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Jelly beans


simba
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Are they safe for dogs? If not is there anything dog-safe that would taste like jelly beans?

 

 

So the little dog thinks jelly beans are the best treat, period. I dropped a couple on the floor once and she woke me up that night at 4am to lead me to the cupboard she'd seen me put them in. I am wondering if they could help with nail cutting...

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Substitute the crunchy freeze dried fruit (like bananas) you can buy at Trader Joes, Target, etc. I only feed the ones that have no added ingrediets, IOW, only the one fruit listed on the label. Just don't feed any grapes or raisins (toxic).

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"The basic ingredients of jelly beans include sugar, corn syrup, and pectin or starch. Relatively minor amounts of the emulsifying agent lecithin, anti-foaming agents, an edible wax such as beeswax, salt, and confectioner's glaze are also included."


So, like most candy, I imagine they're not toxic, as none of those ingredients are, but they're no better for dogs than they are for humans. You can probably get away with a few if you don't make it a regular thing, but there are certainly healthier alternatives.

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She's not a dog who regularly gets much other than kibble and vegetable scraps- we used some dog chocolate drops last year (not tiny amounts, but only given once a week) and I'm planning to get a small bag for this year again and not replace them when they run out. I would be using these the same way, along with freeze dried liver and kibble. Plus she isn't overweight/gets her teeth brushed.

 

My thoughts were something along the lines of the approach I read where the dog gets a random cheeseburger once a year for recall- an unpredictable 'jackpot'. Nail cutting's stressful for her and the current kibble/cheese isn't cutting it. Will try the others, but in a long life of varied foodstuffs I've never seen her go this mad over any food. Maybe, too, it was a one off thing and she won't care about them this time. Sure it's empty calories and bad for teeth, but if it helps her get her nails done the net effect would be good.

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In other words "It's fine if he herds the cats. He has great herding ability!"

Yes, I will try the banana chips, liver, and cranberries first, and if she likes them I will ise them exclusively. For some reason the 'defending feeding the dog' part of my brain kicked in first. It's not like I explicitly asked for healthier alternatives or anything(!) You should have heard the excuses I didn't come out with:"but she's 13!" etc.

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If you do end up using jelly beans, you could cut them in half or maybe even quarters. Training treats don't have to be very large, and doing this would reduce the amount of junk she's be getting.

I always use tiny, tiny bits of treats when I am training, and even when using them for desensitizing. That way, I can give lots more of them and more often without being concerned I am going to give too much. I find that the frequency of getting something yummy is more important to the dog than how big each one is. Just a taste will do it, and makes the dog want to find out what he can do to get more.

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It's not the same as dried liver, but it's really easy to make.

 

Liver cookies, aka doggie crack cocaine:

 

1 lb any type liver w/juices

3 cups oatmeal

1 egg

 

optional: (your dog won't care, it just makes us humans feel a little healthier)

grated cheese, any kind, a couple tbs

grated carrot, 1/4 cup

grated apple, 1/4 cup

 

Blend liver w/juices in blender or food processor. Yes, it's a bit yucky. Put liver mush in mixing bowl. Add 1 cup oatmeal at a time, mixing until you have a stiff dough. Depending on how juicy the liver is, you may need a little less or a little more oatmeal. Add your optional stuff, mix.

 

Spray baking sheet, (the kind with sides) with non stick spray, or use a little olive oil. Spread liver dough evenly in tray. Bake at 250, testing every 20 minutes or so till you get a cake-like texture. You may want to open a window, unless you like the smell of baking liver.

 

Pull off tray while still warm. I break it into 3 or 4 large pieces at this point, then let it cool a bit more. Then I break it into bite sized tidbits. Careful, you may need to enforce a no dogs in the kitchen rule at this point.

 

Freeze until needed. You and your dogs will have different ideas about 'need', I'm sure. Keeps forever in the freezer, and a couple weeks in the fridge. I package it in snack size freezer bags for my convenience.

 

Enjoy!

 

Ruth and SuperGibbs

 

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To make dried liver at home, just boil the liver until it is cooked, and then dry it out in a low temperature oven until it is dry. I boil it whole, then cut into thin strips to dry. Store in freezer, cut into tiny pieces to treat.

Beware, though, on how much you use. I always mix the dried liver in with other kinds of treats because eating too much liver at once can give some dogs diarrhea.

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  • 7 months later...

This is total necroposting, I am sorry for violating the rules of the board, please no-one respond to this BUT- Urge to Herd, I tried your recipe, the dog loved it, it was really useful for training, and thank you! Thank you too, D'elle, I will try that next time I see a sale!

 

Again I am so sorry for necroposting, I was balancing the rudeness of necroposting vs the rudeness of taking useful advice without any acknowledgment of it.

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Thanks for bringing this thread back! I was just staring at the 3 lbs of frozen beef liver and wondering how on earth I was going to get rid of it. It's such a pain to feed little bits at a time raw, but I think these recipes are calling my name. I'll just have to prep the fans and air fresheners, the smell of liver makes me want to retch. :)

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I mixed some cooked brown rice with it and cooked it in the slow cooker on 'high'. It smells AWFUL and stinks up the kitchen. It also freezes well and cuts easily into teeny-tiny bits.

 

Oh, and the hand-held blender never recovered. The stringy bits twisted around the centre of it and were extremely difficult to get off. And the blender itself got stolen out of the sink and chewed. So I may not make this recipe again as it was so damaging to my blender, but I'm wondering if you could chop the liver very small and make it work that way...

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Simba, you mean a stick or immersible blender? Yes, I think liver tendons or whatever they are would out class one of those. I used my old blender that had a 'pitcher' that sat in a thingy that housed the motor. Never had a problem.

 

I bet that diced liver would work fine, but dicing liver is not an easy thing. The liver is sort of spongy/slippery stuff, plus the 'skin' of the liver is slippery. Perhaps if you took a mallet to it and pounded it out a bit and then diced. Or if you have a friendly butcher who would pulverize it for you?

 

The brown rice sounds like a great addition. Did you spread it on a cookie sheet and bake it as well?

 

Ruth and Gibbs

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I just added the rice because I had it leftover, and it worked well. It was a stick blender, all I had, and the dog took and chewed on the removable end part.

 

I did contemplate the mallet option, but was wondering if that was too cartoon-y (with my Acme hammer). Plus there is the possibility of ceiling liver-splash. Maybe if I put it in some kind of bag or loosely wrapped in baking paper?

 

I greased the bottom of a slow cooker (crockpot), lined it with tinfoil, and spread the mix out thinly on it. It worked beautifully.

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Dicing liver isn't too hard to do if it's frozen and then slightly thawed only enough to cut with a sharp knife.

 

I think for this recipe I'd still opt for a free standing blender with a cover. I tried it once in a food processor and it was a real mess. Maybe quick pulses with nearly frozen chunks might not be so messy, but after my first experience I'm loathe even to try that. :P

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