Keeping Cool – Summer Dog Treats
With summer temperatures being hotter than ever, keeping our dogs cool is a priority, and what better way than some summer dog treats?
It doesn’t have to be hard, complex, or time consuming. You can be as plain as you’d like, your dog won’t mind! Since dogs have more difficulty regulating temperature than we do, cooling summer dog treats can be a good way for us to help them chill a little.
Super Simple Summer Dog Treats
Freezers make keeping your dog cool pretty hands off if you want it to be. There are a very wide range of options of what your dog can have that’s frozen, with the easiest simply being using ice from the icemaker to keep their water bowls chilled. Many dogs like bobbing around in their bowls to try to fish ice out as well, so it can be entertaining for them too!
The next step up is having some dog safe frozen fruit or veg for your dog. Apple slices, carrot, green beans, watermelon, cantaloupe, banana, berries, and more are perfectly safe for your dog to have in moderation. All you need to do is have some prepped and in the freezer to use!
Putting Your Ice Tray to Good Use
In the summer I freeze a ton of different treats for my dogs and have ice trays I use for this specifically. Many things can be frozen in an ice tray that are safe for dogs and that make great summer dog treats. One of our favorites around here is a fruit mix, unsweetened applesauce with various berries or veggies in it.
Getting a bit more fancy, you can make your own fruit puree for your dogs and use that in an ice tray for them instead of apple sauce. Frozen smoothie cubes for your dog! The sky is the limit, and as long as it’s safe for them to eat normally, you can add it into a mix to be frozen.
Unsweetened yogurt is also a great base you can use and add things to for a frozen treat. With yogurts, make sure it has no sugar OR other sweeteners!! This is very important as sweeteners can make your dog sick. Unsweetened yogurt can also be blended together with frozen fruit to make a nice soft serve or sorbet texture treat, which you can give to your dog as is, or freeze up for later.
Broth is something that I make regularly for both myself and the dogs. I keep it very simple for them, I don’t add salt, and keep most veggies out, except for maybe a carrot or two. Typically I use organ meat, bones, or a combination of the two, and end up with a broth that the dogs love, liquid or frozen. To this as well I add other things so that it’s not totally a solid ice cube. This might be treat crumbs, maybe some spare peanut butter, bits of raw veggies.
Dialing it back to what you’ve got on hand, did you know you can do this with your dog’s food too? Just water it down and freeze it up! Ideally you’ll want to make it into more of a mash than anything and then pack it into your ice tray. These cubes shouldn’t be as hard as plain ice cubes so they’ll be easier on the teeth.
There are so many options you have for summer dog treats that will keep your dog cool, and that are actually wholesome. You don’t have to limit yourself to just an ice tray, popsicle trays are great too!
