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!