Fun and Fancy (So Easy!) Easter Egg Dog Treats

As promised in last week's post on how to make hard-set "royal icing" for dogs, here is an alternative way to make fancy Easter treats. Stamping the patterns into your treats is an easy way to dress up special treats. The finished treats look fancy but are still "plain" enough to be freezer-friendly and perfect for pressie packaging or pocket portability for treats on the go. Since you can use any roll-and-cut dough with no extra toppings, it's also a great way to make a fancy treat for a dog with allergies or special dietary sensitivities using your favourite safe recipe. There's no icing set/dry time and much less mess, which is great if the kids are helping out. You can also use these techniques to make human cookies, if you'd like! :)

   

DIY Iced Easter Eggs + Bunny Bone Dog Treats

Although I make a lot (a lot!) of treats, iced doggy treats are a special rarity around here. I prefer to bake and freeze treats for readily available variety and keep things pocket portable.  Sometime though, you just need to have a little fun! Special occasions are a perfect opportunity. Sugar-based human royal icing is not suitable for dogs and since hard-set dog treat icing is something many folks are keen to master, I thought I would share one of my icing experiments and a few tips here on the blog.

Assembling a DIY Dog Easter (or Any Occasion Gift) Basket

Today's doggy DIY combines crazy pet-parent with a dose of practicality to create positively pawesome dog-friendly Easter baskets.  Special occasions are a good opportunity to refresh any worn-out pet necessities like collar, leads, harnesses, etc. as well as indulge in a few new toys or treats.  You can use this as inspiration for any occasion doggy gift giving, and a basket of goodies is a great idea for gifting new pet owners as well.  Here are our tips:

{RECIPE} Dog Cross Bun Easter Treats

Dog cross buns...dog cross buns...one ha'penny, two ha'penny, dog cross buns... In our local supermarkets and bakeries, hot cross buns seem to sneak onto the shelves ridiculously early, sometimes even replacing Christmas treats at the start of the year! In honour of the beloved bun, these Easter treats are made with a deliciously spiced dough and topped with a cross; however, instead of yeasty bread buns these are snappy biscuits without the doggy no-nos often found in human buns, like nutmeg, raisins, dried currants, and other unhealthy ingredients.

Since these treats are really all about the simple shape and embellishment, to make your own Dog Cross Buns, you can use any dog-friendly roll-and-cut treat dough; however, for an authentic spiced sweet bread inspired scent we recommend opting for a dough that includes cinnamon and/or blackstrap molasses. Some of our archive recipes that could work particularly nicely for dough include Molasses and Peanut Butter "Gingerbread" (used for the treats pictured in this post, but I mixed things up a little with a combo of rice and buckwheat flours), Autumn Apple Puppy Pies, or Blackstrap Banana Biscuits.  You can also tweak your favourite rollable treat dough by altering the wets to include some blackstrap and/or adding a sprinkle of cinnamon. Easy peasy!  Here is how we made our treats:

Tug of Tugs! DIY Double Woven Fleece Dog Tug Toy

A tug toy woven out of tug toys?  Oh yes we did!  Why? Simply because someone asked us if we could try to make one! No promises, but if you have a doggone crazy idea that you'd like us to try, don't be shy!  Since this toy was slotting into our schedule on St. Patrick's Day, I went with a wild rainbow of colours, adding in white to make the extra eighth colour for the multi-coloured mix. This also helps you to see what's what in the how-to photos below.

Pancake Day With the Dogs? Let's Share a Treat!

Last Minute Christmas Gifts for the Dogs + Their Humans

It's our final post of 2016!  We're wrapping up our December Barkmas bonanza and the blogging year with a double posting dose of festive inspiration. In this post we're sharing a round-up of DIY Christmas gifts for dogs from our archives and recent posts, a few of our tried-and-tested favourite pre-fab toys and products, and pet-themed gift ideas for dog loving humans. Check out the preceding post DIY Christmas Dog Treats + Gifts for Aspiring Pet Chefs for treat recipe ideas, a free holiday dog treat e-cookbook, and kitchen/cooking gift ideas for dog lovers.

DIY Pet Pillow Boxes + Party Popper "Christmas Crackers"

My dogs LOVE tearing into boxes, paper, cardboard rolls... they're avid recyclers, always happy to help break things down for the bin! :)  Today's post shares how to prettify your everyday recyclables into pawesome holiday/party wrapping and pressie packaging for pets (or anyone you please!).  It is shared in collaboration with our partner blog at Creativity Unmasked, where you can discover how the easy homemade custom bone, paw, and word stamps were created with instructions for creating your own. Yay!

{RECIPE} Stacked Star Christmas Tree Dog Treats

Oh yes I did... :) These little Christmas tree dog treat towers are assembled with carob "glue" and decorated with carob and yogurt.  They are a very cute little gift to make and gift to all of your favourite furfriends this holiday season.  Here's how to make your own!

DIY Dog Poop Bag Christmas Wreath + Mini Christmas Tree

DIY Birthday Candle Dog Tug Toy

Olympic Inspired Sports to Enjoy with Your Dog

How to Make Gold Medal Dog Treats (or Human Cookies!)

Felted Wool Fur Balls (+ Necklace Instructions)

Cinco de Mayo Puppy Fiesta Fun

DIY Dog Tug Toys (and Birthday Party Wrap Up)

{RECIPE} Homemade Dog Easter Egg Carob Treats

{RECIPE} Cream Cheese Easter Nest Dog Cookies

{RECIPE} Chinese New Year Dog Fortune Cookie

DIY Dog Treat Christmas (or Any Occasion) Wreath