Pumpkin & Flax Seed Good-Dog Treats
This dog biscuit recipe was a post which almost didn’t get written. You see, I’ve started to get a bit self conscious about over sharing. Not in that creepy “I feel the need to let everyone know what sort of bathroom rituals I have or funky positions we just tried” kind of over sharing. I’ll leave those to the uninhibited TMI people.
Dog Biscuits Recipe
I’m talking about not wanting to be one of those who are so overly obsessed that they have to tell, and show, and tweet, and facebook every single detail of their new cat/kid/grandkid/puppy. Now if you are talking about a puppy, feel free to inundate us with your lore, I can nearly guarantee we’ll be rapturous listeners. However I don’t want to make that assumption towards everyone else. You know what they say about assumptions.
So count this as a fair warning given, this is about to become a puppy-centric post and I may be slightly fanatical about our two. Those who follow my Instagram will know, being that my IG MO is basically puppy pics and travel moments (the former dominating lately.)
With that cleared out of the air, if you are still reading you are either: A: Cool with the dog sharing. B: A glutton for punishment. or C: Skimming over the text to look for pretty pictures and a recipe. Any of those makes you fair game for my puppy swooning.
As most of you know, we have ourselves a new addition to the WORC household, our Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy Lexi. Although it is getting harder and harder to call her a puppy.
A few of Todd’s IG iphone Shots
In a mere couple months she’s gone from this tiny little thing we could pick up in one hand to the size of calf which needs to be bear-hugged in order to pick her up (which I still do – but Diane can’t. Freaks Lexi out ’cause she thinks momma is gonna drop her.) Seriously. She is almost as tall and long as Sierra, although she is only about half the width.
Lexi is at that goofball puppy teenager stage. Her body is becoming athletic and strong with occasional moments of pure clumsiness. Like yesterday when she came racing into the house, couldn’t make the turn and slid 10 feet right into the water bowls.
Distinctive Ridgeback and hound traits are emerging, warmingly reminding us of Dante, our previous Ridgeback. First time we took her into the vet, in a rising curious voice, he asks “So why a Ridgeback?” thinking we may not be knowing what we were in for. But with a twinkle we reminded him that our first pup was a ridgie. We know their potential for trouble and love it.
“What are some of these traits?” you may so curiously ask.
For one, Ridgebacks tend to be quite clean, even though they usually hate water. She is a very clean puppy, making potty training fairly quick and painless. She has already learned how to ring the bell to let us know she wants to go outside if the door is closed. But if the lawn is wet, you can guarantee she’ll walk the long way around on the pathways.
Instagrammed Shot – Puppies! Attention!
Instagrammed shot – Asian Pear was this little Sugar Foot’s morning snack!
There is also a distinctive knack for independent stubbornness. Point your finger at her and command “No” and she’ll just look at you with a glimmer, then nibble on your finger. Our shoes and socks are regularly found strewn about the house and garden. But 9 out of 10 times it is only the right shoe. Don’t ask us why or how she knows. It is just her preference.
And then there is the super obsessiveness over food. She loves food. I mean really, really loves food. Every meal when when kibble bowls are being walked outside, she will race ahead doing one victory lap. Then after she reaches the front of the food bearer, she will sproing (a ridgeback thing of jumping straight up in the air, all paws staying more or less level with one another), rotating herself in mid-air until she is front and center of the food. And since she knows the rule of no eating till everyone is sitting, when she lands it will be directly into a sit, ready for food service.
After meals there will be at least another 30 minutes of roaming the garden, looking for other goodies to snack on. Right now it is the persimmons.
So with such a independent minded, smart, food focused dog, it is time to build up on the training treats. Much cheaper than the store bought ones, and the pups seem to love them more, I will bake up big batches of this dog biscuit recipe. And with all the pie pumpkins in the stores, pumpkin flax dog biscuits seemed like the perfect fall training treat.
-Todd
Instagrammed Shot – Our pupppy pumpkins. At least we didn’t make them wear costumes. This year.
Here’s our favorite cutter sets for this dog biscuit recipe. Obviously they have many uses beyond puppy treats, but ours tend to see a lot of action in that department. We love how all of these sets store, ’cause nothing drives us nuts more than messy kitchen drawers:
Pumpkin Flaxseed Dog Biscuits
Ingredients
- 1 cup (245g) Pumpkin Puree *see Notes
- 2 Tablespoons (30g) Brown Sugar , optional - see headnote
- 1 Egg
- 1/3 cup (80ml) Vegetable Oil
- 1/4 cup (60ml) Water
- 1/4 cup (40g) Flax Seeds
- 3 1/2 cups (440g) all-purpose Flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.
- In a stand mixer fit with a bread-hook, mix together pumpkin puree, sugar, and egg. Mix in oil and water until incorporated.Stir flax seeds and flour into batter. Dough should be fairly stiff.
