The temperature is in the triple digits again today (NOT a dry heat). I’ve been making various frozen treats for the dogs including:
yogurt, peanut butter & honey
strawberry yogurt (pre-mixed in the carton)
yogurt and frozen fruit
fruit juice
I usually use an ice cube tray to make the treats but sometimes use small paper cups. I just peel off the paper before handing them out.
What kind of fruit do you use? It’s not as hot in Philly as it is down south, but it’s still hot and sweaty and our AC is terrible. We’ve been doing frozen peanut butter Kongs, but I don’t like to give them too much pb. They LOVE ice cubes, but I’m sure they’ll get sick of plain ol’ ice soon.
I use berries – either mashed or whole.
I was planning on mashing up some blueberries and mixing them with some yogurt and maybe a little honey for some frozen treats for my buddies.
We freeze halved or quartered cored apples. For extra fun, dip them in a bit of peanut butter before freezing. We also use halved peeled bananas dipped in almond butter.
Definitely an outdoor treat however…
And of course for inside we do plain ice cubes with chunks of frozen fruit or meat inside. The dogs love them.
That’s gross heat. We’ll see 90 this weekend and I’ll be miserable – I don’t know how you endure 100+ with humidity…
Sweet! I tried the peanut butter/plain yogurt/honey (subbed agave for the honey, we were out) concoction this AM, its in the freezer now. We have a trial this weekend and I am stressing that it is going to be too hot for my bud so figured I’d give these a test whirl this week and see if they were a hit. By how excited they were to lick the spatula, I think they are.
YB–I did substitute Agave for the honey–in very moderate amounts as it is sweeter (prob 2 tsp). Do you know anything about agave and dogs? I read some big tirade against agave recently (supposedly its not the wonder sweetener its being billed/marketed as), so was curious if you or anyone has heard of any negatives about it, dog-wise?
It’s nectar, right? I haven’t heard of anything negative about dogs eating it but my reckless answer is: ignore lists of foods you’re not supposed to feed your dog. My sensible shoes answer is: Everything must be put into context with regard to size of dog and amount of questionable food being consumed. So what size dog would be eating what amount of agave per day? If you only put 2 tsp into the whole batch, I can’t imagine it being a problem even for a very small dog. FYI – if I’m out of honey, i just do yogurt & peanut butter. And if I’m out of peanut butter, I just do yogurt. My dogs will basically eat anything though, YMMV.
Thanks. I am of the same mind–anything in moderation–but am also unreasonably paranoid that I am missing something.
The “pops” were a hit–thanks! Our problem however was the ice cube sized ones I produced being eaten in one -guuuulp!-, rather than thoughtfully licked and savored. Next time we’ll try bigger ones frozen in paper cups to see if that slows them down! :)
Tundrah – try freezing large Kongs. A dab of peanut butter in the bottom of the Kong to seal the tiny hole shut, and then you can fill it up with whatever you want. These make wonderful outdoor treats on hot days.
Plus, they take quite a while to empty. I find the larger the kong, the better.