As some of you know, I write about food as well as about dogs (though rarely about dog food, because Frankie is diabetic). I’m the Contributing Dining Editor for Tucson Guide and have written food and spirits stories for publications that include Sunset and National Geographic Traveler.

Photo by Scott Rich @ScottRichPics.com

All this to say, I get to hobnob with some terrific local chefs.

So one day I was talking to one of my favorites,  Janos Wilder, and bemoaning the fact that I couldn’t find a good dog sitter. “My pastry chef, Linda Zubel, has gone into the dog sitting business,” Wilder told me. “Why don’t you try her?”

I did. And she was great. She kept in touch with me as much as I could have wanted her to —  a lot — and even managed to outwit Frankie in stubborn terrier mode: When he turned up his nose at breakfast, she got down on the floor and pretended to eat out of his bowl. That got his competitive mojo going.

Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that an animal lover who worked for a James Beard- award winning chef should also turn her hand to creating taste temptations for the furred: Zack N Boo’s Kitchen: All Natural Gourmet Pet Treats.

Photo by Scott Rich @ScottRichPics.com

There are four different types of dog treats:

  • “Zack-O-Lantern” Pumpkin treats (pumpkin is healthy for dogs: see Of Pumpkins and Pooches)
  • “More Peanuts, Honey,” Peanut butter treats
  • “Luck-o-the-Irish Setter,” Potato/sweet potato treats
  • “How’s the Liver, Spot?” Beef liver treats

(Pastry! Dogs! Puns! This is a woman after my own heart.)

Linda also makes cat chews but we won’t discuss those here.

What we will discuss is the fact that she has agreed to put together a sampler pack of dog treats — all four yummy varieties — for one lucky contest winner.

Entering is easy. Just tell me in the comments section why your dog deserves these treats. The contest runs from one minute after midnight EST November 18 to 11:59 p.m. EST November 25. The winner — everyone over 18 in the U.S. and Canada is eligible — will be chosen at random. I’ll make the announcement on November 29. Winners will have three days to respond to the notice that they’ve won; after that, it’s on to the next person that the random machine chooses.

And as the logo on the top of this post indicates, I’m not the only one doing a giveaway. All the bloggers listed below are running contests too. So hop around. Enter to win stuff. How awesome is that?

56 thoughts on “Win a Pastry Chef’s Gourmet Dog Treats”

  1. 1. My dog SO deserves these treats! After all, they only live with a good dog sitter, not a pastry chef. Not even a good cook! How else will they taste the finer things in life? (Is that enough to win?) 🙂

  2. 2. What yummy treats!

    Even though my blog is about my Malamute Layla, I also have a black lab.

    When I got him about 3 years ago, he was a morbidly obese at over 120. Frankly, he was disgusting.

    I took him to the vet last month for a hot spot, and he is now *drumroll* 72 pounds! Chubbs (his real name is Casey, and I guess he can’t really be “Chubbs” anymore) lost 50 pounds, almost a whole Labrador.

    He deserves these treats – even though he doesn’t do all the things that Layla does (agility, obedience, therapy work, etc.), he’s a really good boy, and should celebrate his massive weight loss with some special gourmet treats.

    (Here’s my post from September, so you can see I’m not embellishing this story for the sake of the contest! : http://lovelyladylayla.blogspot.com/2010/09/wednesday-agility-casey-biggest-loser.html )

  3. 4. “How’s the Liver Spot”?? I *gotta* have Tashi try these – and what a great way to stumble on a pet sitter – the stars aligned. Now, on to the contest entry: My dog deserves these punolicious and gourmet treats because he is a gourmet himself, capable of truly appreciating a finely turned out and delectable treat such as those offered from Zach N Boo’s Kitchen. Having seen the NOVA program on Dog’s Decoded, I showed him the photo of said cookies and I believe he is now ready to run to the kitchen and retrieve them. It would be good for me if I didn’t disappoint:)

  4. 5. Gracie deserves these treats because she’s a very good girl, despite the fact she will put anything in her mouth. She needs to see that some things taste much better than others.

