Impressions: Is it just me or is it starting to seem like the dogs are getting more fun pumpkin treats than the people around here lately?!

Celebration: In this case, the cause for treats … not that I need a reason to splurge on delicious pumpkin treats, mind you! … was that my sweet, little puppy Cleo was celebrating her 2nd birthday! Also, my wife and I kinda forgot about the whole thing until I glanced up at the calendar part way through the morning, but a quick trip to Petco and $45 later, we had a whole bag full of all sorts of fun birthday toys, including these cakes as an extra special treat!

Execution: They honestly smelled pretty good – very gingersnappy, and if I wasn’t worried about the birthday puppy attacking me, I might’ve considered taking a nibble myself just out of curiosity! That said, she was also a little more curious when I finally gave her one, which was surprising because normally anything even remotely edible doesn’t get so much as a second glance with her, but these she sniffed and played around with for a while … which kinda sucked because she did it on the carpet and proceeded to create a nice, big orange stain from the frosting right in the middle of the living room!

Luckily, I was kind of expecting this because I’ve had this same problem before with other pumpkin dog treats, so quick with a wet washcloth, I was able to clean it up no harm, no foul. Sure, they’re a little expensive and you could probably buy a whole box of treats for the same price, but then again, your puppy only turns two once… 

Aside: First pumpkin post of 2013! 

Bad Dog Owner: So I guess I’m guilty of not holding the same considerations for my puppy as I do for myself because when I saw these things on the shelf, my first thought was, “Hey, pumpkin – cool!” as opposed to “Hey, vegetable chips – gross!” And so I shouldn’t have really been all that surprised when I went to offer Cleo her first one and she literally just stared at it, then pushed it with her nose, then looked back up at me with a look that said, “Seriously? That whole cabinet is full of my treats, and this is the one that you chose to give me?! What have I done to you in the last week … besides chewing up some of your brand new Legos that Mom got you special for Christmas???”

Several Minutes Later…: Needless to say, she still ended up eating it, but honestly that’s pretty much how she works with just about anything given enough time (see also: toilet paper rolls, tissues out of the garbage, Legos). It probably didn’t help that I also brought home a bag of Beggin’ Strips that someone had gifted to me that same day because let’s face it, as awesome as pumpkin is, bacon at the very least still gives it a run for its money!

Final Verdict: There are lots of other great pumpkin dog treats out there – you might be better off going with one of those instead…

Fact: I don’t know what’s in these things (other than pumpkin, anyways!), but they are the equivalent of doggy crack.

Seriously: I can’t even keep these in a drawer without Cleo sniffing like there’s a pork chop stuffed inside it! While I was writing this post, she saw the image of them there on the screen and started whimpering to have one after I’d already given her three within the last 20 minutes! You’ll note that the dog in the picture is licking his lips – I can only assume that said dog has been tranquilized because with multiple trials here in my own house, calm and controlled are the last words that I would use to describe a dog with Beefeaters Pumpkin Treats in her sights!

Verdict: If you love your dog, you’d have already bought him a package of these dog treats.

More Doggy Treats?!?!: Yup!

Source: So I picked these up out of the bulk bins at the front of Petco when I stopped in to frantically pick up dog food after arriving back home from our cruise and realizing that Cleo had maybe one bowl left! I’m always really surprised when I find myself scooping treats out of these bins because even though they seem fancier than a lot of the bagged treats elsewhere in the store, they’re usually more affordable because a pound of dog treats is a lot! I got several scoops of these, topped off with over a dozen of the sandwich cookies in various varieties and it was still barely four bucks…

Cleo Approval?: She loved ‘em, but then again, after being gone for a week, she might’ve just been happy to finally see us home again!

Tagline: “They’re cute because they look like Teddy Grahams … for dogs!!!” :D

“Review”: Truth be told, my dog isn’t exactly very picky with regards to whatever treats we thrust into her face as an appreciation for not peeing on the carpet or bringing dead lizards into the house, but I like to think that she appreciated the extra effort that went into finding these adorable, little pumpkin treats that remind me fondly of my own childhood!

…the Teddy Grahams part, not the eating dog treats part, anyways…

The Picture: I wanted to get one of Cleo actually savoring these delicious treats from my hand, but I found that incredibly difficult to pull off and she wasn’t cooperating at all, so instead, here’s a picture of Cleo all by herself in the kitchen, wondering why I won’t put the camera down and give her some of the treats that I’ve been playing with for the last five minutes…

P.S. Link!