- Roll out dough to a little less than 1/2" thick. Cut into desired shapes (for a quick stick shape, cut strips using a fluted pasta cutter or pizza cutter. We often use hearts for "good dogs" and small circles or small bone shapes for training incentives). Place treats on lined sheet pans.
- Bake for about 40 minutes or until light golden and fairly hard and cooked through in the center (they will harden a bit more when cooled). Set aside to cool and liberally pass out to deserving puppies.
so 2 cup pumpkin puree, right? It’s a little bit confusing right there, no offense 🙂
Yes. 2 cups of puree. The other info is for those who want to make the puree from fresh pumpkins.
Where did you find tiny bone cookie cutters? I have a Pom and have looked everywhere. We will be tryingvthesevtreats for sure 🙂
We got them a long time ago at Sur La Table. Not sure if they have them still. We have seen similar on Amazon.
Good luck.
T & D
I bought at hobby lobby a bone shape and paw print shape
Thanks for the recipe! I had been looking for dog treats for my
Standard Poodle, because she’s a little picky 🙂
I wasn’t sure about this one but she really likes these!
Thank you!
Pumpkin and flax are also great for dogs who don’t express their own anal glands well (most dogs do during a normal bowel movement). The fiber from pumpkin and flax gives them a little extra help.
Will definitely be trying this for my Cheddar dog. He loves pumpkin treats!
These look awesome! I’ll leave out the brown sugar because the pups won’t know the difference – I love adding flax/chia/etc. to our pups’ diets. Sharing 🙂
Thanks you for the recipe!
There is a favorite simple, quick and healthy recipe.
Peanut Butter Treats
• 2 tablespoons corn oil
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 cups white flour
Preheat oven to 350°. Combine oil, peanut butter and water in a bowl. Add Flour 1 cup at a time, then knead into firm dough. Roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness and cut with small bone shaped cookie cutter. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes. Makes 2 1/2 dozen.
You may be interested to see my collection of recipes of homemade dog treats (snacks, biscuits, cookies and bones) :
http://www.pinterest.com/gornoz/recipes-for-homemade-dog-treats-cookies-and-bones/
I can’t wait to try this recipe! Making them for my own 2 pups and testing out recipies for a fundraiser for our dog rescue group.
I had read though, that flax seeds were not digestable and in order to get the benefits from it, they needd to be ground. I’ve been grinding our pups fresh flax for their meals. Would love to know that I can just skip this step & give them whole seeds! Had you heard that dogs can break dogs the seeds (or have you noticed signs of them not breaking down…)?
We haven’t noticed any whole remnants, but haven’t inspected too closely either. ;). The next doggie biscuit recipe I want to work on will have ground flax, but I just haven’t gotten it down to what I want yet. Hopefully it will come soon.
You are right…to get any benefit from flax seed it needs to be ground…and the fresher the grind the better
Thanks for the great recipes- ill be giving them a try tonight. One thing- I’ve heard and read that persimmon seeds can be toxic to dogs if eaten in significant quantities. Maybe give that some research if you’re fortunate enough to have a happy persimmon tree dropping fruit this autumn.
Warmly,
Faerl Marie
I am going to try to make this with oatmeal flour substituded for the wheat flour. I don’t feed my dogs wheat and wondered how they will turn out, also if I use a rice flour instead of the all purpose, if that would work too. I have been making all my own treats for a year now for my two bullmastiffs. Thank you for the new recipe!
We would love to hear how they turn out. We’ve been thinking of trying other non-wheat flour variations as well, but haven’t yet.
Good luck!
This is great! And I agree with everyone that there are never too many dog pictures. How long do the treats keep and how do you store them?
They are baked until dry, so ours have lasted a month, maybe more. We’ve yet to have a batch go bad before the pups could eat them all and we usually do double batches.
I smiled when I came across this post tonight… not only am I a fellow “dog-obsessed” human – my pup is ALSO a Rhodie – and I (an illustrator & designer with a dog-blog) posted my own version of “Pumpkin Pup-treats” just about a month ago! Slightly different ingredients, but boy they look similar – and I’m positive the dog’s don’t notice any nuances!
Very excited to find your site – we’ll be keeping tabs on your beautiful work – and definitely on gorgeous Lexi! Cheers, Natalya & Oscar Dog
Hi,
I love the info. about your dogs. The recepies are awesome also! I plan on making many of them next yr. for my little sisters English Bulldog Nutmeg.
These look great and I’m planning on making them for my friends (with dogs) for the holidays. How many do these make approximately?
Usually for us it is about 3 sheet pans full, but it depend on how thick you roll them out.
Very cute 🙂 I think I’m going to make these for my boyfriend’s pug!
Seeing the pics of Lexi makes me wish for another Ridgeback! I loved mine and they were such good family dogs! I will have to try out the treats for my present pups.
OHHH i love pumpkin recipes i have about 5 pumpkins worth of puree in my freezer. Now i have something to do with them! Our doggie loves treats… maybe a little to much since she is just over the puppy stage she is starting to pack on a few extra pounds.