DIY Dog Treat Filled Ornaments

I love to peruse other dog blogs out on the Interwebs, and one I stop by frequently is Kol’s Notes. The “pet project” of Jodi Chick (mom of Kolchak and Felix) it’s the blog for pet parents who like DIY projects that are all about dogs. Now, I’m not the craftiest person out there, but I do appreciate people who are. And when I saw Jodi’s DIY Dog Treat Filled Ornaments, I said to myself: “Now here’s a project I can handle and will allow my house and hair to remain intact.” (I’ve been known to burn off eyebrows and countertops with past projects undertaken.)

Jodi created her DIY Dog Treat Filled Ornaments as an advent calendar of sorts for your pooch, and it being half-way through December, I was a little late to that party. But they do make great gift for pups on your list and I wanted to give it a try. Knowing my track record with arts and crafts (I run with scissors!), I enlisted Sheri, my crafty pal and dog mom to Dexter.

• Foam Christmas/holiday stickers
• Clear Plastic Christmas Ornaments
• Decorative Ribbon
• Crafter’s glue

Because I could only find the plastic ornaments that had a small opening in the top, I had to use small training-type treats. I used Old Mother Hubbard Bitz, Pet Greens Treats, and Fruitables Skinny Minis Apple Bacon and Yamberry Flavored treats, but you can use whatever ones your pooches are particular too. When you’re filling them up, be sure not to overdo it. If you put to many in, the ornament will be too heavy to hang and will fall, spilling treats all over the floor where eager doggies were lying in wait for something like this to happen (Full disclosure: I found this out the hard way). I’d say to fill them up to just over one-third capacity.

After you’ve added treats, it’s time to flex that creative muscle and start decorating. I found a slew of cute Christmasy foam stickers and funky ribbon. You’ll need the crafter’s glue to stick the ribbon around the ornaments, as the foam came with a sticky backing. I even used some of the ribbon as an ornament holder for the tree.

If you’re giving these as gifts or surprising your own dog with them, I’d be cautious to actually hang them on the tree. If your dog can sniff out the trees and is determined enough, he may bring down the whole tree to get to them. If you have small or disinterested dogs, you’re probably safe to hang them; otherwise, just use them as shelf or table décor. (We hung them from the tree just for the pictures – they look so pretty!)

Sheri was a huge help (thanks buddy!) and I got the hang of it pretty quickly. You’d have no problems getting your kids involved with this DIY Dog Treat Filled Ornament so they could make their own gift for the family dog.

If you give this DDIY (Doggy Do-It-Yourself) project, please let us know how it goes. And if you have a DDIY project you’d like to pass along, we’d be happy to try it out – you can send your ideas via email.