help with starting a dog treat business please!!

[sophiasmom]

Hi all...I am new to message boards but realize their value. I am starting up a dog treat business out of my restaurant and could use some help on what sells, how to market. Looking forward to hearing from you.....sophia smom.

[schelmischekitty]

100% natural things with HEALTHY ingredients are always what i go for.  a BIG variety in sizes also makes things great, since huge dog biscuits are hard to find.  the "chocolate" covered treats are great too.  you know, the ones that are dog safe, i think it's soy chocolate or something.  not sure, sorry.  also, something that would be an awesome thing to do are the pretty jars with bows like they have with all the dry ingredients for choc. chip cookies, but have them to where they make dog treats.  that would make a GREAT gift for a dog lover! (just make sure they smell good when you cook them ha ha)

[sophiasmom]

Thanks a bunch. I am so excited about my endeavors. I have been selling the heck out of them already. My dining customers love them. I use 100% natural healthful ingredients and believe it or not, Sophie has lost a few pounds due to the healthful nature of the cookies. I make bacon bones, honey hearts, beef biscotti so far. Next....will be puppy pretzels and training bites complete with newspaper! 

[schelmischekitty]

sounds like a blast!  i LOVE the treats that have natural (and recall free  ) ingredients in them!  do you have a website?  if you put one on ebay you'll get a ton of hits!

[Icerotti]

I agree 100% natural would attract buyers for sure. It would be great to have happy birthday written on the bones. You could do packages with a water/food bowls filled with bones and different sized treats/toys  wrapped up with the cellophane with paws prints. With tags like "Happy Birthday"  or for friend who got a new puppy" Congratulation s on your new puppy" etc.

Big bones would be great too for the Big paws 

Good Luck

[schelmischekitty]

or like the diaper "cakes" with the diapers layered to look like cakes and they have bottles or something on them.  just use puppy pads and blankets with a toy or something.  that would be SO cool!  this is what i'm talking about if i'm rambling un-understandable!

http://www.lilbabycakes.com/babycakes.htm

[Brownis15]

ooooooooo cool! I would love to go to a dog bakery that had treats small enough for my papillons. They usually have super large biscuits that counts as a whole meal for my small guys. 

[2Criminals]

PEANUT BUTTER!! Real crunchie cookies drizzled with Peanut Butter! The one's in the store are never really that PBy and my guy LOVES pb. If you make them, put them on the internet and I will buy some I would make them myself but I'm just not interested in staying in the kitchen.

[CrazyLoveRosie]

Rosie very much enjoys anything with peanut butter. She also likes the carub-coated (sp?), also known as fake chocolate, dog cookies. We purchased one from Three Dog Bakery in Seattle and they wrote "Happy Birthday Rosie!" on it too. It was way too cute.

[peytons mama]

I have been thinking about going into dog treat business myself. Or at least I love the idea! I am not sure if I could pull it off. I would love to do it though!

My first thought was to have the same flavor of treat but in NUMEROUS different sizes! From the toy poodles to the very larger Danes. I have learned that my puppy LOVES yogart! You can do a yogart drizzle over a milk-bone or do P-nut butter drizzle over chocolate bar! Mmmm...oh sorry I am starting to drool myself! Hehe!

I think that is a great idea! Way to go!!!

[schelmischekitty]

She also likes the carub-coated (sp?), also known as fake chocolate, dog cookies.

THAT'S what i was trying to think of!