Treat Balls
Half the fun of owning a pet is playing with it, and you can make play time even more fun for your pets when you are using treat balls as toys. Just think of how excited your pet is going to be when they go after a toy to play with it and discover that not only can they play with it, but that there is something in for them to eat too. These balls are not only great for play time, but they are also really good training aids, especially for dogs, because they know that when you tell them to get the ball, they will get a treat for doing so.
Instead of using a ball that has a treat stuffed inside, you can also make a treat ball that is entirely edible, and one that dogs really love. These homemade balls are made from fresh ingredients, and there are no added chemicals that you would find in prepared treat balls and other dog treats. Here is a simple recipe for making your own treat ball for your dog:
Ingredients:
• 1/2 TBSP dry yeast
• 1 TBSP warm water
• 1.5 TBSP honey (organic is best)
• 2 cups of unbleached flour
• 1 cup of whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup of soy flour
• 1/4 cup of graham flour
• 1/4 cup of powdered milk
• 2.5 cups of broth, beef or chicken
Method:
Mix the yeast, honey and water, and let it stand for 10 to 15 minutes for the yeast to rise. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, making sure that the rack is in the center. Grease a baking sheet to have it ready for the treat balls. Once the yeast is ready, combine all of the flours and dry milk. Pour in the yeast and broth and blend until mixture becomes doughy. If the mixture is too dry, you can always add more broth. Once the batter is ready, roll it into small balls, about the size of a little bouncy ball, and place them on the greased cookie sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes, and let them cool on the cupboard on a rack before putting them in a container. You can store these for quite a long time, but you probably won’t have to, because you will be giving them to your dog every time you play or train them to do something new.
You can feel really safe giving these homemade treats to your dog. They are healthy, and loaded with ingredients that are not only good for dogs, but that they really love. The next time you want to give your dog a healthy treat, get out your ingredients and make some homemade treat balls for him.
