Paws Crossed for Jay! And Home made Dog Treats!

Our Jay-bird might be taking flight very soon, as she has a potential adopter! :D! He seems like a fantastic home for Jay! So I am keeping my paws crossed that Jay gets to go to her forever home this week!

In the meantime I am enjoying what may be my last couple days with Jay. Our time is mostly spent hanging out in the sun running and chasing balls and frisbees and eating lots of ice cubes!

Sunset Walk

Sunset Walk

New Friend! 

Which reminds me! I wanted to tell you all about what I did this weekend!
I originally had planned to take Jay out to the beach, but the weather had other things in mind. So we decided to stay in and make doggie treats! So I wanted to post what I made and how, so you can try them yourself!

So the first one is more of just a summertime snack for hot puppies!

Peanut butter filled ice cubes!
Take an ice cube tray put a little water in the bottom. Then add a little dollop of peanut butter (I find spoon+fingers work best for this) then fill with more water slowly (so it does not mix too much). Then freeze! And voila! I thought of doing this because Jay loves ice cubes and peanut butter so I thought, why not combine the two! The peanut butter doesn't really freeze on its own so it will be a cool lick-able filler that dogs love :)
Disclaimer: These ice cubes melt, or dogs crunch them up, or lick them across the floor - so its better to give them to your dog when they are somewhere you don't mind water and peanut butter.

The next one is FILLED with great stuff for your dog!

I call them...
SUPER COOKIES!


Trust me... they are so good I've even given them to people and they liked them!!! But it is 100% filled with great stuff for humans and dogs! And no wheat or flour!

The ingredients are: 
4 Cups of Rolled Oats (I used Quaker quick oats - it's all the same really)
1/2 Cup of Flax Seed (Or ground flax seed)
2 Ripe Bananas
1/2 Cup of Peanut Butter (you can use either with or without added sugar/shortening - without is healthier though)
1 Tbsp of Cinnamon
1/2 Cup of Water
1 small apple (Optional)

Now first let me go over why each of these ingredients are so good:

Oats: 
- Are an excellent source of antioxidants
- Are low in starch
- Are a great source of minerals such as potassium and phosphorus
- They have a high silicon content, making them very beneficial to our dogs' bones and teeth
- And they sooth the gastrointestinal system

Flax Seed
- A great source of anti-carcinogens and omega-3 fatty acids
- Low in calories, fat, and sodium
- Benefits include: a healthier heart, smooth supple skin, and a shiny coat.

Bananas
- Sweet to a dogs (and our) palate
- Contains several essential amino acids, electrolytes, minerals, vitamins B6 and C, potassium, fiber, and manganese!
- Banana's natural sugars metabolize quickly to provide instant energy. So they are even better for working and performance dogs.
- Banana's assist in maintaining normal blood pressure, heart function, fluid balance, and digestive tract function.

Peanut Butter
- Highly digestible
- Abundant in protein, healthy fats, and essential vitamins and minerals
- And (of course) dogs love it!

Cinnamon
- Smells and tastes great
- Soothes the gastrointestinal system and nausea
- Improves brain function
- Helps regulate blood sugar (vital for any dogs at risk of diabetes)
- Is anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and anti-inflammatory (great for dogs struggling with arthritis)
- Can lower blood pressure and cholesterol and slow the growth of leukemia and lymphomacancer cells.

Apples
- Good source of dietary fiber and Vitamin C
- Low in saturated fat and sodium
- Contains omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids - which contribute to a healthy, glossy coat and help to control skin allergies

Disclaimer: Two reasons I posted apples as optional - one is just due to cooking which I will explain later, the other is because dogs with arthritis or kidney disease shouldn't eat apples as the omega-6 fatty acids are not good for them.

Okay! Now on to cooking!

- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- Mix dry ingredients together in one bowl (you'll need a fairly large bowl - trust me)
- Mash bananas and peanut-butter together in separate bowl.
- Add the banana/peanut-butter mash to the dry ingredients  (stir slowly or oats will fly everywhere)
- Add the water and continue mixing all the ingredients together.
- Let it sit for a few minutes when done as it is initially very sticky.
- In the meantime (If you decided to use an apple) take the apple and core it (the seeds are poisonous to dogs), then cut it into very small pieces.
- Once the "dough" has begun to "unstickify" roll it into small (Tsp sized) balls and place on greased/non-stick baking pan (recommend to grease use a little olive oil/other vegetable oil - works great and not too slick)
- If you want to do shapes instead spread the dough out to about 1/3 of an inch on a cutting board or other flat surface (try to avoid using flour to stop it from sticking - instead use a plastic cutting board or wax paper)
- Side note - This makes a lot of cookies, you will probably need two baking sheets.
- Take the tiny piece of apple and decorate the tops of your cookies with them.
(The reason I do it this way is because one batch I added them to the banana mixture but they didn't mash well so it was tough forming the drops because the apples kept falling out - besides they look really neat when cooked on top!)
- Place in oven and cook for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
- If you want them extra crunchy what I did was leave them in but turn off the oven. So as the oven cooled with were still heating - thus removing moisture- but not burning.

And voila!
They will last about a week or so out and about, or 2 weeks in the fridge or 3 weeks (or longer!) in the freezer.

Here are some "after" shots! I made a batch of drops and a batch of hearts! (I made a double batch)

Notice the gap where two drops were eaten by humans ;)

And to give you an example of just how yummy these are... as I said I've had HUMANS eat them and ask for more!!!
And an even better example... I put a small piece of cooked chicken in front of Jaycee and held one of these cookies (she knew I had it) and she sniffed the chicken then just stared at the cookie in my hand!
She wanted this cookie more than meat!! If that doesn't win you over I don't know what will!

They were super easy and fun to make! And smell like cinnamon buns while cooking :)

Hope you try the recipes here! If you do please comment and let me know how your dog liked them! Also feel free to comment with your own secret doggy cookie recipe!

Will post more soon!
Paws crossed for Jay!