Sawyere and I worked hard this morning, on stay, down stay, and drop it. The first two were quite good, and the last will take more time, although we did get the basic idea. After I left him, I swung to Wegman’s, because I’d had an idea for all the good dogs in my life, and Mazy, too. We’ve been buying Sawyere these great treats called Pure Bites–so far we’ve tried beef liver, chicken breast, salmon, and cheese, and he loves them all. They’re just dried forms of whatever flavor they are–one ingredient only, and you can’t do better than that.
But they’re very expensive, and I thought I remembered that, in the book Beloved F gave me as a gift–little did she know she was gonna need it ;)–there’s a great recipe for treats which I bet will come out like the Pure Bites. Here’s the recipe, from, ‘Cooking For Your Dog’, by Ingeborg Pils.
Beef Crunchies
1 pound lean beef
Dice the meat into 1/2 inch cubes. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the cubes of meat on it, close together. Put into a cold oven and turn the oven to 300 degrees F. Cook the meat for one hour.
Reduce the oven temperature to 210 degrees F., and crack the oven door open to allow the moisture in the meat to escape. Cook the meat in the oven for a further two hours.
Allow the beef crunchies to dry overnight at room temperature.
The crunchies will keep for up to a year in an airtight container–no need to refrigerate! This is the kind of treat you need to have on you at all times, if you’re like me. Keep some in the glove compartment, in case you find a stray dog. Keep some in your purse, in your coat pockets, in your pants pockets, right next to your poop bags.
Life is good. Very tiring, but good.
cellopets 
Wow, those sound great, Ingrid!
You have to keep the door cracked for the whole 2 hours?
I have some grass-fed beef-stew meat in my freezer that has been there for a year…. it’s vacuum packed and looks good, but I think it would make a perfect treat for Panda!! Taking it out of the freezer now!!
I know, don’t they sound good?–and your meat will be perfect for them. I bet you could do this with any meat, but chicken and turkey would be done sooner.
Can you feel when they are done? Are they totally dry?
In the process, almost done….. with the first batch.
I had bought some grass-fed beef-stew-meat about a year ago and never got around to using it. So I pulled it out of the freezer a couple of days ago and it’s been in the oven for almost 3 hours….
Panda sampled and approved!
I’ll let you know how it turns out, but in the interest of saving energy…. I’m looking into a dehydrator. ; )
I have a whole salmon in my freezer I need to do something with….