Popsicle Treats

This summer, help your dog beat the heat by making cool, delicious, refreshing treats! With just a few minutes to prepare and a couple of very basic ingredients, you can create a healthy snack for your pup! This is a wonderful project to work on by yourself, with your children or for the whole family! Popsicles are made from liquid or something more of a thicker smoothie-like consistency, which can be poured into silicone molds, ice cube trays, cupcake tins or small paper cups. Consider the size of your dog and the necessary mold size that would be best to use.

Before you begin, make room in your freezer to accommodate the size of molds you choose to use but also account for how many popsicles you’ll be making.

The next step is deciding what kind of popsicles your dog would enjoy. Think about the flavors your dog currently likes and let that be your guide. A few safe flavors to consider would be banana, strawberry, blueberry, peanut butter, apple, watermelon, cantaloupe, carrot, carob or pumpkin. Xylitol is toxic to dogs, so make sure the ingredients you’re using doesn’t contain this product.

Now that you know what flavors you’ll want to use, the next step would be to gather up the ingredients and start blending, juicing or mixing away! You can use a little bit of unsweetened, plain organic yogurt if dairy doesn’t upset your dog’s tummy. However, when blending the ingredients into a smoothie consistency, be sure to add a little water so it doesn’t become too think when using the blender.

Pour into the mold of your choice. Be creative by mixing flavors together or by layering them up! Add some solid fruit pieces or use chunky peanut butter instead of smooth. A little bit of your mixture goes a long way, especially if you are using smaller molds.

Place the popsicle molds onto a baking tray and put the tray into the freezer. If you’d like to add an edible handle by using dog bones or small, skinny rawhide chews, wait before inserting. Give it about a half hour if using a thicker consistency or an hour if using a liquid. This will ensure that the handle doesn’t fall over during the freezing process. It’s not recommended to use actual popsicle sticks unless you will be supervising your pup to avoid any choking or ingestion of the stick itself.

Serve your popsicle to your dog in a bowl or in a safe, clean area you wouldn’t mind sticky mess.