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    If a person has a house dog, they know a steady supply of dog treats are required. I am not sure if begging for a treat is because the dog actually wants a snack or they are making sure we are trained to get one on demand. I know, Billie has trained us to do several things for him, mostly based on treats. My wife and I will be sitting on the couch, and Billie comes and stares intently at us. If one of us stands up, he will run to the treat cupboard where he picks out his choice from the selection available. If we do not respond to his intense stare, he will go to the door. Someone will always get up to let him outside. When one of us gets up to let him out, he suddenly decides he does not need to go out and runs over to the treat cupboard. He is clever as well as annoying.

   One day while picking up a few things at the store, I noticed dog treats that were just dried slices of sweet potato. I thought this would be a healthy alternative to some of the treats he gets. They were around seventy-five cents per slice, so I only got one to see if he liked it. To my surprise, he thought the sweet potato was wonderful. At seventy-five cents per slice, I was not going to buy any when I could make them for sixty-nine cents per pound. From the local Amish grocery store, I purchased three giant sweet potatoes and set out to make my own dog treats. I sliced them about a quarter inch thick and dropped them in boiling water for about eight minutes. I then put them in the dehydrator for anywhere from four hours to overnight. The ones at four hours are leathery and keep well. The overnight ones are dry, crispy, and will last forever without refrigeration. Billie likes both equally well, but the chewy ones last him longer. In less than a half hour of actual preparation time, I can make treats that would cost fifty to seventy-five dollars for less than five dollars. I have also made them without the eight-minute boil. Going directly into the dehydrator from slicing causes them to lose their bright orange color and do not seem as sweet and flavorful to me. Yes, I do sample treats I make for the dog.

   Every year, I like to convert one doe into deer burger for making jerky. Last week, I was cleaning out the freezer in preparation for the upcoming deer season and noticed I still had a couple of packages of deer burger left over from last year. I decided to make some dog treats from one package. After thawing it out, I placed the burger on a piece of waxed paper and covered it with another sheet. With a rolling pin, I flattened it out to an even quarter inch slab. I then cut the slabs into sections that would fit on the dehydrator trays and put it in at one hundred-forty degrees for about five hours. By this time, the sheets of burger were leathery and could be easily cut into strips of appropriate serving size. These jerky treats are Billie’s new favorite snack. He now spends more time than ever trying to make us get him a strip, but we must be cautious about how many deer treats he gets in a day. For some reason, too much deer meat gives Billie terrible gas.

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