Dogg YO’s (doggyos/doggieos) have been a staple biscuit of local dogs for over 30 years.

History

Please note: There are links to Amazon on this page that
show you the tools I used to get started. Any referral
fee I may receive will go directly to my wife's Parkinson's
treatments. Thank You!

I started making these biscuits because a neighbor gave me a frozen turkey when cleaning out their freezer.

Well, I already had a turkey in my freezer so, I decided to make dog biscuits!

Having to work seven days a week, I put it in a digitally controlled electric smoker set at 185 before I went to work. I used apple wood chips.

When I came home, it was done and BOY OH BOY it was perfect.

I sliced some off, made a sammy and then proceeded to learn how to make biscuits.

I peeled of all the skin, chopped off the fat and put the whole thing in a pressure cooker with some water for four hours. Neck, heart, liver, gizzards the works.

Then I put it all, a few scoops at a time, into a blender and blended into a paste. Adding water as needed. Then, transferring into a Dutch oven / Roaster.

I put a few samples onto a cookie sheet and baked them. They flattened out fell apart. The dog and cat however,  loved my experiments.

Getting late in the evening I was desperate to get something working.

I did not want to use flours or grains to thicken the turkey mixture. Buckwheat flour is a GREAT option for dogs but, I had none. BUT, I did have a bag of dried peas!

I put the peas in a coffee grinder and made a pea powder. Added it to the turkey mix and WHA-LA!

It was getting late so, I covered it, let it cool a bit and tossed it in fridge.

The next day after work I pulled it out of the fridge and it was perfect a consistency!

I spooned onto cookie sheet, on parchment paper naturally, and baked at 200.

After a few hours, it was bedtime. They were done on the outsides, gooey on the insides. Again, the pets liked my experiments. Back in the fridge it went.

The next day I had an epiphany! I took a cake flute / icing pipe and filled with the turkey mix. I made little circles, about 80 of them on the cookie sheet.

My logic was, they won’t be gooey in the middle if there is no middle!

There began the humble beginnings of what I initially called SoutherAire Biscuits! (get it?) Not so good right?

After years of refining the process, it still takes three days to make a batch but, the batches have grown. I am only limited by how many hours my arms can hold out while holding a 10 pound bag in the air, making hundreds of circles. I tried cookie guns and so on. The most efficient and fastest has proven to be the big piping bag.

Many process variations, ingredients and food dehydrators have been explored. I use a pretty good food dehydrator but, I also use the oven when dehydrator is full. I then still finish in dehydrator.

Demand has gone through the roof. Beyond my capabilities so, I make a batch a week. Remember, it takes three days to make a batch.

I take pride in every single “Doggy YO’s” I create.

The name? Well, kids say the darndest things!

Out walking our beloved dog at the time, one of our grandkids saw another dog with a bandana. A cute little spunky dog it was! She said “Yo gampa, yo grampa look at that doggy yo!”. I light went on in my ever scattered thought process and HMMM, doggie O’s. I looked at domain names doggieos and doggyos and bought them both. Buy c’mon man! Doggy YO’s … From the mouth of babes, always go with your first instinct! Right?

Why Sell Them?

This is a passion project. I gave these away nearly every day for 20 years. Well, my wife was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease 7 years ago. This is a VERY expensive disease. The meds, by weight, cost four to ten times the cost of 24 karat gold depending on the medication! Us, without being able to afford any insurance, needed serious help.

Everyone always said to me “You gotta sell these” or “Do you sell these? I want more.”

Well, I found it VERY DIFFICULT to charge for what I love doing. However, necessity prevailed and I began researching what I should charge for my biscuits. Worked up a spreadsheet, tracked my hours, electricity costs, all natural apple chips for the smoker, wearing out blenders, piping bags, ingredients, packaging, registering my business (Awarp LLC) legally and so on.

I looked at and compared to supposed “all natural” treats at pet stores in attempt to provide a competitive price. Did you ever read the ingredients of the supposed “all natural” biscuits?  HOLY COW, if I would not eat it, I am sure not feeding it to my pet. I have no problem eating one of my biscuits, but they need salt. 😉

I discovered there are NO good biscuits out there. Ingredients sourced from China? What the wha?? Flours, emulsifiers, sugar, artificial flavors, words I can’t pronounce! These commercial “treats” should not even be legal but, I digress.

Are my Dogg YO’s a nice pretty little consistent shape and color? NO. each one is hand made and all as different as a snowflake.

So, back to pricing. A 20lb Turkey makes about 3 to 4 Lbs of Dogg YO’s. You can easily do the math there. Then, add three days of preparation and work, supplies and electricity. So, they cost twice as much as a quarter pound fast food burger by weight. Is there a problem?

Are my Dogg YO’s nutritious, free of fillers and preservatives? YES

Are my Dogg YO’s loved by your dog? LETS FIND OUT!