I made my own sea biscuit substitute because I can't get them delivered here and am running short. I cooked up some rice, added a couple of tins of tuna in oil and bound it together with some rye flour. Rolled out on a baking tray, cut into small cubes and then baked in the oven until crispy. The dogs love them. I also do a similar thing with sardines and oats. I can make a big batch and then put them in the freezer. I grab a handful before I go out with the dogs.
I started with this recipe : http://www.bdws.co.uk/2012/12/06/sardine-oatcakes/ Then I just figured I'd play around. So I just cooked off about 250g of rice (not too wet, because you'll just have to add more flour), added two cloves of crushed garlic, a couple of tins of tuna in oil (next time, I'll buy one of those huge tins and make a massive batch, which will work out even cheaper), blitzed it a bit with a hand blender to make it bind together, then added enough rye flour to make it easy to roll out. You could use any type of flour, I just have some rye that I'm not going to use myself, so figured that would do! I then flatten it out onto a baking sheet, so it's about half a centimetre thick, and run the knife through to make small squares. Pop it in the oven at about 180C (fan) for 30ish minutes. As it bakes, I check every so often and separate the squares so that the individual biscuits dry out well. The ones in the middle of the tray may take another ten minutes or so to cook. They actually don't taste too bad if you're up for trying them yourself!
Oban is on a limited diet because of his Lymphangiectasia so now I make kangaroo jerky. But before a lot of the treats I used were cubes of real roast beef or pork. Buy on sale, cook, cool, cube about 1/4 inch size, freeze till needed. Easy, cheaper than store bought and no preservatives or fillers.
I made these and took them on a walk. Lochan would not leave my side for 5 miles. Even Tarka had them as a reward (she normally prefers her ball, she isn't really bothered by food). Great recipe, the dogs loved them and cheap and easy. Brilliant.
Another thing I do is bake pigs liver in the oven until it's cooked through, then cut it into small pieces and freeze. Super cheap, super easy and I can just grab a handful when I go out. They're quite happy to have it frozen. I don't feed a lot of this, though, as it's very rich, so it tends to be mixed in with kibble, cheese and turkey cubes. A doggy pick n' mix.
I have found frankfurters or the cooked cocktail sausages as effective as most other treats. I have tried the sardines and they don't seem to be any more effective in getting a recall.
I use little chunks of roast beef for training. I buy a joint of topside specifically for the dogs, or I use our leftover Sunday roast rib. Like @Snowshoe , I like the no additives advantage. Coco loves them. Our trainer is aghast that Coco has prime roast beef, I think he is jealous! Today we used a tube of sardine mush - one tin goes a long way.
I'm confused about the garlic, it must be okay as I know you definitely wouldn't use it if it wasn't but I thought dogs shouldn't have garlic.
Some people think it is poison, some people think in moderation it's fine. Like rice. Or wheat. Or potatoes....
I'm in the "in moderation" camp. From http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2984110/ The lower end of the scale for "clinically important hematologic changes", 15g per kg would mean just under 400g for my dogs, "in one meal or spread apart over a few days". We're talking two cloves in a batch of treats that lasts two or three weeks, shared between two dogs.
@charlie Hi Auntie Helen, just wanted to say a great big thank you for pointing mum towards the Skippers website cos she ordered me lots of lovely fishy treats which the nice delivery man brought to the door yesterday. Yesterday I had 2 Sea Bass (whatever they are) for my lunch which were really tasty, but today mum gave me one of the fish sticks that Hattie and Charlie like. Wow! It was HUUUGGGGEEE and took me 20 minutes to eat which is an awfully long time. Thank you, thank you, thank you Big slurpy licks to you and to Hattie and Charlie Juno xx
It might be good as well to know what the toxic level of Vitamin A is, which of course is high in liver. https://www.vetinfo.com/vitamin-a-toxicity-in-dogs.html
When I occasionally use treats in training I have freeze dried rabbit strips. Absolutely the most disgusting smell that almost turns your stomach but he loves them. The seller says they're a high value treat. I agree, but if you find them keep them in a sealed jar.
