Dehydrated beef or other meat treats

[Kay Bolin]

Hi all - somewhere, and I thought it was on this site, someone talked about using a dehydrator to make treats to use in clicker training.  I can't find it anywhere.  Anyway - does anyone have ideas about making treats that you can use tons of, cut up into tiny pieces?  I've been buying beef jerky but it's soooo rich, has stuff added and is very expensive.  I'd rather be buying some kind of meat, cutting very thin and dehydrating.  Anyone help on this? I don't actually have a dehydrator, but figured I could use my oven on a very low heat.  I've never done this before either, but am ready to try.
thanks for any help/suggestions
Kay

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

I have a dehydrator that I use to dry chicken tender strips. I usually put them in whole, it takes about 2 or 3 days to dry them out. But I have also read that you can do the same thing in your oven, using very low heat. You can dry all sorts of things this way, including sweet potato slices and apple wedges but my crew only goes for the chicken strips, I would think the beef, too but I never tried beef in it. Smaller chunks would probably dry faster.

[Kim]

Lynn, do you pre-cook the Chicken first? I'm reading my dehydrator instructions and it is saying to pre-cook the Chicken. Have you ever dehydrated fish? I am trying to make Allie's treats for her. I really don't think she will like the sweet potatoes, I will see tomorrow!

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

I didn't precook it, but I did about 1/2 cook it because it takes so long. I have not tried fish. I have only done the chicken, pineapple, banana, sweet potato and apple slices (my kids liked these, the sweet potato was enjoyed by me but not so much the doods). Make sure you leave the thickness recommended by your instructions because it does shrink up and different sizes and/or thicknesses take different times. Thinner will be done faster, but thicker tastes better, if you know what I mean.

[Kim]

I JUST got out my dehydrator for the first time this morning to make sweet potato slices for Allie!!!!! I'm not sure what I'm doing - so hopefully they turn out ok. Not sure if she will like them, but I'm hoping!!!!! Good luck to you!

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

If she likes sweet potato other stuff, she will like them. None of my dogs like any kind of sweet potato unless I mix it into their food really chopped up. But I have tried every on the market product with SP and no-one likes it here. If you make them in your dehydrator, make sure all the thicknesses are about the same and flip them like every 5 hours or so and rotate the trays, too. Your directions should tell you this. Mine has 4 trays and I change them about every 5 and it seems to work out. Let me know how it goes.

[Kim]

Thanks Lynn! Yes, the thickness is the same - but I didn't know to flip them! Thanks. Allie is VERY picky. She eats cooked sweet potatoes from my hand, but not from a plate (lol). So I'm not sure how she will like them! I will let you know!

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

Do you have separate trays or just one? If you just have one, just take a fork and flip them over ever few hours. If many trays, you have to rotate the trays too, top tray to bottom position every few hours, plus flip the chips. You can't do it wrong, the drying times will vary. Enjoy!

[Kay Bolin]

Well I experimented with a boneless pork chop today. I sliced it very thin and cooked it on a very low temperature - about 225 degrees. When it was barely cooked I took it out and cut strips and then cut them the other way so I had little pieces about 1/3" x 1/4". Then I stuck them all back in the oven for about 4 hours at 125 degrees. They seem fine! I did a little clicker work with Misty, and she liked them, even though they are not super flavorful like cheese or beef jerky. I'm keeping them in the refrigerator. Much less expensive, and probably lots healthier. YaY!

Next time I think I'll try Lynn's chicken suggestion. Maybe I'll look for a dehydrator on craigs list. How does a dehydrator do differently than the oven?

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

I think the idea of both is the low heat. I got mine from Kohl's (like a Walmart). It was under $30.

I found that by using a cookie cooling rack on a cookie sheet in a low heat oven works just as well and there's no rotating of racks, just the flipping every few hours.