Healthy Holiday Treats for Your Dog

Our dogs are no longer animals that spend all day and all night out in the backyard; today, our pets are family. Our dogs are our confidants; our jogging partners; and even help us feel more secure in this tumultuous world. It just makes sense that we share our holiday celebrations with them.

Listed below are two recipes for holiday treats; one for Thanksgiving and one for the Christmas holidays. Just keep in mind, these are treats and should not be used in place of your pet's normal diet. Instead, offer small treats a few times a day as your family enjoys the holidays.

Thanksgiving Turkey and Sweet Potato

This recipe can be made with the same ingredients you're using to make your own Thanksgiving dinner. Just set aside a little food and make a special treat to be added to your dog's daily diet.

1 cup turkey, cooked, finely chopped

1 cup sweet potato, cooked, chopped

2 eggs, large, hardboiled, shelled

Place all three ingredients in a food processor and liquefy until a thick paste. If the food is too thick, add just enough water for processing.

Give a small dog just a teaspoon or two mixed in with the normal food or as a treat during the day. Larger dogs can have a heaping tablespoon.

Refrigerate extra until the next meal.

Christmas Canes Do you have friends who have dogs? This is an easy recipe that creates colorful, edible canes for dogs. Put two or three in a small gift bag for each friend's dog and tie with a holiday ribbon.

1 can refrigerated pizza dough

¼ cup flour

1 tablespoon dry beef bullion

Red food coloring (regular food coloring or natural food coloring from the health food store is also fine)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Put the flour and bullion on a bread board, mixing the two together.

Take the dough out of the package and spread it out on the floured bread board, spread it out and stretch it until it's about ¼ inch thick, taking care not to rip the dough.

Divide the dough in half length-wise and set one piece aside.

Drop several drops of red food coloring on the remaining piece of dough. Spread the drops around on the dough; you may want to wear gloves. (The entire piece doesn't have to be dark red; streaks and spots are fun.)

Using a sharp knife, cut that piece of dough into long strips that are between ¼ and ½ inch wide. Set these aside.

Take the other piece of dough and spread it out; this will be the 'white' pieces. Cut it into strips also.

Take a piece of red dough and a piece of white dough and twist the two together, then hook the top third of the strips, creating a candy cane. Place on a greased cookie sheet.

Continue with the rest of the dough.

Bake for about ten minutes or until the bottoms are golden brown.

Remove from oven and let cool. To make crisper canes, turn the oven off but don't remove the cookie sheet from the oven. Let the cookies harden in the oven as it cools down. While the oven is still hot, watch to make sure they don't get too brown.

Store in an airtight container until you package them for gifts.

Liz Palika has written seven books on pet foods and nutrition. Her book, "The Ultimate Dog Treat Cookbook" (Wiley, 2005) was nominated by Dog Writers Association of America as one of the best dog books of the year, and was nominated by San Diego Book Writers as one of the best cookbooks of the year. It was also reviewed in USA Today (Dec 2006) and contains many healthy recipes for dog treats. Her newest book on pet foods, "The Ultimate Pet Food Guide: Everything You Need to Know About Feeding Your Dog and Cat" (Avalon Books) is due out in January 2008.