How to make ice cream for your dog

Dogs enjoy a yummy cooling treat on warm days just as much as us humans! Although there are some tempting shop-bought ice creams around, why not make your own tailored to your pup’s taste buds? 

Every dog is different of course, so it’s advisable to take into consideration their health and dietary needs. Obviously, staying away from ingredients that are toxic for dogs is a must, such as chocolate, raisins and grapes, among others. Natural peanut butter and other berries are generally safe for doggies though and do just the trick to get them drooling for their summertime treats! If you’re worried about any ingredients, do just check with your vet first for advice on your doggo.

Many dog ice creams contain natural yoghurt which is safe for canines but it’s a good idea to stay away from lactose if you’ve noticed your dog can’t digest it or it causes gastric problems. Try to find an alternative such as coconut or other plant-based yoghurt -- many of these don’t have added sugar and dogs do tend to like the taste of coconut. 

Dog ice cream is very simple to make and there’s no ice cream maker required. All you need is a food processor or a hand held blender to combine the ingredients. If you want to have more fun with it and make the frozen goodies look extra cute, why not get some moulds shaped like paw prints or bones to freeze the mixture in? In fact, this is highly recommended because it’s much easier to pop them out in treat-sized morsels!

So, let’s just go for it and make this doggie ice cream already! We’re salivating just thinking about it and that’s the other great thing - this recipe is totally human-friendly too so you can cool down together on a summer’s day.

Ingredients

1 ripe banana

½ cup blueberries

1 tbsp of natural peanut butter (no added sugar)

¼ cup coconut flakes/desiccated coconut

½ cup plant-based or natural greek yoghurt

Method

Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender and mix until smooth. Scoop out the mixture into your receptacle of choice (a tub is fine but if you have cute ice cube trays they make for handy bite size treats that look cool and are easy to pull out the freezer!). Place in the freezer until frozen, and then enjoy! Couldn’t be simpler!

So, there we have it. A simple summery morsel for doggie (and you). Now all we need is for the British weather to be kind and bring us some warm lazy days so that we have an excuse to gobble them all up.