Most of us just canโt resist giving our beloved canine friends a little snack now and then. Many of us are trained by our dogs to run for the doggie biscuits at the cock of a brow, a whimper and a nudge, otherwise known as โthe biscuit shuffle.โ I am convinced there is a biscuit โlookโ that no one can refuse.
Treats are fine; after all, we snack between meals! But, just as with our snacks, what treats you choose to give your dog should contribute โ not take away from โ the overall healthfulness of his diet.
There is a huge variety of biscuits on the market in these dog-friendly days, and variety is great for our canine friends, as long as we know which ingredients to seek and which to avoid.
In order to make our โAโ list, a biscuit must meet a minimum set of conditions we impose on all foods that cross our dogsโ lips:
โข No artificial colors.
โข No products with the term โflavorโ in the ingredients list. This indicates the contents donโt have enough of their own good flavor โ not the mark of quality ingredients.
โข No artificial preservatives like BHA, BHT, potassium sorbate, sodium nitrate (used for dual purposes, preservative and coloring) and especially, ethoxyquin.
โข No propylene glycol, which is used to keep certain foods moist.
โข Since weโre shopping for a treat, not a food the dog will subsist on, weโll be lenient about our usual restriction on sugars and other sweeteners, which make the snack more palatable. However, we will insist that the sweetener be a higher-quality type, such as molasses or honey, instead of artificial or lower-quality substances such as corn syrup, sucrose, and ammoniated glycyrrhizin. Keep in mind that flavor enhancers such as salt and sugar are used to make poor-quality ingredients more attractive to your dog. If the product contains โgood stuff,โ your dog will want it, even without sweeteners.
โข Look for top-quality, whole ingredients like rice, wheat, and eggs, and foods that are kept fresh with natural preservatives like vitamin C and E (often listed as mixed-tocopherols).
โข Meat ingredients should be whole, too. This is indicated by the notation โChicken,โ โlamb,โ โbeef,โ etc., rather than โlamb by-products,โ for instance. โLamb mealโ is better than โlamb by-products,โ but just plain โlambโ would be bettera. A product made with โorganically raised lambโ โ if it existed โ would be best of all.
Other considerations
The major difference between buying a healthy dog food and a healthy biscuit is that the biscuit does not have to be 100 percent nutritionally complete โ presuming, of course, that your dog does not subsist on biscuits alone! On the other hand, your dogโs favorite biscuits shouldnโt be so full of โjunkโ that they undo all the good work youโve done by providing him with the healthiest dog food.
There are some not-so-obvious ingredients to avoid when choosing nutritious dog biscuits. These are the very cheap โfillerโ ingredients with little to no nutritional value. Some of these include beet pulp, wheat middlings, and any by-products.
A word about protein, fat, and fiber. You are the best judge when it comes to your dog. If you have an overweight or less active dog, you probably ought to look for a โlightโ biscuit lower in protein and fat, and higher in fiber. If you have a very active dog choose a biscuit higher in fat and protein. While youโll want to consider the cost of Fidoโs treats, you canโt use price alone as a guide to quality. While good ingredients generally cost more, the vagaries of the marketplace are many, and the prices of some products are puzzling; who knows why some terrible products are expensive and some good ones are not?
Finally, if buying, rather than making, your dogโs cookies make you feel like a โbad parent,โ Iโve included a recipe for bake-them-yourself treats. โBoneโ appetit!
-By Valerie Cline
Valerie Cline is the owner of Barneyโs Choice, a mail order source for books about holistic care and nutritional supplements for animals. She lives in Montreal.