Simplicity: These are just a little something I came up with on a whim when I was making all of those other simple pumpkin recipes a couple of weeks ago and ended up with a little leftover pumpkin – I basically just scooped up about a dozen or so tablespoon-sized clumps of pumpkin into a tupperware dish and then froze them overnight, and Cleo absolutely loves them.  Granted, she loves just about anything that she can fit in her mouth, but it’s nice to have something a little different to treat her with every now and then, and something that’s actually healthy for her to boot!

Caveat: One thing I discovered early on with these is that as much as she tries not to leave anything behind, they do tend to want to stain our nice white carpet if she sets them on the floor while she’s licking them.  I try to give them to her in a bowl, but she’ll almost immediately pluck them out if she can and move over to the carpet because they won’t slide around as much there!  Probably best to make these an outdoor treat unless you’re willing to follow behind diligently with the bottle of stain remover…

(I won’t do posts for every single kind of these because I’m pretty sure I’ve already said everything that a human has to say about them, but I did find it kind of neat to see an entire line of puppy treats centered around pumpkin!  If only us humans were so lucky…)

Amaze: Seriously, who knew there were so many pumpkin-flavored dog treats?!

Discover: I came across these last weekend when browsing our local Petco after puppy training, and even more surprising, I actually had to choose these because there were enough different options that I couldn’t possibly have bought them all in a single visit!

Journey: No worries, I’m sure we’ll eventually get back to reviewing people pumpkin foodstuffs once the autumnal season rolls around again, but I suppose if this is what it takes to pass the time until then, we go where the pumpkin is…

Imagine: A very scientific test of asking, “Which one do you want, Cleo?!  Which one???” cited these delicious cookies to be vastly superior to the Fruitables Pumpkin Treats that were located in my other hand.  I ended up giving her a couple in one sitting because let’s face it, who can really eat just one Oreo in a single sitting?!  No milk, though – at least not until I find a bottle of pumpkin doggy milk in my grocer and/or pet store’s dairy case.

Create: Shameless self-promotion!  Anyone who may have enjoyed the last puppy humor column that I wrote about six weeks ago might also enjoy this latest edition, which I just posted yesterday.  You might want to go check it out before she manages to chew the entire Internet to pieces, too…

• Six Weeks Down and Still Chewing Strong…

Wonder: P.S. Bonus points to whoever recognizes where the headings for this post were derived from – have a magical day!

Preface: The second of two pumpkin doggy treats that I’ve been stockpiling in hopes of one day having a furry, little monster of my own, these ones actually smell a lot more like pumpkin than the other chews did.  But as we’ve painfully noted far too many times with people food already on this blog, it’s how they actually taste that’s important!

Cleo’s Thoughts: Gobbled ‘em right up just like her regular dog biscuits.  I’m starting to wonder if maybe she’s not the most discerning when it comes to food after all…

Scott’s Thoughts: I do think I like these ones better in that I can give them out a little more liberally for “Good girl!” treats, as opposed to the chews which are more for special occasions.  Right now we’re still trying to teach her not to pee in the house, so with her tiny, 11-week old bladder, more treats is just plain better.  And I’m sure that Cleo would agree, too!

One Last Blatant Puppy Promotion: In addition to all of the adorable pictures I’ve been posting that I mentioned earlier, I also wrote a humor column about a week after we got her that you might enjoy if you’re into my other writing here or even just puppy humor in general!  It goes through how we actually came up with her name, some early issues that we struggled with upon bringing her home, and ultimately ends with an admission that I’m sure many dog owners can probably relate to, so go over and check it out if you’ve got a few more minutes to pass with some puppy procrastination:

• Just a Big, Old Puppy Pushover…

Disclaimer: It was really only a matter of time, wasn’t it, people?!

The Story: Actually, I’ve had these things sitting on a shelf for months – I’d found them at Petco sometime around Christmas, I think, but knowing that we were more than likely going to get a dog this year, I figured why not!  Well, just a little over three weeks ago we signed all of the paperwork and adopted an adorable, little beagle puppy named Cleo, and among other things, I was certainly excited to finally get a chance to put these things to the test…

Cleo’s Thoughts: I want to be clear – I’m not trying these myself, no matter how strong and hardy like beef jerky they smell! – but boy, did Cleo sure like them, as evidenced in the picture above where she took her very first one and ran off behind the couch to enjoy it in peace!  That’s her “safe place,” or at least it was up until about a week ago when she wasn’t able to squeeze in there anymore, but fortunately, she’s also gotten a lot better at snacking in that now she seems perfectly content to wolf these down right in front of us without the need to hide them away so that nobody steals them from her…

More Obligatory Puppy Pics: Well, I won’t bog down this blog with all of the adorable puppy pics that I’ve taken like any obsessed pet owner would in the early stages of pet ownership, but if you’re into that sort of thing, here’s a link to where you can find all sorts of cute pictures over on my main blog.  Happy awe’ing!