news-record.com

REIDSVILLE -- Joy Thomas says she's always wanted to run a pastry business.

That business has now gone to the dogs.

Working out of her home in Reidsville, Thomas bakes her own dog treats, flower and heart-shaped biscuits with carob and yogurt vanilla frosting that she sells at the Rockingham County Farmers' Market. But even though her wares are made for canines, they're good enough for people to eat.

"A lot of the ingredients I use are the type of things you'd pull out of your pantry to make cookies," she said. "Ingredients like whole-wheat flour, cornmeal, rolled oats, olive oil, flaxseed, as well as beef broth and fresh parsley. And peanut butter. Dogs really like peanut butter."

Thomas is one of several area bakers who are setting out to please man's best friend with homemade sweets made from human-grade ingredients.

Concerns last year about tainted pet food from China made consumers more conscious of what they're feeding their cats and dogs. And pet owners also worry about many of the same dietary concerns that affect humans - fat content, sodium, chemical preservatives.

"You look at a lot of dog foods, at the first few ingredients they have listed, it's corn fillers," Thomas says. "It's like taking your dog to McDonald's."

Treats can be just as unhealthy for dogs as they are for humans if you don't watch the ingredients.

"Like with us, the things that make foods so tasty for dogs are salt and fat, those are the two biggest things," added Korinn Saker , clinical nutritionist at N.C. State 's College of Veterinary Medicine. "And so there are a lot of treats on the market that are pretty high in sodium, pretty high in fat calories as well."

Though they might employ something like honey, the treats are more savory than sweet. Bakers also keep away from ingredients such as chocolate or raisins, which can be toxic to dogs.

But the treats have the appearance and texture of regular cookies.

"You can actually eat one of these yourself," said Melissa Michos , manager of Spring Garden Bakery in Greensboro, gesturing to a jar of bone-shaped treats. "It's like a peanut butter cookie, but without the salt or sugar, so it's not very sweet."

The treats are just that - treats. And dogs, like humans, need a balanced diet.

"They're not a complete diet, and you don't want to feed a lot of treats to them, because it can unbalance their diet," Saker said. "You probably shouldn't make any more than 10 percent of their food treats."

Thomas, a native of Hagerstown, Md., who has lived in Reidsville for about 10 years, runs a contractor referral service and has a golden retriever named Cayenne. A graduate of GTCC's culinary program, she got the idea for the treats several years ago when a pastry chef at the school gave her a recipe.

"And I used the recipe, tweaked it some and made dog biscuits for a few clients in town who had pets. I'd give them as gifts at Christmastime," she said. "And I thought about taking it a little bit further, because I love to bake. And I love being able to bake for dogs and educate people on good nutrition."

She sells her treats under the label Caramel Paws Pastries, and contracts with a lab in Ithaca, N.Y., to put nutritional information on her packaging. In addition to the farmers' market, she also sells the treats at Swann Paint Co. and Everyday Art in Reidsville. She plans on soon turning out a line of treats that bear the likenesses of Barack Obama and John McCain for the election season.

Natalie Foster , who sells garlic at the Greensboro Farmers' Curb Market, got the idea for her treats while attending a garlic festival.

"The humane society had a booth next to us," she said. "And we wanted something to tie in with garlic and dogs."

Though garlic can be toxic to cats and dogs in certain quantities, many pet owners claim the potent bulb, in small amounts, helps with flea resistance. Foster said she only uses a tablespoon of garlic per batch, which makes about 35 biscuits. The other ingredients include wheat flour, oats, eggs, honey, olive oil and beef stock.

"You roll them out and bake them at a slower temperature so they get hard," said Foster, who has a blue tick hound named Duchess. "The kids actually tasted them. They thought they were O K, but needed salt."

There are some items that seem to be universally beloved by dogs, like peanut butter, but making the treats takes a bit of experimentation.

"I might have a concept for a treat, but I'll put it on the back burner because when I send it to the lab, it'll have too much fat," Thomas said. "Because I got a picture of my dog on the table at the market, people will say, 'your dog, you've got a great taste tester right there.'

"And my particular dog, I cannot lie, is a canine garbage disposal, and eats anything and everything, so he's not really a good taste tester."

Contact Robert C. Lopez at 691-5091 or robert.lopez@news-record.com