Peanut Butter Dog Treats

I have two loving, high-energy black lab-border collies. My youngest (at 1 1/2 years) is still too delinquent to be left unattended when we are not at home, so we have to crate her. Left uncrated, she has destroyed library books, eaten Christmas gifts (including a tin full of homemade toffee), and annihilated a box of dryer sheets, among many other things. In training her, I gave her a treat every time I was leaving to coax her into her crate. She has gotten so good at this that when she hears the door to the closet where her treats are kept, she goes in her crate. We are ecstatic that she is so well trained in this regard, but it means we go through a lot of treats, since there are days when I leave the house three or four times.

I usually buy a basic peanut butter dog biscuit from our co-op. Peaking at the label, as well as the label on many other treats we've bought (and acknowledging that there are dog bakeries popping up), I figured I could probably make them myself. They're as easy as baking cookies, and even using high quality ingredients still end up being cheaper than buying treats at the store.

I used a combination of two kinds of flours and rolled oats, but this part of the recipe is pretty flexible. Because I used rolled oats, I had to up the flour a little bit. If you choose to just use flour, use 2 cups total. You can also grind up oats in a food processor to make oat flour, but again, the total flour should be 2 cups if you are just using flour.

Try to use a natural peanut butter if you can. The only ingredient should be peanuts, but if you have one with sea salt in it, that is fine. Just avoid ones with added sugar or oils.

The end result is crisp, snappy little cookies that my dogs adore. Hope your canine companion enjoys them as much as mine do!

Peanut Butter Dog Treats

Makes about 60 treats, depending on size

1 c whole wheat flour

3/4 c rye flour

1/2 c rolled oats

1 tsp baking powder

1 c natural peanut butter (smooth or creamy)

1 c skim milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl; set aside. In a small bowl, stir together milk and peanut butter until combined (be patient, this may take a few minutes). Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients; stir until well mixed.

Turn some of the dough onto a well-floured surface. Roll out dough and cut into shapes. Place on a baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden and crisp. Repeat until the dough is gone. Cool completely on a drying rack before feeding to your furry friend.

P.S. I know the picture doesn't really do much for the biscuit, but I couldn't do a recipe for dog treats and not show how excited my dogs were about them :)