Treats play such an important role in our pets’ lives. In fact, a recent study found that 96 per cent of all dogs are at their happiest when they are munching on dog treats.
Treats are first and foremost a great way of showing love and affection and enhancing that human-animal bond. They are also a great reward to show praise for positive behavior. And this of course goes hand in hand with training and teaching your dog basic doggie commands and social etiquette.
Recently, I was asked to review new treat recipes from Waggin’ Train. Like most influencers who work in the pet space I am very cautious about treats in terms of the sourcing and the manufacturing process.
If there is something we have learned from the issues related to tainted treats in the past is that those who take their manufacture seriously are probably the most driven to improve their manufacturing process, putting an abundance of new stringent tests in place.
There are three new Waggin’ Train recipes — The Homestyle Chicken Jerky Tenders are slow cooked chicken tenders covered in little jerky bits to make them both crunchy and chewy. The Chicken Jerky Minis are real chicken sliced into fun-sized pieces and the Chicken Jerky Curls are again just made from chicken and twisted into fun shapes that can be tossed and flipped for great fun and games. None of the products have artificial flavors or preservatives.
What convinced me to get my doggie tester Bear to try them is that although the chicken is sourced in China, they come from one supplier that is part of a US-based company. This translates into greater control over all aspects of the chicken supply including how the chickens are fed, raised and processed. The manufacturing process is also more stringent than ever before with an enhanced monitoring surveillance in place that tests for more than 45 antibiotics and more than 100 pesticides. The treats are also tested for Salmonella, heavy metals mycotoxins, and melamine and di-ethylene glycol (culprits in the past treat issues).
Bear, being a chicken fanatic, loved them all. But his favorite was without doubt the chicken tenders. Big and meaty enough to keep him busy when his Dad goes out the door in the morning. The chicken curls also scored highly on his card as the perfect treat for tossing in between games of Frisbee and Fetch with his favorite ball.
While the packaging seals well to keep them fresh, Bear’s treat stash came with a special treat jar which has prominence in the kitchen and because he has all members of the household twisted around his paw, he knows to engage everyone in fun and games that end with a treat. Learn more here:
One final factoid. Treats have calories too. So its important to factor this in when during out your dog’s daily food intake and calorie allowance.
The box was sent to Bear by the Nestle Purina PetCare Company for his personal enjoyment and to test. However, all opinions are my own. I only write about topics, events and products that I consider readers will consider useful information and relevant to their interests.
