10/30/2022
Today is Sunday October 30, 2022 & it is National Treat Your Pets Day! It’s the day to allow our beloved pets to indulge in their favorite snacks or treats! While we should always feed our animal friends a healthy diet, there’s no harm in giving them an extra treat at least once in awhile. So, it’s about time to make their taste buds happy! From pet-friendly cookies, kibbles, seeds, fruits, biscuits, etc, you have a wide range of treat selections for your best friend.
Did you know that dog treats were invented by accident? In 1880, a butcher in London was trying to expand his business by baking a new biscuit recipe for his customers to enjoy. Unfortunately, the end product tasted so awful that he couldn’t consume it himself. He didn’t want it to go to waste so he gave it to his dog instead. And guess what? The dog loved it. This gave the shop owner the idea to bake treats for dogs, which he eventually did. Once he started baking the same biscuit recipe in the shape of a bone, it started selling quickly. By 1908, an American businessman bought his recipe and introduced it to the United States.
It was F.H. Bennett Biscuit company that started producing and manufacturing dog treats in the U.S. By 1911, the recipe was granted patent and went by the name Milk-Bone® by 1915 — a nod to cow’s milk, which was one of its ingredients.
In the 1960s, Nabisco Biscuit Company acquired the Milk-Bone® brand and soon dominated the market. Not only was it marketed as a delicious treat for your pets, but it also promoted healthy benefits like cleaning your dog’s teeth and fresher breath.
When the 1970s came, several companies produced their branded dog treats, which caused the competition to quickly rise. Today you can walk into almost any store and find some kind of dog treat. Whether it's an Original Milk Bone, a chewy piece of dried beef, a homemade treat you took the time to fix yourself, or even some doggie ice cream which is a personal favorite of Bubba & Bebe's!
Fun Facts
- Before dog biscuits were invented, ‘dog’s bread’ was commonly referred to as snacks for dogs.
- The longest dog biscuit ever made was a record 19 ft long and 3.8 ft wide dog biscuit was baked in 2011 in the U.S.
- Most dog treats are only 10% in calories.
- Apple-flavored dog treats are the ones that dogs enjoy the most.
- The world’s best-selling dog treat is Whimzees Dental Treats
- According to the Oxford English Dictionary in 1925 ‘dog biscuits’ was a military slang for army mattresses.