Many dog owners use dog biscuits as treats, because they are good for your dogs teeth. In addition, the commercial brands are nutritionally balanced. For other treats, such as for training, you can use turkey dogs sliced thin and microwaved to remove the moisture. Most dogs love them, and you won't mind keeping them in your mouth as much as most other treats!
Pour hot water over margarine. Add milk, salt, egg. Add flour 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well each time. Knead 3-4 minutes, adding more flour if necessary for a stiff dough. Pat to 1/2 inch thick & cut with "Chef Fido" cutter. Put on greased sheet and bake at 325 for 50 minutes. Let dry until hard.
Mix hot water, oatmeal, margarine, & bouillon. Let stand 5 minutes. Add milk, egg, cornmeal. Proceed as above.
Mix hot water, oatmeal, margarine. Let stand 5 minutes. Add milk, cheese, egg, salt. Add cornmeal and wheatgerm. Proceed as above EXCEPT bake at 300 for an hour; turn off oven and leave in oven for an hour or longer.
Make as above except omit cheese and add 2 crushed garlic cloves sautéed in 1 tbsp margarine for 2 minutes, Add at same time as egg.
Dissolve yeast in warm water. In another bowl combine broth, milk, margarine, honey, egg and salt. Add yeast mixture & mix well. Add flour, cornmeal, wheatgerm and cracked wheat. Add wholewheat 1/2 cup at time. Knead in final amounts of flour, knead by hand 4 or 5 minutes until not sticky. Roll or pat to 1/2 inch. Cut out. Place on greased sheet, cover lightly, let sit for 20 minutes. Bake for 1 hour at 300. Turn off heat and leave in oven for at least another hour.
Combine and shape into a ball. Roll out on floured board. Use extra flour if needed. Cut into bone shapes. Bake at 350 deg. for 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool. Should be hard and crunchy.
From here you can customize it. I put about 7 strips of crumbled bacon in plus about 2 Tbs of the drippings. Mix the dry stuff, add the liquid, then roll out to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut with cookie cutter or use a glass. I used an inverted drinking glass to make circles then I cut each in half so I had crescents.
Bake them in a preheated oven 300 degrees F for about 35 minutes. This made about 2 1/2 dozen. Because of the bacon I keep them in the fridge.
This is the recipe I most often bake for my dog. I used it with the hoof and just followed the regular baking instructions. I just stuffed the hoof with batter or dough and put it on a cookie sheet. One problem I have is letting them sit in the oven long enough to harden. They appear to be hard on the surface, but are soft in the middle. Maybe I should bake them a little longer and then let them sit in the oven for more like 4 hours. I usually leave them for about 2.
In large bowl pour hot water over oatmeal and margarine; let stand 5 minutes. Stir in powdered milk, grated cheese, salt and egg. Add cornmeal and wheat germ. Mix well. Add flour, 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. Knead 3 or 4 minutes, adding more flour if necessary to make a very stiff dough. Pat or roll dough to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut into biscuits using cookie cutters and place on a greased baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour at 300F. Turn off heat and leave in oven for an hour o r longer. Makes approximately 2 1/4 pounds.
These really smell while they're cooking!
*For garlic biscuits: Prepare recipe as above except omit cheese. Sauté 2 garlic cloves, crushed in 1 Tbsp margarine for 1 to 2 minutes. Add to batter before mixing in cornmeal, wheatgerm and flour. I have never greased my baking sheets. I didn't know the recipe called for that until just now as I was typing it in.
BY MARILU BASKIN
If you are like most exhibitors I
know, your dogs prefer fresh liver to any other treat, but you
don't use it regularly because it stains your clothing and does
not keep well or for any useful length of time. You will buy it
from the vendors at the shows, but you don't use it at home. You
don't even think about it as a training tool to use at home until
the moment that your dog turns up his nose at the morsel of hot
dog or cheese with which you are trying to tempt him into working
with you, and then you wish you had some liver!
If you are one of those people who
would use liver bait on a regular basis for training sessions if
the negative aspects of it were removed, then consider your
problem solved! I have a recipe that you will love! I call it
"Sunshine Bait" because it holds up so well in my
pocket when I am training my dogs outside in the hot summer sun.
... I know you'll have trouble believing me until you try it, but
this bait will keep without refrigeration for at least a week IF
it isn't in the sun or extreme heat; it breaks into tiny pieces
using only your fingernails; it doesn't go mushy; and dogs will
do just about ANYTHING for just a crumb of it! It will keep for
several weeks in the refrigerator; it can be FROZEN AND REFROZE N
numerous times, and it thaws in less than 5 minutes!
To make Sunshine Bait, mix together 1 lb. of finely ground raw liver, 1 cup of flour, 1/2 cup cornmeal, and 1 to 3 tablespoons garlic salt. Spread on a lightly greased piece of tin foil on a cookie sheet. It is very THICK -- like wet concrete! Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. When it is done, peel off the tin foil, break the liver into pieces, and then freeze in packages to fit your needs.
For context, I use mine as rewards rather than as bait so it may or may not be suitable for bait--I don't know. But my dogs like it and it's very simple. Timing is so uncritical that I have *no* idea how long I either boil it or dry it. Being quite dry, it isn't at all messy but my dogs still have no trouble smelling it.
I dump a pound of beef liver into a big
pot of water. (Rinsing the liver first gets rid of some of the
scummy stuff that's produced otherwise--cooked blood, I think.) I
cook it until it's done --letting it boil over isn't recommended,
believe me--and t hen cut it into (approximately) half-inch cubes
which I spread on a foil- lined cookie sheet (no use washing a
cookie sheet if you don't have to :) and put into a low (200-250
degrees) oven until it is dried out or I remember it, which ever
happens later.
I store it in a plastic container in the freezer until needed but, in our dry climate, I suspect that I could just put the container in a cupboard. Being dry, I've had no problem with spoilage when I forget that I have a container of it in my pocket.
Since I use it for reward, rather than bait, I don't want my dogs to smell it until I'm ready to give it to them so I carry it in plastic 35-mm film canisters which seal nicely. Since the drying process decreases the size to about quarter-inch (or so) cubes, a fair number will fit into such a container, certainly enough for a training session.