Hey Mighty Paw Fam, Barbara here to show you how to turn the end piece of our Yak Cheese Dog Chews into a crunchy DIY Dog Treat Cheese Puff!

Spoiler alert: It takes less than 10 minutes, and your pup's going to L O V E their extra special goodie. Prepare for some drool! 

DIY Dog Treats: How to Turn A Leftover Yak Cheese Dog Chew Into A Crunchy Cheese Puff

What's A Yak Cheese Dog Chew?

For those of you who aren't familiar with what a Yak Cheese Dog Chew is in the first place, let's take a brief step backwards so I can introduce you to this chew.

Everyone else feel free to jump ahead to the next section!

The Mighty Paw Naturals Yak Cheese Dog Chews

In a nutshell, our Yak Cheese Chews are limited, 3-ingredient dog chews that are fully digestible, healthy, scrumptious AND longer lasting than average dog chews.

We source them from the Himalayas in Nepal where they're made primarily from yak and cow milk. Once they arrive here in our headquarters in Rochester, NY, we hand-inspect, select and package them.

Benefits

• Long-lasting
• Boredom buster
• Offers anxiety relief
• Promotes oral health
• Supports muscle growth & bone health
• Great for dogs with chicken, beef, pork & grain allergies

Features

• 4 pack
• 100% all-natural
• Hard consistency
• Limited-ingredients: mostly yak & cow milk, tiny bits of salt and lime juice for natural preservative reasons
• Chemical-and preservative-free
• Odor- and mess-free
• No added flavors
• Rich in protein and calcium
• Sourced in Nepal
• Hand-inspected in the US

With all of this in mind, they're a wonderful alternative to bleached and harmful rawhide chews and particularly helpful for teething puppies and bored power chewers!

What You'll Need For Your DIY Dog Treats

OK, now it's treat time!

As mentioned before, you'll need about 10 minutes of your time along with the following:

• Yak Cheese Dog Chew end piece
• Bowl with water
• Microwave
• Your drooling pup, ha!

Please keep in mind that the size of your end piece is going to vary and depends on your pup's respective size. My Feist mix Wally for example is a 35lb pup, and I take his Yak Cheese Chew away when there's about 2" left on it. 

If your pup's larger than Wally, you may want to take it away when there's a bit more left of it, say 3 ish inches. If your pup's smaller, the end piece can be smaller as well.

The main reason why we like to take the end piece away from our pups is to minimize the risk of any potential choking. This does not have to happen, but it could, so we'd rather be safe than sorry. 

3 Easy Steps to make the Crunchy Cheese Puff:

1. Soak the Yak Cheese Dog Chew end piece in a bowl of water for about 5 minutes

It will only get a tiny little bit softer than it is in its dry state, so don't be surprised by that. 

2. Microwave the soaked leftover Yak Cheese Chew for 45-60 seconds

It's going to puff up quite a bit and will be approximately 3 times the size of your end piece. 

3. Let it cool off until it's no longer hot to the touch

Let it sit for a few minutes to give it a chance to cool off.

Once it's no longer hot to the touch, offer it to your pup! All that's left now is to watch them enjoy their very special crunchy cheese puff treat!

Any Cons?

Unlike the non-microwaved Yak Chews, the cheese puffs are extra crunchy, so there's definitely going to be some crumbs on the floor or wherever you decide to offer them to your pup.

My suggestion is to let your pup eat it on a surface that's easy to clean! For example, a tile floor, a towel or better yet, outside in the yard if you have one.

Happy treat DIY-ing!

Barbara Rivers writes regularly for Mighty Paw. She is a blogger, raw feeder, former dog walker and maintains the blog K9s Over Coffee.

If you enjoyed this blog post, you may also like: 

• Introducing the Mighty Paw Naturals Yak Cheese Dog Chews
• 4 Single Ingredient Rawhide Alternatives for Dogs