We’ve had a frequent commenter lately here on the doggies.com blog, who always wanted to make sure we knew of her dog’s love for Blue Dog Bakery cookies. I was curious, so I asked if I could do a product review for them, and they quickly sent me three boxes of their all-natural cookies.
First of all, I have to say that all four of my dogs absolutely loved these treats!
However, it’s important to note that a treat advertised as “all-natural” doesn’t necessarily mean the treat is healthy for your dog. In this case, they don’t have a lot of protein, which is the primary type of food your dog needs.
In the same way that people cookies could be made of carob and other all-natural ingredients, but still not be particularly good for you, Blue Dog Bakery Treats are all-natural, but not particularly healthy. In moderation, as with most things, they are fine for your dog, but care must be taken not to overdo the treats, which have very low nutritional value.
That said, these treats don’t contain all kinds of ingredients you can’t pronounce, like most grocery story brands do. For example, the Milk Bone treats I currently have on hand contain artificial colors, preservatives like BHT, propyl-gallate, and citric acid, ethylenediamine dihydroiodine, and a dough conditioner called sodium metabisulfite. However, the Milk Bones also contain vitamin supplements, including E, B12, and D3.
Milk Bones’ ingredient list contains nearly 40 items, while the Blue Dog Bakery Treats’ entire ingredient list is:
Unbleached wheat flour, whole wheat flour, black strap molasses, palm oil, whey, nonfat milk, oats, natural caramel color, egg powder, salt, baking soda, natural peanut butter flavor, brewers yeast. (Peanut Butter & Molasses Flavor)
The guaranteed analysis of the two is:
Blue Dog Milk Bone
9% Crude Protein (Min) 15%
6% Crude Fat (Min) 5%
2% Crude Fiber (Max) 3.5%
6% Moisture (Max) 12%
So, bottom line: the dogs loved it, and for those of you who are into health food, Blue Dog Bakery does provide a way to treat your dogs without giving them artificial preservatives, colors, and flavors. However, I’m not sure I believe all the press about “better for your dog”. They are, after all, COOKIES.
Until next time,
Good day, and good dog!
The Blue Dog Bakery softie peanut butter treats made my dog very sick. The first time he ate them, he vomited 5 times! We didn’t realize it was the treats that made him sick and the next night he had 1 treat, again, he vomited 2 times! Needless to say, I threw the rest of them away, (almost an entire bag!)
I was going to return them and didn’t, because I was afraid the store might donate them and I didn’t want another dog to get sick.
Our dogs have eaten Blue Dog Bakery biscuits for the past several years, without any problems. Recently, we took advantage of a sale on the assorted hard biscuits at Target – they were going for something like 60% off. Both dogs ate one or two of the biscuits, but rejected most of the others immediately.. There were a few of the rejected biscuits scattered around on dog beds or in their crates, and both dogs ate a few sort-of reflexively when they came inside. Immediately, they both began vomiting and experiencing terrible diarrhea. Given what other people are describing, I strongly suspect that there is something seriously wrong with the discounted batches of these cookies
Got these treats for my dog and she’s now vomited twice and has had awful diarrhea, in the house, 3 times. Definitely tossing these treats!
Three different dogs, in three different homes, all happened to have just bought these treats and ALL came down with horrid diarrhea. These treats are to blame. Not sure if it’s a batch of them, or the product all together. Do not!!!!! Do not give these to your dogs unless you’d like it onspend an hour cleaning up dribbled liquid poop from all over your home.
My Dog loves these treats almost obsessed with them. One day she got deathly I’ll and would not eat and kept vomiting. Blood work and xrays all normal. Doctor gave intravenous fluids and after 2 days she started to eat again. I couldn’t help but give her a small treat. After 4 hours the vomiting started again. I am not 100% sure I can blame it on the treat but after reading these comments I will not be giving her them anymore
I only post this so others can be aware.
I recently bought a box of the blue dog bakery treats to try them out as well. My 6 month old Coon hound pup vomited shortly after eating hers. Directly following my 5 yr old doberman (who is normally picky on his treats but ate his right away) started crying out in pain, unable to lay down comfortably & continuously has been puking ever since eating his!! I’ve made a call to the vet already & inducing vomiting seems to be my only option here. I’m hysterical at the moment! Does anyone know what exactly is in these treats that is making them so sick?? I’m open for any ideas here. This dog means the absolute world to me!!
My co-worker and I both got the Softies Peanut Butter treasts and both of our dogs got sick. My dog vomitted 5 times!! in a 4 hr time frame.
I will take them treats back where I got them from!!
These treats made both my dogs sick! We tried a box for the first time this past week and first my 11 year old black lab vomited after eating one. There were pieces of the biscuit in his vomit. Then my 2 year old chocolate lab got sick off of them today with diarrhea, lack of appetite and he vomited up the treat as well. Again there were two pieces of the biscuit in his vomit. I threw the whole box away. I will never buy this brand again because there is obviously something in them that is making them ill. I would like to add that they have consumed Milkbones and Scooby Snacks in the past with no problems.
I’m not sure if I’m the commenter mentioned in this article, but I wanted to add that the “better for your dog” (at least in my opinion … and I DON’T work for Blue Dog Bakery!!) means better than treats made with byproducts and artificial preservatives. Treats aren’t meant to be a replacement for high quality, nutritious dog food. But I do feel very good feeding my dogs Blue Dog Bakery treats in addition to their dog food. And these treats sure to make rainy day potty trips a lot more worthwhile (for THEM at least!!)