In my review of Grandma Bowser’s biscuits a month or so ago, I mentioned that I had a secret weapon when it comes to doggie treats.  I call it my “secret weapon” because at this point most people don’t recognize what I’m giving their dog when I first use it (that’s the “secret” part), and because (knock on wood) I have NEVER had a dog refuse to eat this special treat (that’s the “weapon” part).  In fact, they usually come back, eagerly, for seconds and thirds.  What do I use?  Dr. Harvey’s Freeze-Dried Tripe Power Patties.

I was actually contacted by Wendy Shankin-Cohen of Dr. Harvey’s (slogan: Fine Health Foods for Companion Animals) awhile back, when I was doing the writing and pre-production for my instructional DVD set.  She was wondering if she could send me some products for my review, and I said “yes” with a caveat that it would probably be awhile before I got around to checking it out.  A box arrived in the mail, with an assortment of their products, but the pace of life at the time (young baby Zella about to be born) kept me from really paying much attention.

Destiny, meet freeze-dried tripe

However, one day I was headed out to a lesson, and I didn’t have any hot dogs in the fridge.  First impressions can be everything with dogs and humans, so whenever I meet a new (hungry) dog I like to have something especially tasty in my pouch for our first contact.  I mentioned something to my wife about having to allow some time to go to the store en route, and she casually asked “how about that box of treats and food that you just got in the mail?”

Sometimes – actually frequently – the universe lines up to give you exactly what you need.  And then my wife clubs me over the head to remind me.  In this case, it was a pouch-full of freeze dried tripe.

I can’t remember which dog was the first lucky recipient.  What I DO remember is that from that moment on, I always made sure I had some of these tripe treats with me whenever I went out for a lesson.

Perfect Training Treat:  Thy name be “Tripe”

From my perspective, they’re a perfect treat.  It’s simply tripe* (nothing added), which as I understand (from Dr. Harvey Cohen himself) has the perfect balance of calcium and phosphorus for a dog’s digestive system, along with  omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, and a whole mess of other nutrients.  So they’re VERY healthy for dogs.  Because they’re freeze-dried, they’re not messy, and you can also easily break apart a single “power patty” to give you multiple treating opportunities (or for smaller dogs).  So they’re convenient.  And, as I said – dogs LOVE them.  Seemingly without exception.

Just kidding. Don't do this.

As I mentioned, nearly two years has passed since then.  I guess it was finally time to let you all in on the secret to great rapport with a new dog.  And you thought it was all the meditation that I’ve been doing!  Well, knowing how to “Be the Moose” does help.  And so does a fistful of freeze-dried tripe.  Please feel free to head over to the Dr. Harvey’s site to find out more about their power patties and the other products that they offer.

This is actually part-one of my review of Dr. Harvey’s.  I’ve been conducting a trial recently using their “Canine Health” dog food premix, in conjunction with a cooked fresh meat diet for Nola.  And I’ve got even more good things to say – coming soon.  All-in-all, I’m impressed with the Dr. Harvey’s company – both in terms of their commitment to healthy dogs, and in terms of their commitment to providing their customers with the knowledge necessary to make the right decisions for themselves and their pets.

* The tripe comes from cows raised here in the USA, without chemicals or injections, and is freeze-dried in a small plant specifically for Dr. Harvey’s – then packaged by hand.

A little while ago, I was contacted by someone from Grandma Bowser’s All Natural Dog Treats, asking me if I’d be willing to review their dog biscuits on my blog.  Those of you who are regular readers know that this is something I rarely do (if ever), but with my aging pup Nola (13+ years old) showing some signs of slowing down, I’ve become more interested in how diet affects our dogs’ health.  In fact, I have a more thorough “trial” going on with feeding Nola a lightly cooked diet that I’ll be telling you about soon.  In the meantime, though, I figured “what the heck” – and I had the folks at Grandma Bowswer’s send some treats along so I could give them a literal spin around the block.  I used one of the packages for the taste test, and I have another unopened package to give away (see the end of this review for details).

