She pretty much instantly became the cutest and bestest little dog ever! I know, I know, you may be thinking that your pooch is the cutest and bestest ever, but that's why dog caregivers are awesome, we all love our dogs the most, no questions asked.
She is bouncing around with energy and is the fastest and most playful dog in the park (for reals). Her eyes which had big tear stains when I first got her have cleared right up. She is so super smart and basically seems to understand what I'm saying at all times. I couldn't be happier! I don't think she could be either, as she is always smiling and wagging her tail at me.
Focus... focus...don't blink or it may disappear....
Chickpea has really been living it up these last four months. She learned how to play with toys (she was scared of the ones that squeaked at first). She has even learned how to play fetch! So sad that she clearly had no one to play with for her first mystery year of life. She follows me everywhere I go, and eagerly watches me while I cook, waiting for food scraps to drop to the floor. Aside from playing with other dogs, squirrel chasing is her favourite outdoor hobby, she even tries to climb the trees! She's a monkey dog, I'm telling you. (Luckily she never catches the squirrels).
She also learned to bark. Yep, for the first 2 months she didn't make a peep, but now proudly has one bark and a short growl at the mailman... before she runs and hides upstairs. Guard dog skills, amIright?
She was seriously losing her mind when I had these on the floor setting up a photoshoot. I'm really not sure how she knew they were for her, but she kept peeking around my light reflectors like this, so very tempted to be a bad dog. Too cute.
To make Pumpkin & Peanut Butter Dog Treats:
So let's get to making some dog treats for our furry friends!
Begin by adding the oats to a food processor.
Grind them until you reach a fine powder.
Now add the pumpkin and peanut butter.
And blend to combine until you make a sticky dough.
Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface. I used brown rice flour as Chickpea is sensitive to wheat, but if your dog isn't you can use wheat flour. You could alternatively set aside some of the ground oats to use for this as well.
Use a small cookie cutter, (I used a small bone cookie cutter), but any shape will do, or just use a knife to cut small squares.
Lay them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake until dry and firm.
Once cool, store them in an airtight container at room temperature. They would make a great gift for any of your furry friends! They should keep at least a week at room temperature, two weeks in the fridge, or you can freeze them.
Bon puppategan!
Sam.
(click stars to vote)
Pumpkin & Peanut Butter Dog Treats (just 3 ingredients!)
Servings: small treats
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Ingredients
- 1 cup oats (old fashioned, 1-minute oats, or instant), , plus more if needed- see instructions
- ⅓ cup pure pumpkin, (not pumpkin pie filling)
- ¼ cup natural peanut butter
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 300F (150C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add the oats to a food processor and grind until they reach a fine powder.
- Add in the pumpkin and peanut butter and blend until a sticky dough is formed.
- Remove from the processor and roll out on a lightly floured surface. (Use whole wheat flour, more ground oats, or another flour that you have on hand). Cut out cookies using a small cookie cutter of any shape, or alternatively just cut into squares with a knife.
- Lay the treats on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the treats are dry and hard. Let cool before giving to your pup and then store in an airtight container. They should keep at least a week at room temperature, two weeks in the fridge, or you can freeze them.
Notes
Nutrition
Danielle says
Hello!
Excited to try this recipe. Any thoughts on replacing the oats for coconut flour and if so how much flour? Was not sure if I could do a direct swap out to get the same texture. Thanks in advance.
Sam Turnbull says
Hi Danielle, you're most welcome. I'm not an expert in alternative flour baking so I can't help you with coconut flour but you are welcome to try. I would start with less and add more as needed until you reach the right texture. Enjoy!
Sally says
Use a combination of rice and or almond flour with the coconut flour
Philip_HD says
hi, how many treats can you give the doggies per day so he won't get fat?
Sam Turnbull says
All dogs are different sizes and require different calorie amounts so I would recommend speaking with your vet about this.
Lacey Hochleutner says
Hi Sam,
Thank you for sharing this recipe, I plan to make a batch, but would like to know if ther is a recommended time that these will be good for? Plus how can I store them, either in fridge, freezer etc?
Kind regards,
Lacey
Sam Turnbull says
They should last about a week at room temperature or you can store them in the fridge or freezer for longer. Enjoy!
cooknwoman says
Hi, if you bake until fully dry - wouldn't they be like any other treat and not need refrigeration?
Sam Turnbull says
You can definitely try to store them on the shelf, but as there are no preservatives just check to make sure they still look and smell good before giving them to your pooch 🙂
Bobbie Lyons says
I bake mine on a lower temp for about & hour til nice & hard. If you bake all the moisture out they store great in my pup's treat jar on the counter
Michelle says
What temp did you bake at?
cooknwoman says
Sorry Sam!!! Forgive me ...I meant to say thank you so much for the recipe❣Also, could these treats be dehydrated?
