“Bark!” the hairy angels sing. Because when it’s a sloppy frozen windy mess outside, a solid treat toy session can burn as much energy as an hourlong walk in the park. Ah, winter. For dogs, it’s the most magical time of the year.
Winter Wonderland Tux
When the weather beyond the dog door gets too gnarly, bring a winter wonderland inside. A single quail egg surprise awaits in healthy Greek yogurt, and it’s all merrily sprinkled with meaty treats and bright herbal and fruit flavors. It’s wild out there—and in this inventive snackaroo, too.
Place the quail egg or egg portion into the Tux first.
Next, add the West Paw treats.
Using a spoon or squeeze bottle, fill the space with Plain Greek Yogurt. You want your West Paw Treats and egg to be fully covered.
If you’d like to serve frozen, place in the freezer for minimum 4 hours.
Now for the decorating. Break up the red and green ingredients (I chose parsley and raspberry) to create festive colors. For extra dazzle, bust out fun holiday frozen molds to make snowflakes out of leftover Greek yogurt.
Serve and cozily enjoy.
Nutritional Nod
The American Grassfed® Certification guarantees our Beef Heart and Beef Livertreats come from healthy ranches. Grass-fed meat is lean, yet packed with good fats, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals—and wag-worthy flavor.
Canine Candy Cane
In 1670, a German choirmaster invented the first candy canes. Why? The “sugar sticks” shushed kiddos during church sermons. Keep your “kids” out of trouble in the sweetest way possible too—with healthy fruit, probiotic-rich yogurt, and no added sugar.
Fill your water bottle ice cube tray first with mashed berries, using your fingers to create an even space in between the berries. Use a dry paper towel to absorb any juice from the empty spaces to ensure the red color won’t bleed into the white yogurt later. Freeze.
Remove your tray from the freezer and begin filling the gaps with the plain greek yogurt - this two-step method keeps the colors from running together. Place the tray back into the freezer for a minimum of 3 hours.
Remove from freezer and run the thin ice cube under tap water for a second to make it easier to slide into the Qwizl.
Place inside the Qwizl and serve—right before you get on that family Zoom.
Canine Brain Tip
Qwizl encourages dogs to keep chewing on the problem because the “windows” let them see, smell, taste, and hold the reward without wolfing it down all at once. And that makes the eventual victory even sweeter.
Santa Claws’ Milk & Cookies
Christmas comes but once a year, but *ahem* your dog delivers joy every day. What about saying thanks with a canine midnight snack? Turn any dog’s day into Christmas with this festive mini-feast. Why not? They’re on the “nice” list—and this treat-toy distraction will keep them off the “naughty” one.
Place a portion of your dog’s meal inside the base of Toppl.
Add a bit of chopped chicken or turkey, and layer with sprinkle of your dog’s meal on top.
If using kibble, add 1-2 spoons of bone broth onto the kibble, leaving about a small finger-width gap between the contents and the top lip of the Toppl—that’s where the “icing” (aka yogurt or kefir) goes.
Freeze the Toppl for minimum 4 hours.
With a small spoon or squeeze bottle, slowly fill the remaining top of the Toppl with yogurt or Kefir.
Sprinkle one small pinch cinnamon into the center.
Once the Toppl is filled, place a cranberry with two mint leaves (or parsley sprigs) on top for safe mistletoe look.
Garnish with a dog cookie of choice into the side, resting on the lip.
If your dog has been EXTRA good, place a Qwizl “Canine Candy Cane” in the top, like a festive straw.
Place back into the freezer for minimum 4 hours.
Remove from freezer (and uncork the side hole!)
Healthful Hint!
Skip the onion to keep it dog-safe, and homemade bone broth turns into a collagen-packed canine superfood. Collagen can heal gut walls, nourish joints, and strengthen hair and nails.
New Years Eve Confetti
When the ball drops in Times Square, it’s magical—confetti fluttering everywhere. But you know what would be even more magical, according to dogs? Edible confetti. Make that midwinter dream happen, with this super-easy treat that doubles as your dog’s own NYE confetti cannon—without the mess.
Additional treats of choice of different shapes & sizes. I used 1 Tbsp of Wet Noses Inc, “Little Stars” and 2 dehydrated Beef Liver treats (cut into strips) from Murphy’s Treats.
Place the Rumbl upright and fill ‘er up with various treats of different shapes, textures, and sizes.
Tip: Cut big treats in half. The fun part for dogs is coaxing the treats out, but it loses appeal if it’s too hard.
Serve with a champagne toast to your dog (while keeping the Tattinger for the humans, of course.)
Pooch Boost!
Celebrate responsibly. It’s easy when our air-drying process preserves all the good stuff in our Bison Treats—vitamins, minerals, protein, and flavor of regeneratively-raised, North American grass-fed, grain-finished bison.
A few intrepid canine culinary explorers posted on Instagram, just for fun—and when we stumbled onto their accounts, this cookbook was born. Now, dogs are hungry for more. Post your creation and tag
@WestPawUS.
WINTER RECIPES BY
Taylor, Bindi, & Rosie
Taylor hails from Ontario, Canada, where she and her partner Joe kick it with rescue dogs Bindi and Rosie. Bindi chomped her first Toppl® as a pup; Rosie glommed onto a Qwizl® early on, and Taylor has been crafting canine culinary surprises for her puzzle-hungry pooches ever since.
We sent Tanya Lim, CPDT-KA, (a certified professional dog trainer specializing in positive reinforcement training), our treat pouch and full line of treats for her unfiltered, honest review! This is what she said...
It’s a good question and worth revisiting... We spend so much time plugging it with carrots, peanut butter, strawberries, hairballs, etc. we forget why it is there in the first place!
Puzzle Toys
Puzzle Toys
