Homemade Dog Cookies

Six ingredient dog cookies for your four-legged friends.

I recently shared this Pumpkin Dog Treat recipe over on Spend with Pennies.

Leia’s favorite thing to do is play tug. She has a 3-foot long knotted rope that she loves to carry around and drop at my feet, begging me to play with her.

A little while ago, though, I tore something in my right shoulder (believed to be a labral tear), and so I haven’t been able to tug with her in weeks.

It makes me feel like pretty much the worst pet owner in existence.

I have absolutely no way of explaining to her that I can’t tug, because her 80-pound, head-flinging self will completely destroy my shoulder (especially since, as soon as we start tugging, Penny joins in, too). So every evening when I get home from work, over and over again, she carries the rope to me, drops it at my feet, and cries. Then, when I don’t oblige, she’ll pick it up, drop it even closer, stare at me, and cry some more.

It’s pretty pathetic and it makes me feel terrible.

Zach tries to make up for it by playing with her, but it doesn’t really make me feel any better about ignoring her constant pleading.

Until my shoulder gets completely better (which I don’t think is going to be for a while), tugging (and playing fetch!) are off limits, so I try to entertain her in other ways, which has mostly consisted of teaching her tricks and making her cookies.

I’ve made dog cookies here before, but these are a slightly different, crunchier, non-frosted version, and recently this recipe has been my go-to. Made with peanut butter (Leia comes running when I open the peanut butter jar) and pumpkin and just a handful of other basic ingredients, they’re simple to make, and spoiling her with cookies makes me feel a little bit better about not being able to play tug.

I hope your furry companions enjoy this recipe as much as mine do.