I was at the grocery store the other day shopping for the week and I popped into the pet aisle to grab a can of wet food for our pup who's being a little finicky about eating lately. It was right there that I spotted them: organic cans of pureed pumpkin and sweet potato for dogs!

This is something I'd never seen before, so I did a little research. Apparently, sweet potato and pumpkin in moderation can be good for dogs who have unpredictable tummies. My dog tends to get car sick and she also barfs when she's stressed, so working a little sweet potato into her diet sounded like a great idea! If you do feed sweet potato to your dog, there are two things to keep in mind:

1. It's fattening. This should be a treat, not a major food source. For a small dog, a couple of tablespoons of sweet potato will do the trick. If your dog is larger, you can feed her 1/4 cup or maybe even 6 tablespoons a day.
2. Skin your sweet potatoes. The skin is full of fiber, and the idea here is to settle their tummies. Plus, if there's any mold at all on the skin, it can be bad for your pup.

A quick peek at the ingredients revealed that there was nothing particularly special about this food. All that's in them is the pureed veggie. And they were charging almost $3 per can for the stuff! That seems crazy to me. Instead of shelling out big bucks for a dog on the label, try these simple alternatives to expensive store-bought sweet potato treats:

• Organic canned sweet potato or pumpkin. The kind you'd get to make pie is basically the same as the kind I saw in the pet aisle, but it costs over $1 less per can. Just make sure it's unseasoned and not salted. You want 100% sweet potato or pumpkin.
• Cooked sweet potato. Microwave or bake a sweet potato, remove the skin, cut into cubes, and cool. My dog wasn't interested in eating the plain sweet potato, but you can also mash some up with their regular food to make it more appealing.
• Dried organic sweet potato. Use your food dehydrator or your oven to dry strips of sweet potato. Need a recipe? This dog treats site has some great info on how to make your own, natural, dried sweet potato treats.

Do you guys make your own dog treats? I'd love to hear what homemade goodies your pups love best!