Dog treats are an invaluable resource for showing your affection and appreciation for your dog. However, if your dog treats are moist or are not packaged properly, their shelf life is very short and they often get spoilt. These dog treats can be used during the training of your dog or for restraining your dog. Most pet owners use dog treats as a reward for good behavior so that the behavior is reinforced. Taking in account the importance of dog treats, it becomes important to keep them handy.
Dehydrated dog treats are great for your dogs. They have a better shelf life and don’t spoil that easily. There are a number of ways that you can create your own dehydrated dog treats. While it is always more convenient to buy the commercially available dog treats, making them at home ensures that your dog is getting the best quality foods. With commercial foods, there is no guarantee on quality and pet owners should be wary of them.
When you dehydrate dog treats, these can be preserved for a longer time. Cooking has always been used to improve the shelf life of various foods. The process of cooking helps evaporate the moisture from foods, allowing them to stay fresh for a longer period of time. When you cook your dog’s treats, you dehydrate the treats, kill the bacteria that may be present, improve and enhance both color and texture, and impart better flavor to the treats.
While you are cooking the treats, you can also add tocopherol and vitamin E, both of which are natural preservatives. In the case of dog food treats, there is little else that you can do other than to cook your treats. Simply baking dog biscuits till they are done, as with other baked foods, would prove to be inadequate as there is still a lot of excessive moisture present in the treat.
You can also make some homemade food, using vegetables, rice and meat, and bake them together to form hard, cooked slabs. Cut these slabs into small pieces and then use them as dog treats.
Using a convection oven and a good amount of baking soda or yeast ensures that you have a crunchy and healthy treat for your dog. You can knead your ingredients into a soft dough and then bake the dough in your convection oven. These treats can be stored for a long time and are both healthy and tasty—the perfect reward for your canine companion.