Help With Treat Recipe

[miss2]

Hello

Dollers, after some help please I am trying to start up a small side business of Homemade dog treats, nothing fancy and am prepared for it to possibly not work out but I want to give it a crack anyway :)

Anyway I was planning on selling at markets etc and have been experimenting and making different recipes at home whilst I work out all the bits and pieces. My issues is finding a treat recipe that will last out of the fridge for 4 weeks..... so far all the ones I have found really only last out of fridge for 1 week and that's not something I want to sell to people. Does anyone have any biscuit treat recipes that are long lasting they could recommend please?

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

I know my cwa cook book has few cheese biscuit recipes that would probably keep a while, but I think they'd keep better if they were vacuum sealed packed. I think most recipes that were cooked until they were fairly dry would work. Or you might get away with drying out any protein (meat or cheese) and then cooking that back into a biscuit and making it softer texture with olive oil or similar.

The fodder shop at Brookfield (West of Brisbane) had really nice soft dog treats - lamb moisties or something. They're not available in SA

I think you're going to have to try stuff out. Most people I know who went into making dog treats as a sort of home business - already had recipes that their friends at dog shows and competitions wanted to buy from them.

[Yonjuro]

Most dry and dehydrated, even jerky that you buy say they should be refrigerated if opened for a week.

[miss2]

thanks guys :)

Mrs rusty bucket i have made a bacon treat and used dried bacon bits in it in the hope that that would keep longer

I didn't know that about most treats, clearly i never read the fine print haha

I want to do jerky style meats as well. I know for me when buying treats for spud i like to get him biscuit type ones but i also look for long lasting chews. I used to be able to get him kangaroo roo tendons that lasted him a good day, cant find them anymore

these are some trials i made over the weekend ( first try so i know that are not very visually appealing haha)

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

not very visually appealing haha

I don't think my dog cares what treats look like.

Personally for training treats I want them to be tiny - the size of my little fingernail - or tearable uppable (eg smacko strips) so I can dish them out fast and often as new tricks are learned.

But for "I'm going out now and you're staying home" treats - I want something that takes longer than 5 seconds to demolish... so cows hoofs are good, tho the enthusiasm for those is a little lacking. Rawhide tends to disappear way too quickly. Roo jerky - nice thick solid pieces seem to work well but I'd be surprised if they last longer than a minute - just long enough for me to get out the door.

I do remember being given a slice of dried pigs trotter (dried or smoked bone - not my fave cos of splinters), the Tenterfield terrier and the JRT had one each and took over an hour of munching to make no visible difference. My dog made the whole thing disappear in under 2 minutes. No joy for me.

So I guess I want small, tasty low cal treats for training. And long lasting chewy treats for home alone...

[Yonjuro]

not very visually appealing haha

I don't think my dog cares what treats look like.

Personally for training treats I want them to be tiny - the size of my little fingernail - or tearable uppable (eg smacko strips) so I can dish them out fast and often as new tricks are learned.

But for "I'm going out now and you're staying home" treats - I want something that takes longer than 5 seconds to demolish... so cows hoofs are good, tho the enthusiasm for those is a little lacking. Rawhide tends to disappear way too quickly. Roo jerky - nice thick solid pieces seem to work well but I'd be surprised if they last longer than a minute - just long enough for me to get out the door.

I do remember being given a slice of dried pigs trotter (dried or smoked bone - not my fave cos of splinters), the Tenterfield terrier and the JRT had one each and took over an hour of munching to make no visible difference. My dog made the whole thing disappear in under 2 minutes. No joy for me.

So I guess I want small, tasty low cal treats for training. And long lasting chewy treats for home alone...

Took the words right out of my mouth :)

[raineth]

Yes, I'm the same. I want tiny moist treats for training or larger chews that take ages to eat for her own entertainment.

For the latter I usually dry my own meat. It seems to last quite well.

The only biscuity sort of recipe that I've used other than that was one made from beef stock, peanut butter, grated sweet potato and besan flour.

It last really well because there is no meat in it. I made them for playing hide and seek with.

[Guest crazydoglady99]

some great recipes on this site:

http://www.dogtreatkitchen.com.html

[HazyWal]

Yes, I'm the same. I want tiny moist treats for training or larger chews that take ages to eat for her own entertainment.

For the latter I usually dry my own meat. It seems to last quite well.

The only biscuity sort of recipe that I've used other than that was one made from beef stock, peanut butter, grated sweet potato and besan flour.

It last really well because there is no meat in it. I made them for playing hide and seek with.

Could you share the recipe for that one please raineth?

Miss2 I have this book and have made almost all of the savoury dog bickies in it, they last for a month (I think might be longer, I'm moving house and have packed all the books) in an airtight container or ziplock bag and the dogs love them. It's on special too at the moment

http://www.booktopia.com.au/the-good-food-cookbook-for-dogs-donna-twichell-roberts/prod9781592530670.html?source=pla&gclid=COjZqfqazMACFdgnvQod1KAAcQ

Edited September 6, 2014 by HazyWal

[Maddy]

thanks guys :)

Mrs rusty bucket i have made a bacon treat and used dried bacon bits in it in the hope that that would keep longer

I didn't know that about most treats, clearly i never read the fine print haha

I want to do jerky style meats as well. I know for me when buying treats for spud i like to get him biscuit type ones but i also look for long lasting chews. I used to be able to get him kangaroo roo tendons that lasted him a good day, cant find them anymore

these are some trials i made over the weekend ( first try so i know that are not very visually appealing haha)

The trouble with bacon is the fat. Even dried, it retains a fair bit of moisture and that can ruin anything it's added to. When I make dried treats for the dogs (like liver), I trim off any obvious fat, boil the hell out of the chunks (to render off more fat and dry them out a bit) and then check and trim the pieces before drying them in the oven.

Ideally, for making dried treats, you'd want a lean meat like roo, venison, rabbit or chicken breast. I've dried venison for my dogs (because the idiot dog is not very food motivated so we need really high value) and after a day of drying, it kept until I ran out (which was a couple of weeks, sitting in my treat pouch, and definitely not airtight).

Things like how thick the slices are and how long you dry for are going to alter how long dried treats last. Invest in one of those food slicers (mine looks like this and cost me all of $20) and slice to roughly 5mm thick. A bit of give in the dried pieces is okay but you don't want them the same as human jerky because the human stuff has preservatives that allow it to be less dry. Same with the commercially made dog jerky.

Another option is hot smoking and then drying. A friend of mine made herself a smokehouse out of an old shipping container but I'm fairly sure you can buy small home units. Smoked treats have quite a strong smell and all of my dogs absolutely LOVE them.