P.S. your dog is super cute - as is your video We have 8 awesome dogs, ranging from a 3lb 5 month old tea cup to a German Shepherd 6 of which are rescue pups. So this recipe will really save us lots of and provide healthful treats! Thanks much for Peder'sLil'Farm
Sam Turnbull says
You're most welcome!! 🙂
stacey judge says
Hello! I was recently advised to begin giving pumpkin to my dog by his vet. They said a regular can of pumpkin was just fine to give him a spoon full each day. So my question to you is , is it ok to use regular canned pumpkin in the recipe or should I stick with your ingredients? Thank you in advance and thank you so much for this very basic recipe!!! 3 ingredients! Yeah!
Sam Turnbull says
I used canned pumpkin for this recipe too, so you're good to go. 🙂
Amanda says
My dog loves these so much. I've found a way to use the whole can of pumpkin puree and eliminate rolling out the dough on a mat. I use the whole can and then 5x the other two ingredients: 5 c. oats, 1 1/4 c. PB. Dump the dough into a jelly roll pan and roll out with the rolling pin. Then cut with a pizza cutter into ~1-inch squares. This makes a huge batch, most of which I freeze and then take out as needed. I do process the oats in batches and then put all in a stand mixer since it's too much dough for the food processor.
Sam Turnbull says
Amazing! So happy your pooch loved them 🙂
Linda Nielsen says
Amanda, What size can did you use? thanks, Linda
Cheryl says
By WHOLE CAN, what size are you referring to?
Melissa says
Incredibly happy I stumbled upon your recipe! My 14 yr old Doxie has been having some tummy trouble lately with her favorite treats so i’ve been getting creative with what to give her. Made these for her on Wednesday and she, as well as her 2 and 5 yr old sisters, experienced love at first bite with them! Today was day 2 of making them and the three were literally sitting next to the oven until the timer went off waiting for their treats.
Thank you for the wonderful recipe 🙂
Sam Turnbull says
Awww, you're most welcome, Melissa 🙂
Polly says
Hi Sam. Fo you have any ideas for cat treats in the future. Kittys love pumpkin as well.
I would also like to thank you for all your hard work, dedication and love you bring to your website.
P.S Your cookbook, is pretty darn wonderful!!!
Polly
Sam Turnbull says
Aww thank you so much, Polly!!! I don't have a cat, so I'm not sure how I would test the recipes! Haha.
Sam says
My dog Scooby ate the treat after sniffing it for awhile as if it wasn't edible. He basically spit it out, but he is a dog that loves food too much, so I was pretty shocked he didn't like them. I thought they were pretty good. One star for Scooby, two stars for Sam.
Sam Turnbull says
Sorry your pooch didn't enjoy them!
Cheri says
Thank you for this quick, simple and nutritious recipe! Our Gracie loves them! I also made a second batch with bananas instead of pumpkin. I used 3 ripe bananas and pureed them in my food processor. They made just a little more than a cup. I did find that the bananas made the dough more sticky, so extra flour or oat flour was needed. I accidentally dropped one before cooking and Gracie snatched it up! Glad this is so quick to make, as once she runs out, I highly doubt she'll settle for store-bought again! 🙂
Cheri says
I should clarify.. I used 3 bananas because I tripled the recipe. One banana should be about right for a single recipe.
Lisa says
How long should I bake these because it's been 30 minutes and they're still wet?
Sam Turnbull says
They should be baked by now. Are you sure you measured the ingredients correctly? I ask because the dough isn't very wet even before baking. Hope that helps!
Vera says
I baked mine for an additional hour on 250° . The pumpkin kept it moist. And the extra baking made it crunchy my dogs love them !!
Lisa says
Hello I was wondering if I can use foil on the Pan instead of parchment paper?
Sam Turnbull says
Yes, that should work fine. Enjoy!
Lisa Steczo says
Hello, I was wondering how long these doggy bones will stay fresh in a ziploc baggie?
Lisa says
never mind sorry I failed to read the other comments.
Sam Turnbull says
About a week at room temperature or you can store them in the freezer. Enjoy!
Shannon says
How long will they be good if I keep them in the refrigerator?
I think my sweetie would love these from the freezer~she’s addicted to ice..LOL!!
Also if I bake these in my silicone dog bone shape sheet how long should they cook??
Thank you bunches ❤️
Shannon says
How long will they be good if I keep them in the refrigerator?
I think my sweetie would love these from the freezer~she’s addicted to ice..LOL!!
Also if I bake these in my silicone dog bone shape sheet how long should they cook??
