The Only Two Dog Treats I Give to My Dogs

by Jim McBean on February 4, 2010 · View Comments

There are only two commercial dog treat products that I feel 100% comfortable giving  to my dogs. They are;

  1. Green Beef Tripe Treats by PetKind – my dogs’ favourite, hands down!
  2. PureBites Beef Liver, a 100% pure USDA inspected freeze dried treat, with one, and only one ingredient, you guessed it, beef liver.

What’s in them?

  • 100% natural, only one ingredient – dehydrated beef tripe
  • no preservatives or artificial ingredients
  • natural source of omega 3 & omega 6 fatty acids (good fats)


Guaranteed Analysis

  • Crude Protein (min)……………………….77%
  • Crude Fat (min)……………………….10%
  • Crude Fiber (max)…………….2.0%
  • Moisture (max)………………..2.0%
  • Omega 3 Fatty Acids…………0.2%
  • Omega 6 Fatty Acids……….0.47%

“This product is an amazing cleaner for teeth and great for overall skin and coat condition” – PetKind website.

I’m not sure if you can see it in the image, but on the front of the bag is a statement that reads; “Intended for Mid-Large Size Breeds”. Curious about this, I emailed PetKind to see exactly why this statement is included on the packaging. This is the reply;

Hi Jim,

Thank you for your support of our products!

We have placed the statement “intended for mid-large size breeds” on our packaging to make our customers aware that a smaller breed could choke, due to how much they love the treat you could understand there is this possibility. We have never had this issue with our products, and there are no other reasons or motives for us to have this statement. We aim to protect our customers and ourselves, which is why all of our products are satisfaction guaranteed.

Thanks again for your support, please let us know if you have any further inquiries.

Thanks, Andrew

Customer Care PetKind
Pet Products & Tripett
Pet Food PetKind.com Tripett.com

Now, I was almost 100% certain that the possibility of choking would be the reason for this statement, but I think the reverse would be true, in that choking would represent more of a hazard to large breed dogs (i.e. bigger mouths, more able to swallow whole), than small breed dogs.

These things are quite chewy and anything that requires more chewing is usually less of a choking hazard. On average, I would say each piece is about 4 inches long, and depending on the diameter of the particular (I guess stick), it can take my dogs (Pit Bull & Border Collie) a minute or two to get through – so I would think it would take a chihuahua or a shi-tzu a few minutes at least to polish one off. In any event, I guess it’s always best to follow the feeding instructions, and/or supervise your dogs (I always do) when they’re eating.

In order to choose a healthy treat for your dog, you really need to pay attention to labels, just as you would when buy foods for your family. Many of the soft chews contain propylene glycol, and less evil ingredients such as wheat and corn. Both PureBites and PetKind’s Green Tripe Treats contain only one natural ingredient, and my dogs go berserk over both.

You can read more here about the benefits of green tripe for dogs.

On the topic of cleaner teeth, you may also be interested in reading a number of well debated posts over at WillMyDogHateMe.com, discussing methods to help clean, and keep clean a dog’s teeth.

This post at DancingDogBlog.com talks about a couple of other dog treats and a chew toy that can help to keep a dog’s teeth clean and healthy.

Leave a comment below about what treats you give to your dogs, commercial or otherwise.

  1. Who Else Wants to Give Their Dogs Only the Best Treats?
  2. Real Dogs Eat S.I.T.
  3. Healthy, Tasty Dog Treats
  • dogulove
    Hah! I recently bought these, opened the bag, nearly passed out from the unbeleivably horrible odor, and just had to return them. I'm a big fan of tripe and frequently mix in some canned Trippet with their regular food, but it's oder is slightly more tolerable. Yes, I'm sure these are great for the dog, but people should be aware that these have an overpowering stench!
  • I actually found the Tripet more malodorous than the Tripe Treats, but the ground buffalo tripe takes the cake hands down for the worst smelling stuff I've ever fed my dogs.

    Right now we go through about 12lbs of ground buffalo tripe every two weeks or so and a bag of Tripe Treats per week.

