Chicken Liver = Crack for Dogs

I received an email from EWG today about their new efforts in the realm of pet health. Their new web site, Pets for the Environment, is a resource for people looking to extend their environmentally-conscious purchases into the realm of supplies for the four-legged members of the family.

Along this line, I have recently gone a bit overboard on the “use the whole animal” maxim. No, I’m not plucking chickens to plump up my pillows, but I did stumble upon a use for the rather alarming parts that fall out of a whole chicken when an unsuspecting mostly vegetarian do-gooder first attempts to rinse the darned thing in the sink: home-made dog treats.

You see, we recently added a German Shorthair Pointer to our family. Durango is, as we like to say, long on legs and short on brains. However, he has proven in obedience class to be a discerning consumer of dog treats and has turned up his nose at even the trainer’s most “unctuous” (her word, not mine!) treat, which was some sort of beef sausage stuff that smelled truly vile. Dogs are easily motivated by things they really, really want (just watch our dog try to get a drink out of the kid’s water table or get a soda can off of a high table), so finding the perfect dog treat has been on my mind. Although he seems to like “Newman’s Own” treats well enough (especially if Lily feeds them to him), he doesn’t LUUUUURVE them, and that is what I am looking for in a dog treat.

Perhaps that is why, when I fished a chicken liver out of the stock I was making with a chicken carcass late last week, I decided to give it to Durango. The pup nearly vibrated with glee before gulping it down and proceeding to whine and beg until I basically gave him the whole darned thing (with a corner cut off for our lovable, but a little overly-”fluffy,” kitty, Mystic).

At last I had found the perfect treat! But what would the other pet owners think if I showed up for class with a treat bag filled with chicken livers. I myself find the things rather beautiful, if slimy, uncooked, and revoltingly pale and smelly once cooked.

So I called upon my buddy Google and realized that the “secret” that chicken liver is really dog speak for crack is not secret in the dog world. The recipes for liver dog treats abound and so I decided to purchase 2 pounds of chicken livers (for a total of $4) and try some out.

Liver Bait #2 – This is the easiest recipe I found with just two ingredients: liver & garlic powder. Simply coat the liver in garlic powder and bake for 10 minutes at 450, slice, and freeze. If you’re doing a whole liver, I’d recommend slicing first or else increasing the baking time.

Liver Dog Treats – I love my dog, but I have two little children, a part-time job, I volunteer a lot, and, oh yeah, I blog. So I don’t have time to be Betty Crocker. This recipe is fast (< 5 minutes to mix)–just put a pound of liver, an egg, 1.5 cups of flour (perhaps more depending on how juicy the liver is!), and 1/4 t of oregano and yeast (or garlic) in the food-processor, mix, and bake in a 9×9 for 30 minutes. I greased and floured the pan and I’m glad I did because these stuck a little bit and would have been worse if I hadn’t!
The dog absolutely loves these treats and the second recipe makes enough to fill about half of a gallon Ziploc with bite-sized treats. Guess I’ll have to leave that other pound of liver in the freezer until later…