I opened up a package of their Peanut Butter (wheat-free) treats.  And noticed that they smell and look like peanut butter cookies.  Apparently these dog treats are cooked using human grade ingredients, though I’ll admit that I didn’t try one.  I pretty much got “trying dog food” out of my system when I was in my early teens.  Anyway…

I gave Nola a cookie.  She gobbled it up without hesitation.  Truth be told, though – Nola will eat just about anything.  So I decided to head out to the streets of Yarmouth, armed with a bag of treats and my two kids in a stroller, to see if the random dogs I encountered on our walk would have the same eager-to-gobble reaction.  Bringing my children was a strategic decision, since I didn’t want to be “that creepy guy offering dogs treats at the park”.  No, I wanted to be “that creepy guy with kids offering dogs treats at the park.”

All-in-all, we encountered about ten dogs on our walk.  A decent sample size.  Of those ten, half of them eagerly gobbled up the Grandma Bowser’s peanut-butter treats and came back for seconds.  One of those dogs supposedly never likes anything with peanut butter, so their owner was most shocked to see their dog scarf down the cookie in a matter of moments.

Of the remaining five dogs, 3 of them seemed interested in the cookie, but preferred to carry it with them instead of chowing down right there.  Hey, I understand, sometimes I like to enjoy my guilty pleasures in private too!  The owners seemed convinced that the cookies would be consumed at some point in the future – and I called them back later to confirm.  No, just kidding, I took their word for it.

Two of the dogs turned up their noses.  And then they gave me that “seriously?!” look.  I’m not sure what that was about.  I mean, these treats are self-described as “like a Granola Bar for dogs” – and who doesn’t like a granola bar?  I suppose it’s possible that these dogs just weren’t hungry, or needed something with additives/preservatives to match the crap that they’re getting fed at home.  I’m not going to try to pretend that I never traded my granola bar for a twinkie, after all.

I think that these Grandma Bowser’s Natural Dog Treats would make a decent between-meal snack for any dog.  Something to casually flip to Fido when you’re feeling particularly generous, or when Fido is feeling particularly snacky.  Personally, when it comes to doing actual training, I would probably prefer something with a 100% success rate (and I actually have a secret weapon that I’ll be telling you about shortly), but 80% is excellent!  In fact, don’t you even have moments when one of your favorite treats isn’t quite doing it for you?  And I think that these are really meant to be “treats” – not something you’d give your dog handfuls of when you’re doing a session of pushing in the park.

Just to be sure the first time wasn’t an aberration – I just gave Nola another one.  She chomped it down without hesitation.  Good girl!

My only real criticism of this product is that the packaging could stand to be modernized a bit.  This change would be purely to their benefit, I think.  I understand that with a name like “Grandma Bowser’s” they’re probably trying to go with an old-fashioned motif (the biscuit pouches even came with a ribbon attached) – but the graphic design of the logo on the packaging looks like it was printed on someone’s old dot matrix printer.  There was also a typo on the label.  And when you’re married to a professional copy-editor, those kinds of things just jump out at you and say “Really?  You couldn’t have proof-red read this one more tymetime?” note – my wife is actually much too busy to copyedit my posts on the Naturaldogblog

But all in all, these treats seem tasty, healthy, and a great snack for your pampered canine.

If you live in Pennsylvania it appears that you can pick up Grandma Bowser’s at several stores throughout the state (listed on their website) – but most of their business currently revolves around selling their biscuits on-line direct-to-you through their website.  Their ingredients are produced in America, and consist of things like: Chopped Dates, Carrots, Yucca, Cranberry, Blackstrap Molasses, Garlic, and Pumpkin.  Sounds like Grandma Bowser’s for dinner tonight, honey!

Oh, and the giveaway!  I have a fresh package of Grandma Bowser’s original recipe (these DO have wheat in them), and I would be delighted to send them directly to you – IF you are the person I randomly select from all of you who leave comments for this blog post.  So leave a comment, and I’ll select a winner at-random by Monday August 23, 2010.

One last note – have you had a chance yet to check out my new 8-week course on DailyOM – How to Speak So Your Dog Will Listen?  We’re still in the Top 10 – for the third week in a row!

Want to actually discuss this review?  Head on over to the discussion thread at the NaturalDogBlog forum!  But don’t forget to leave a comment here to get your chance at a free package of biscuits!

(full disclosure:  while I received free product to review and give away from Grandma Bowser’s, I am otherwise not being compensated for writing this review – nor will I receive any compensation should you decide to buy treats from them.)