Halloween Treats for Dogs: What Goes in the Trick-or-Treat Bowl

Halloween treats for dogs should be things dogs can actually eat. That means freeze-dried meat and pumpkin, not the bowl of chocolate and candy sitting by the door. Here in our garage in Malvern, Pennsylvania, we make the treats side of that trade, Ella rides along for taste testing, and the red car sits out front while the freeze dryer runs another cycle. October just means more pumpkin batches than usual.

What goes in the bowl

Skip the candy bowl for the dog bowl. Our Pumpkin and Apple Pup-Ornaut is a freeze-dried dog ice cream, real pumpkin and apple, no baking, no fillers, and it holds its crunch on the shelf the way a fresh dessert never could. Freeze-Dried Cheddar Cheese Bites and Freeze-Dried Beef Liver round out the lineup, one savory and rich, one plain single-ingredient meat, and all three are made right here in Malvern, batch by batch, on the same equipment we started with. Chocolate and candy are simply not for dogs, so leave those in the human bowl and let the dog have the good stuff instead. See the full lineup in the Halloween treats collection.

Why pumpkin fits the season

Pumpkin dog treats show up everywhere in October for a reason: dogs like the flavor, and it freeze-dries into something light and crunchy instead of the canned mush most bowls start from. The Pup-Ornaut leans into that with apple added for a little extra bite and a texture that holds up to a good chew. It works as a stand-alone treat, crumbled over dinner for the dog who inspects the bowl first, or handed out one piece at a time on a foliage drive with the windows down and the leaves already turning along the back roads outside Malvern.

Something to load them into

Once you have treats, you need a way to serve them that is not just tossing pieces across the kitchen floor. The Zombie eMat is a lick mat with a skull and zombie design, built for smearing something soft into the grooves and letting a dog work it out one lick at a time. A skull-shaped rubber dispenser does the same job with actual pieces: fill it with Cheddar Cheese Bites or bits of the Pup-Ornaut, and a determined dog rolls it around the floor until every piece is out. There is even a Jack O' Lantern-shaped dispenser built the same way, for the pumpkin theme carried all the way through the toy box, and both are rubber tough enough to take some rolling around on a hardwood floor. Supervise play and size up for strong chewers. Turning a handful of treats into a slower job beats a dog who inhales everything in one gulp and then stares at you for more.

In the Halloween Shop

The Halloween Shop collects the treats and the toys in one place so you are not hunting through the whole site in October. Our treats ship from our kitchen in Malvern, and partner items like the eMat and the dispensers ship separately from their own makers through Shopify Collective.

If you only add one thing to the bowl this year, make it something with real ingredients on the label, like our freeze-dried dog treats, made in the same garage as everything else we sell and easy to break into pieces sized for whatever dog shows up at the door.

See also the photo-led version of this guide.

Questions

Can dogs have Halloween candy?

No. Chocolate and candy are not for dogs. Keep the candy bowl separate from the dog bowl and hand out a freeze-dried treat instead, so nobody has to sort through a bowl after the fact looking for what a dog managed to grab.

What treats can I hand out for a dog on Halloween?

Freeze-dried single-ingredient treats work well because they break into small pieces easily and it is easy to see exactly what is in them. Our Beef Liver and Cheddar Cheese Bites both work for that, and the Pup-Ornaut adds some pumpkin flavor to the mix for dogs who want a little variety in the bowl.

Are pumpkin treats good for training?

Pumpkin treats break apart easily, which makes them handy for quick repeat rewards during a training session or a walk past a lot of distractions. The Pup-Ornaut is soft enough to snap into smaller pieces for exactly that kind of use, and it travels well in a pocket for a drive to the trailhead.