Homemade Halloween Dog Treat Recipe:
Pawfect Pumpkin Spice Spookies

Make Halloween cookies for your favorite canine trick-or-treaters – but avoid common food allergens like grains and dairy. Coconut flour and pumpkin puree make these treats super healthy, and healing spices help with common health conditions. Make spooky faces using dog-safe melted carob and watch those tails wag!

At Healing Fur Souls, Hallowe’en is our very favourite howl-iday! Each year our dogs (and their humans) don their favorite costumes and patiently wait on the front porch to happily greet trick-or-treaters! We often see a scary spider pup (love this costume on bulldogs and pups!) or majestic lion (our Golden Retriever and other long-haired doggy neighbours rock this!)

In many neighbourhoods, parents bring their dogs along for Halloween trick-or-treating with the kids. So we always keep a couple dozen doggy bags ready to hand out to pet parents! Dogs and pet parents LOVE these orange and black Pumpkin Spice Spookies (and kids love to decorate them)!

Grain-Free, Dairy-Free Dog Treats 

Just like we avoid handing out candy with common allergens (like peanuts), we need to respect the rising allergies and health problems seen in our dog friends as well. Our healthy Halloween dog treat recipe is grain-free and dairy-free to accommodate common food allergens. They’re also packed with vitamins, nutrients and healing herbs to help soothe common health conditions like joint problems, digestive issues and allergies.

Just watch their furry little tails wag with pumpkin spice joy!

Tips for Making Homemade Halloween Dog Cookies

• Bake cookies in a variety of sizes. You never know what size your canine trick-or-treater’s mouth will be! Be prepared with palm-sized cookies for large and giant breeds, and tiny-sized treats for small and toy breeds.
• Label the bags clearly as “dog” cookies! Although these cookies are human grade and oh so healthy, the lack of sugar might make a kid’s face pucker!
• Store cookies in the freezer until Halloween. These healthy treats are preservative- and chemical-free!
• Make it a healthier Halloween! Sadly, our dogs are seeing an explosion of chronic health conditions like arthritis, joint problems, hot spots, digestive problems, allergies and a host of inflammatory diseases.  Many of these are aggravated by food allergens such as wheat, dairy and other grains.  Instead of wheat flour, use coconut flour. Switch up cow’s milk with unsweetened coconut milk. Use coconut oil to keep skin and fur healthy and reduce inflammation. We’ve got you covered with this recipe!
• Respect allergies and special diets. Many dogs are on special diets these days. Let pet parents know that these ingredients are dairy-free and grain-free.
  Tip: We like to print off a few labels with the ingredient list, and stick them on the ziplock bags so there’s no confusion.
• Don’t skip the secret healing ingredients – Herbs!  At Healing Fur Souls, our food and treat recipes use well-researched herbs and food-based nutrients to boost your dog’s health. For example, turmeric is a widely studied anti-inflammatory herb that we use frequently with dogs (and people) to calm arthritis and other inflammation-related chronic conditions. Ginger, cinnamon, oregano and garlic help with digestion and immunity (and can even help keep fleas and ticks at bay)!
• Draw upon autumn’s harvest! Choose ingredients from the season’s abundant harvest by adding diced apples to these cookies. Apples contain quercetin (nature’s Benadryl) and can help dogs with environmental sensitivities. In addition to soothing allergies, apples provide immune-boosting vitamins and fibre.
  Tip: Never give dogs apple seeds – they contain a cyanide-based molecule that can be toxic.
• Use plenty of pumpkin! Add pureed pumpkin to dog treat recipes to soothe tummies and normalize bowel movements. Use organic when possible to limit toxic pesticides like glyphosate.  
• Color cookies orange – naturally! To make orange cookies, our recipe uses pureed pumpkin and turmeric spice to color the dough.
  Tip: Wear plastic gloves and protect counters from stains from bright yellow turmeric.
• Get creative! Have some Halloween fun by using carob icing to dip or decorate these orange cookies. Carob is a chocolate substitute that is safe for dogs and makes a dark and spooky icing for these orange cookies (that’s why we call them Spookies!)
  Tip: Never use chocolate, as it is toxic to dogs.

Pawfect Pumpkin Spice Spookies

Here’s our favourite Halloween dog cookie recipe, that’s been taste-tested by Denver Hugo, our Chief Fur Officer! Remember to make a variety of sizes to fit tiny teeth and over-sized slobbery mouths!

Be kind to all living beings. Respect the earth we share.