    Green tripe in any format certainly has a disticnt and powerful aroma, and you're right, it is great for them!
  • chicapril
    I am with you on the all-natural treats. Many popular commercial treats (milkbones, greenies, doggie pepperoni) are loaded with fillers, corn, fat, and preservatives. And anyway, in my experience, a dog will choose "real" food every time!!

    I buy 100% pure dehydrated beef heart, liver and kidney from Sit Bits: http://sitbits.com/
    They are a small local company that distributes online and through a few partners, so their overhead is low and their prices are reasonable.

    I also buy the PetKind dried tripe, as well as their canned tripe (for Kongs).

    I use small amounts of cheese or cooked meat for training treats, and occasionally will make my own dog cookies out of peanut butter, hamburger or tuna, wheat germ, corn meal and egg. It sounds fancy but it's dead easy and so much more cost-effective than a bag from the store.
  • I bought some of the Tripet Lamb Tripe yesterday and froze it in their kongs. I have to say, the odor of the tripe in the house for 2 hours while they worked the kongs was - less than pleasant. LOL This might be an outside activity only when the weather gets better. :/
  • Good advice as usual Jim, My vet recommends raw carrots as a crunchy healthy treat.
  • Hi, Jim, thanks for the lowdown on these treats...I guess with Tashi I'd have to watch him, but both the tripe and the beef liver sound good. I'll have to check with my local "holistic" pet supply store and see if they carry the brand. I know I bought some dried but very chewy sweet potato treats and had to give them to a friend who had a bigger dog--and one with canines--they were just too much for the little guy. Funny and impressive that you found that article from last year about dog chew items in my archive:-)

    The whole propylene glycol toxic ingredient in dog food and treats drives me up a wall. Honestly! I saw that Beneful has this junk in it, and am sure they would take the position that the risk analysis (strawman argument) shows x% has been shown to not be harmful, but I am truly so tired of this nonsense. How come I have to be scientist and even understand risk analysis to feed my dog safely? They've caused more cancers than we'll ever be able to determine with this kind of non-reasoning reasoning.
  • my dogs are wanting some of those!
  • Splendid! If you can't find them locally, you can always order them from this post. =D
  • Just did a search and looks like I can get them from my local store, It's a Pets Life in Minnesota!
  • Su
    Thanks for the great treat recommendation Jim!
    Regarding your comment about dogs choking on chewier treats - my dog Cody (a smaller/med sized Spitz) can't have really chewy treats that are on the larger side any more because he tries to swallow them whole. He doesn't always like to chew his treats (he gets sooo excited) and I've had to pull a few things out of his mouth before. He can't have anything like pig ears anymore because they are too much of a hazard to him. Same with larger sized dried Sweet Potato treats.
    Most dogs are fine with chewing safely on their extra chewy treats but my dog's just, well, special. :) Like you said in your post, it's a good idea to supervise your dog when they've got chews and bones!
  • I'm sure Cody is special Su. =)

    I do always supervise my dogs when they eat, in part for their safety and partly because I take great joy in watching them enjoy their raw morsels, or tripe treats.
  • EdieJ
    This is kind of like menudo -- Mexican tripe soup -- for dogs, except without the soup. It's recommended for hangovers, but I always thought I might prefer the headache. What with easing slowly into the raw feeding and all -- and Frankie not being allowed any alcohol -- I think I'm going to pass on tripe snacks for now. Stella & Chewy's Carnivore Kisses -- dehydrated chicken and bison, no other ingredients -- work for me!
  • Ok, that sounds really disgusting!! Thankfully I don't drink enough to warrant the need of a hangover cure. :/
  • The tripe treats look good! I'm going to have to try to find them at my local pet food shop. Thanks for the review!
  • Be forewarned Karen, they smell really, really, really bad .... to us that is. The doggies think they're heaven. =P
  • Thanks for the review! I keep hearing such great things about tripe...I think it's high time I get some for my dog!
  • Dash will love you more than ever Rebecca. =D
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