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Doggie brownie, human grade and chocolate free.

Kibbles n’ cupcakes

Peppermint patties, cheese pizzas, mini hot dogs, cupcakes, a specialized birthday cake, chocolate chip cookies, brownies, salmon sushi rolls, and…

By Katie Dangerfield , in Material Pet: The business of pampering Vancouver's furry elite , on March 14, 2010 Tags: , , , , , ,

Peppermint patties, cheese pizzas, mini hot dogs, cupcakes, a specialized birthday cake, chocolate chip cookies, brownies, salmon sushi rolls, and a chocolate dipped pretzel. I ordered this today, but it was not for me. It was for my friend’s dog. Don’t worry, it’s perfectly healthy – it was all made at a specialized dog bakery.

Dog bakeries are a unique addition to Vancouver’s already unique pet culture. When I first found out about these unusual stores – it blew my mind. I could not even picture it. Do little dogs with chef hats, covered in flour and cake mix, slave around an oven all day?

I searched the city’s dog bakeries to find out.

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After much investigating, I found one common detail in each bakery; everything was baked fresh that day. Most of the bakeries had ovens, rolling pins, recipe books, flour, aprons, display cases, and bakers (none of which were dogs wearing chef hats – I was secretly disappointed).

Do Vancouver pet owners bring in enough business to keep these dog bakeries open? Despite the economic downturn, business is still booming.

“We’ve been in business for over 11 years,” said Jessica Allison, manager of Three Dogs Bakery. “We opened up a second location a year ago. So yeah, business has been good.

“Vancouver is more dog friendly than most cities. People have lots of money and lots of dogs.”

The concept of dog bakeries started as a desire for pet owners to give their furry loved one a more fun and healthy option in place of traditional dog food, which can contain unhealthy products.  All the baked treats are made with natural ingredients (such as carob, honey, cream cheese, yogurt, and corn starch), without added preservatives.

“It’s all natural. Humans can eat it too,” said Allison.

“Some ladies came in the other day and bought three treats – one for their pet, one for the friend’s pet, and one for them.”

There is no chocolate in this brownie; instead carob and maple syrup. A healthy treat for pets and their owners.

When I discovered that the dog treats were human grade, I was skeptical. So, I did what any good journalist would do – I double checked the facts. I bit into a piece of a brownie square that looked irresistibly edible. Verdict – it tasted like unsweetened chocolate mixed with a hint of bitter maple syrup (not horrible but not delicious). It did leave an unpleasant aftertaste though – good thing the dog bakeries supplied doggie mints.