hand them out to polite pups. The Zukes usually end up diced into training treats and mixed with kibble for class because their grease provides an excellent “sauce.” I haven’t used the My Little Wolf treats much, but they were such a massive hit last time I picked up another bag. Honorable mention is Galaxy Dog Treats which are these amazing cheesy cookies that break into clean little bits so easily. Lila will do anything for them.

*grasps treat jar with mighty claws*

I do want to quickly note that none of these things are fed excessively. I prefer to use grain-free kibble (mixed with cheese, shhhh) for the majority of my training treats since it’s convenient and relatively nutritious.

What do you feed as treats dear Internet? Any favorite brands that I just have to try? Any of my selections make your dogs balk?

Whatever you feed, give your dog a treat from Lila and me!

Regards,

Big Beast