As well as buying packs upon packs of various kinds of doggy treats at the pet shop, mostly for convenience and ease, we also enjoy making dried chicken (and soon to be dried liver) treats for our dog and also to use on the walks with our clients dogs.
One of the best things about home made treats is that you know exactly what is in the food! So, if your dog has any food allergens (a lot of dogs are typically allergic to wheat and other grains, which are found in cheaper foods) you can avoid them by making your own treats.
Dried chicken treats are also a very healthy option, as well as extremely salient, for your pooches as they are literally just 100% chicken. Chicken breast is obviously a little more costly than buying a few packs of cheap dog treats but they do last a while (especially if you prepare an entire pack of chicken breasts like we do) and, I would say, are worth more in the long run as dogs will generally work harder for food they find more rewarding; and, typically you will find that dogs will choose smelly or meaty foods over bland dog biscuits if given the choice.
The method we use is very simple but just to be clear, this isn't a recipe for chicken jerky, it's just a method to dry out the chicken so parts of it will still be soft.
The first thing you want to do is obviously buy some boneless chicken breast! Quality is entirely up to you and depends on how much you are willing to spend. Cut up all of the breasts into long strips and then place them into a saucepan with water. Bring this to the boil (which normally takes about 10 minutes) and once boiling, turn the heat down and check a few of the pieces to see if they are white all the way through. You can use the chicken broth from this for your dog if you wish to, maybe add it to a meal or you can freeze this and also cut it into treats.
Remove the chicken and broth from the pan, into a colander/sieve, then place the chicken back into the pan. You'll also want to turn your oven on about now, onto a very low heat. We will normally cook ours between gas mark 1 and 2. Then you will want to get out a baking tray (or more, depending on how much chicken you have) and lightly grease with oil (optional). Now for one of the tedious steps. You will want to, piece by piece, pat the chicken dry, using a small hand towel/tea towel, and and place it onto the tray. This step can be quite long depending on how much chicken you are preparing. Once all your chicken strips are on the tray, place them into the oven and cook for about an hour and a half (depending on your oven) until they are a golden brown colour.
Once the chicken is dry and a golden brown colour, remove them from the oven and let them cool. Once they have cooled it's time to cut them into treat size for your dog. The size you cut them depends on the size of your dog, we cut ours quite small as our dog is small but we also leave some pieces a little larger for clients dogs. This step is extremely tedious so you may want to take breaks whilst doing it! Once you have cut all of the chicken into treats, keep a couple handfuls in a separate container of freezer bag as you can use these treats straight away. With the rest place them into a freezer bag or a container and freeze them, as otherwise they will go off.
The treats typically last us about 2 weeks but that could completely vary depending on your treat size and how often you use them. At the end of this blog I will post a video which also shows the process step by step and shows the finished result.
So, now that you know how to make super tasty and healthy noms for your pooch, what are you waiting for? Go and buy some chicken and bake your canine friend a batch of dried chicken treats, I guarantee they'll love it!
Step by step - How to make dried chicken treats for dogs
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