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Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Homemade Frosty Paws - the sequel!!!

It's that time of year...fun in the sun, hiking, agility, swimming! But, it can get really hot some days!

We were at our local training facility this past weekend doing a little lure coursing and guess what? We found some blackberries growing along the fence line on our little hike around the property. (Mum and I took a few, yummmmm.....gimme!)

That one little blackberry made my Mum say, 'Hey! It's hot, we need to make our famous Homemade Frosty Paws!'

Over the past few years we've posted often about our Homemade Frosty Paws, but this time we're going to add in some extras, some information to make them even yummier!

First let's get started.

How do we make 'em? Here's my favorite recipe for our Homemade Frosty Paws!

Ingredients needed:

* 1 large container (32 oz) of low-fat, plain, organic yogurt (we like Stoneyfield Farm)
* 3 handfuls of fresh (organic) blueberries
* 1 banana
* 2 tbsp of organic peanut butter

* Other fruit as desired - like apple slices, orange slices, pineapple slices, and more. Remember, locally grown and organic is best! And only stick with the fruits and veggies that are safe for dogs.

Instructions:

* Chop up the banana in small pieces (or mash) and mix all ingredients together. Place the mixture in ice cube trays and freeze for about 3 hours.

* Once frozen, run hot water over the under side of the trays, pop out the frosty paws, and serve.

That's it. For fun, you can use bone shaped ice cube trays!

Now for the good stuff! We know you're dog will not only love our recipe, but gain some pawsome health benefits too, like:

Yogurt - Did you know that organic healthy yogurt (one of the main ingredients in our recipe) is high in calcium and vitamin D (good for bones), but also contains probiotics, or the 'good' bacteria of the digestive tract to keep everything 'flowing' nicely. :)

Blueberries - This blue fruit ranks with one of the highest antioxidant capacities among all fruits and vegetables. Antioxidants are important to your dog's health to keep free radical damage at bay and help them better cope with environmental toxins.

Peanut Butter - A pawsome food, rich in protein and high in heart-healthy monounsaturated fat (that's the good fat) and vitamins for keeping muscles strong and active.

Bananas - High in potassium bananas are great to keep your dog alert and thinking clearly and help with muscle strength and tone. Great for us agility dogs who can always use more energy, but also great for all dogs who need to focus their energies the right way. :)

Apples (peeled) -'An apple a day, keeps the doctor away." These powerful fruits are packed full of flavonoids, a class of antioxidant that can help your dog be heart healthy.

Oranges - High in Vitamin C, oranges contain an important water-soluble antioxidant for disarming free radicals and preventing damage. And they add a nice little tang to the HFP's!

Blackberries - These black yums are loaded with soluble and insoluble dietary fiber, vitamin C, folic acid, potassium, magnesium, manganese, copper, iron, and omega-3 fatty acids. Like blueberries, they are rich in anthocyanins, which are powerful antioxidants that protect against cancer and chronic diseases.

And remember, these are treats, everything in moderation, K?

Ready? Set? Go!!!!! Enjoy your healthy treats!!

10 comments:

  1. A tip for hosting dog parties where you want to serve frosty paws to a crowd: save up applesauce or Chobani yogurt containers, and when you make the frosty paws, pour them into the containers and freeze. Once they're frozen well, place a small square of wax paper on top to keep them fresh. Then serve at at the party to each dog...no mess, and it keeps them busy licking it out.

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  2. Sounds like a great recipe for the hot days. Thanks for sharing! :)

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  3. Do you have a suggestion for a yogurt replacement? My Peke and frozen custard don't get along as well as he would like (a local stand gives dog safe tasters if you bring your pooch!) After a hard day of agility (yep my Peke does agility!) I need something to cool him down from the inside out. Thanks!

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  4. Great tip @Service Dog Sawyer, thanks! @Condo Blues; have you tried organic plain low fat yogurt? It's very different than the frozen custard you may get at a local stand (which we suspect probably contains sugar and other additives, which could be the reason for the them not getting along :) If you have tried organic plain low fat and it still isn't working well, you could try Kefir, it's more liquid and 'ferments' a little differently but has all the same wonderful benefits. Keep us posted!

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  5. Sounds like a great idea! My dog Cali is waiting patiently for the blueberries to get ripe in our backyard!!

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  6. Thanks for sharing! This is great!

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  7. That looks yummi. I should try to make it for my corgi, we had some terrible hot weather these past weeks.

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  8. At first thanks for this post. And this post is very important to us.

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  9. I thought milk products were bad for dogs digestion? Is it cultured that's ok? We put ice cubes in our dogs water bowl in hot weather and he enjoys that! Thanks for this great site! I'm learning every day....

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  10. Hi Terri - yes yogurt is great for dogs! It contains a great source of calcium and protein, and the live cultures/live bacteria are wonderful for their digestive tract. Just make sure to get plain (no sweeteners) and organic is always best! We like Stonyfield's plain low fat the best. Keifer (which is runnier) is great too) again, plain!

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