Drying up an ideal dog treat

[Wise Old Owl]

On hot days biscuits and bread type treats get turned down on the trail, so I looked for something different. Let me point out I get a little frustrated when I see animal treats that are more expensive than people food.

So I got this idea about taking all beef hot dogs and boiling them up for a few minutes, then cutting them into 1/4 inch bites and tossing them directly onto the dryer for 5 hours. Dry and still soft they weigh in at 2 oz for two to three dogs. They will keep on the trail for a week & a half. If you need longer soak breifly in soy sauce before drying. They shrink a little and will fit really well in a mini glad bag for rewards.

[Wise Old Owl]

Later that day I found dried chicken strips ( breast meat) at Trader Joes for dogs... hmmm.

[realdusi]

Old thread, but a quick note. I used to volunteer at the local SPCA and they would buy the cheapest hotdogs money could buy, slice them into slices, then quarter the slices and dehydrate them in the oven. Makes your kitchen smell horrible, but dogs go absolutely nuts for these!
I also make my own jerky out of London Broil and Dale's Marinade and share them with my dog when we go hiking. Would like to experiment with maybe chicken or turkey jerky...

[Spokes]

.... Makes your kitchen smell horrible, but dogs go absolutely nuts for these!
...

....and thru hikers too?

[mweinstone]

you live in paoli. drive to the italian market at 9th street in south philadelphia and go in any of a bazillion real butcher shops and buy you best friend 5 10 or 25 lbs of beef bones they save for dogowners.freash whole or frozen or sliced to order. frozen slices when defrosted have large sometimes 2inch diamiter marro . however you remove the marow from the bones , dehydrate that!now you arent feeding really poor food to your best friend. grab a hug big guy!sheeh! dogs. man. i can barely eat them myself. after like one or two your sick as a macattack.common, splurge! this furry guy or gals gonna keep you safe in the marro filled killing feilds of post nowsville.lol.

[Toolshed]

My wife use to breed, raise and train brittanies. take your hot dogs and slice them into 1/8 slices and put them in the microwave for a minute or so. much quicker than drying.

[aaronthebugbuffet]

dehydrated sweet potatoes
blanch them before dehydrating

[Celeste]

Hey good idea!

[Fats]

For our dogs we take cheap hotdogs, slice them into 1/4 inch pieces, line them up on a paper plate in the microwave until they are crispy, and shrunken.

It seems like the time changes each time, but between 7-10 minutes seems to do it. It takes a while to get the smell out of the microwave .

They keep a while, and our dogs really really really love them.

To clean the microwave, perhaps some vinegar, and scrubbing.

Brad

[endubyu]

great idea about the hot dogs. I've dehydrated chicken liver and mine loves that. Relatively inexpensive. Getting weiners tomorrow.

[Wise Old Owl]

wow now wrap the chicken liver in bacon add one drop of wrights liquid smoke and you would really have a SCOUBY snack!

[Wise Old Owl]

you live in paoli. drive to the italian market at 9th street in south philadelphia and go in any of a bazillion real butcher shops and buy you best friend 5 10 or 25 lbs of beef bones they save for dogowners.freash whole or frozen or sliced to order. frozen slices when defrosted have large sometimes 2inch diamiter marro . however you remove the marow from the bones , dehydrate that!now you arent feeding really poor food to your best friend. grab a hug big guy!sheeh! dogs. man. i can barely eat them myself. after like one or two your sick as a macattack.common, splurge! this furry guy or gals gonna keep you safe in the marro filled killing feilds of post nowsville.lol.

Hey I just saw this, I can get soup bones at any store - but I never thought about dehydrating marrow...

Here is the rub, if the dog eats too much marrow (one bone) they get diarrhea really bad, as it is very rich for them. So sorry Matty the bone is there to slow them down, I am going to take a pass on this one. Rugby gets a small bone for several hours to work on... this gives me time to be on WB and I can get a break and focus.

[CrumbSnatcher]

great ideas here, but too much work for me, my dog ate like a king on the trail
beef jerky,spam, cheese, peanut butter cookies.
in town she got hamburgers all the time. qaulity brand can dog food in towns & on trail once in awhile
the main reason i kept a bouncebox at times was to move her extra treats and meds up the trail.
i agree the bone helps slow down on the marrow, but dogs sure love it!

[CrumbSnatcher]

my dog loved the old mother hubbard peanut butter bisquits
sold at pet smart and such, not cheap though

[CrumbSnatcher]

precooked bacon and spam quite often on trail
bear prefered it plain, i added both to bread with mustard

[thelowend]

dehydrated sweet potatoes
blanch them before dehydrating

used to work at a pet supply store and dogs go nuts for these.. they are quite expensive too.. have thought of doing the same for my poochies once i acquire a dehydrator

[Wise Old Owl]

great ideas here, but too much work for me, my dog ate like a king on the trail
beef jerky,spam, cheese, peanut butter cookies.
in town she got hamburgers all the time. qaulity brand can dog food in towns & on trail once in awhile
the main reason i kept a bouncebox at times was to move her extra treats and meds up the trail.
i agree the bone helps slow down on the marrow, but dogs sure love it!

Wait drying Hot Dogs is worK? Seriously?

my dog loved the old mother hubbard peanut butter bisquits
sold at pet smart and such, not cheap though

Yea "Not Cheap" I started this thread because biscuits are rejected in hot weather..... I am guessing I started this thread with that in the body of the first post.....

Want to know the shame of this? The secret is that almost all dog food be human compliant because people will eat it to stay alive... so on a whim....(no kidding) I popped one of those expensive crusty crappy biscuits in my mouth and I have no idea why my dog loves them.

[Rouen]

Dehydrated cow liver is another option, many dog trainers use it, you can dehydrate it raw if you wanted to, or just stick it in the over for a while. You can usually find a good sized liver for a couple bucks, chop it into tiny pieces and you'll be set for a while.