Homemade Dog Treats

Do you remember my first post where I talked about Theodore's surgery in March of this year to remove 14 stones from his bladder? Dr. Chris, our vet, had just called to confirm the stones removed were calcium oxalate, the most hardy, worse kind of stones a dog's body can develop. They are also very common to develop in Schnauzers, and the risk is the fact that they can come back. Our poor, sweet, little adorable dog had the most difficult recovery and we almost lost him. It was the scariest hardest thing we've had to go through since Tom's cancer in '05 and our lost pregnancy in Dec '06. We couldn't imagine life without Theodore.

While this post is NOT to say the stones have come back, because they HAVEN'T, *knock on wood* I am writing to tell you about a really fun recipe for homemade dog treats! Since Theo can't eat milkbones, snausages, and pigs ears, he's become our little vegen-dog. His favorite treats are apples and frozen peas. I can even entice him to come in the house after playing Chuck-it by saying "who wants an apple?" (of course, I cut it up and we share) He also loves frozen little carrots, and fresh green beans, along with his canned u/d formula dog food, which he inhales fast so the cats don't eat it :) hahaha He's so funny!

I found this receipe at bullwrinkle.com. They have a ton of recipes on there, but I will not make any that contain garlic or other processed food I know he can't have. I think he'll really like these Apple Cinnamon Drops!!

Homemade Dog Treat Recipe

Apple Cinnamon Drops

1 large apple

1/4 cup honey

1/2 cup of water

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup oatmeal

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/8 cup whole wheat flour

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 ° F (180 ° C).

Core, slice and mince the apple (use a food processor if you have one). In a large bowl, combine the minced apple bits, honey, water, cinnamon, and oatmeal. Gradually blend in the wheat flour, adding enough to form a stiff dough.

In a small bowl, add 1/8 cup wheat flour. Spoon the dough by rounded teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheets, spacing about 2 inches (5cm) apart. Using the bottom of a glass dipped in the wheat flour (to prevent sticking), flatten each spoonful of dough into a circle. Adjust the size of the drops based on how big a treat you like to feed your dog.

Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and flip each cookie to brown evenly on both sides. Reduce oven temperature to 325 ° F (180 °C). Return to oven and bake for an additional 30 minutes. Let cool overnight.

Makes about 3 dozen crunchy cookies, depending on how big you make them.

I am planning on making these treats for Theo for Thanksgiving & Christmas. I hope he'll have fun opening his presents!! We'll have to get the DVD camcorder out for that! :)

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