Thank you bunches ❤️
Sam Turnbull says
I would say 1 - 2 weeks. They should work fine in silicon and the bake time should be the same or just a couple minutes longer.
Ronni says
Hi! Love the recipe.. just curious if you’ve ever made a larger batch than you wanted to bake at that moment and refrigerated the “dough” for later.
Sam Turnbull says
I haven't done that but that would work well! I have however, made a big batch of treats and stored them in the freezer. That also works well!
Melody says
Thanks so much for the recipe! I've just adopted my very first dog and after doing a lot of research, I don't trust any of these commercially available treats! I was wondering: how long will these treats keep for? Should I store them in the fridge to make them last? I only have my one dog so I don't want to make a bunch of these just to have them go bad. Thanks for the help!
Sam Turnbull says
Congrats on your new pooch! These will keep for about a week at room temperature but should keep for longer in the fridge and even longer in freezer. Enjoy!
Michelle says
I just made 3 different batches of "cookies" for my two labs and these were by far their favorite (and easiest to make) I'll definitely be keeping the recipe and be making them all the time for my boys. Thank you ❤
Sam Turnbull says
Awesome! So happy your boys enjoyed them 🙂
Renatta Holler says
Hi. Thanks for the great recipe. Your fur baby is just adorable. With so many allergies these days with our fur puppies, only 3 ingredients you know your dog is getting a great treat. I do have a question, my food processor just went on the fritz so I wonder what's the difference of using whole oats compared to making them into flower like consistency?
Sam Turnbull says
So happy you liked the recipe! It might be difficult to get the mixture to stick together without a flour-like consistency. If you have a blender you could try breaking up the oats that way, or you could buy oat flour. Hope that helps. 🙂
Pam says
Sorry to be a bummer, but dogs and cats are obligate carnivores and their physiology is radically different form our own. You can't impose human food regimes on them without health consequences. Your dog may be doing OK NOW, but you're laying the groundwork for serious long-term health issue.
Sincerely,
Former vet tech
Sam Turnbull says
Hi Pam, cats are obligate carnivores, but dogs are omnivores, not carnivores. At first, I thought it was terribly mean to make a dog vegan, but then I started noticing a lot of healthy dogs on Instagram being tagged as vegan. So I started researching and it turns out dogs can totally thrive on a properly balanced vegan diet. To be sure (because you can't always trust the internet), I called three local vets, and every single one said dogs could be happy and healthy on a well-balanced vegan diet. Then to seal the deal when I took Chickpea to the vet when I first rescued her, the vet actually ended up prescribing her allergy friendly dog food, which upon inspection I realized was vegan! Of course, as a vegan, the last thing in the world I would want to do is hurt an animal, so if it wasn't working for her I would change her diet, but she's been on vegan ever since I rescued her and is happy, healthy, and has endless amounts of energy. Not to mention that one of my closest friends is an emergency vet. She plays with Chickpea weekly, so if she saw any signs of malnutrition she would point them out ASAP. She approves of the vegan diet for Chickpea, and she isn't even vegan herself. :)
GIna says
Strange that you claim to be a vet tech and are not in the know about the fact that dogs are not obligate carnivores. Quite the contrary. Their digestive tract is very much like humans. Dogs are often healthier when their diet is more plant based. You are correct that cats are indeed only carnivores.
Bev says
Pam,
Please take a look at this article out of Tufts University, written by a Board Certified Veterinarian Nutritionist. Dr. Heinze teaches biochemistry and clinical nutrition at the Cummings School of Veterinary medicine. It explains how dogs' digestive systems have evolved differently from wolves, just as their personality traits have (comparing a Golden Retriever to a wolf.) Your information is outdated, but hopefully by now (since this post was from 8 months ago) you have read important research and understand that a vegan diet can be absolutely healthy, if not more so, than a meat-based diet for dogs. It certainly is for humans!
Here's the link:
https://vetnutrition.tufts.edu/2016/07/vegan-dogs-a-healthy-lifestyle-or-going-against-nature/
Pam says
The recipe is just what I was looking for. I would like to add flax seed to the biscuits and was wondering if you could give me a recommendation on how to add it and how much you feel I should add per batch?
Thank you
Sam Turnbull says
I haven't added flax so I'm not sure the amount, but this recipe is pretty forgiving so I am sure you can add some without worry.
shahram says
Thank you for the recipe
Sam Turnbull says
You're welcome!
Lisa Draper says
My dog is on a grain-free diet. What should I substitute for the oats?
Sam Turnbull says
Any kind of flour should work.
Joyous Ferro says
I use coconut flour and seems to tend to be a bit dryer, I just add more pumpkin.