  5. 7. My dogs Ginger Bug and Vinny would love these treats, because they are my pride and joy and this yr they are going to pet smart and have there pics taken with santa clause. They are doing it for me and Vinny(jack russell terrior) has never been and Ginger(chihuahua) really doesn’t like it too well,but said she would do it one more yr.lol Thanks!

  6. 8. 16-year-old Archie deserves these treats because he has had a difficult year and has emerged like a phoenix (or is it a tucson?) from the ashes. Diagnosed with terminal liver disease, and given only 1-4 weeks to live in September, he is now disease free, due in large part to fine dining. I know he would enjoy a pupp pastry after his dinner of buffalo tri-tip!

  7. 9. We have a new 9 month old border collie puppy from the shelter. I think Coop deserves these because he is currently learning his manners with obedience and these treats would be the perfect motivation he needs. He would probably add that he needs a little something after a big day of running around on our farm working and “playing” with all the chickens. He worked up an appetite for a gourmet nom or two.

  8. 11. Oskar deserves to win these treats because I have been sick and at home for 3 years and he has been my faithful companion and best medicine!

    hoerauf at comcast dot net

  9. 12. My dogs deserve these treats because they are always willing to go along with whatever crazy plan I come up with. One day it’s agility, another day it’s rally obedience, another day it’s freestyle… some days it’s just completely wacky, like picking out pumpkins at the pumpkin patch (and sitting nicely in the wagon for photos, they are medium sized dogs so this was not normal for them!)… They are such good sports about everything! My older dog Fly even wore a Halloween costume for me this year (she usually despises “clothing”).

  10. 14. My dog Reese deserves to win because she is giving you her most convincing, irresistible puppy eyes begging gaze.

    She’s a lab and thus convinced that she NEEDS these treats! Luckily the vet is always pleased that she manages to sneak so many treats but is still in good shape. Thanks for the chance to win!

  11. 15. Besides sounding delicious and what dog can resists treats???? …. I make my own dog food for my poochies because of allergies, etc. I try to keep them eating only good stuff and your stuff sounds great!

  12. 18. My dog Shiva deserves these treats because she has been so forgiving while I figure out this dog training and communication thing. No matter how much I’ve goofed up in the past, she keeps coming back for more. She gives her all every day, even if I don’t. She’s my star and my hero.

    That and she has an owner too lazy to make her more sardine snacks. 😛

  13. 19. My Sheltie (Dakota) deserves these treats because he is the ultimate “foodie!” He loves sweet potatoes, broccoli, hamburgers, turkey burgers….he has a discriminating pallet and these would be just perfect for him!
    Also he is a darned good licker! lol

  14. 22. my dog Fred the bloodhound deserves these treats because he is back in pet therapy class trying to pass his test again so that he can become a pet therapy dog, his nose got the best of him on the first test 🙂 these treats would come in handy while trying to keep him focused on me during class instead of other things 🙂

  15. 24. Well… it just so happens that my dog eats bites of crunchy tortillas. Isn’t that crazy? We just found this out a few days ago, after having our furry friend for more than 8 years. Tortillas? What a weird thing… she has real dog treats too, but maybe we need to get her to try something new, to get her away from the tortillas.

  16. 26. My Willow is a great dog, since I adopted her she has learned sever commands…with the use of incentives of course. I love to give her only the best treats during training and play. She would really love these!

  17. 27. CindyLu here – Mom’s away from the computer, thankfully. No way she’d do me justice on this! I’m a beautiful girl, very smart, keep an eye on things around here, and I can tell you even Chester would agree. If he does, and I won, I’d even share the treats with him! See? I deserve such fantastic treats as these.
    You know, I think that woman is a woman after my mom’s own heart, too!

  18. 28. What a fun blog! So glad you found a great dog sitter. That is the best feeling!

    I recently added a new dog to my canine household and am literally stopping at the local pet supply store every other day to pick up new treats. We are doing so much clicker training and Gina is in a beginner’s agility class, so we go through them so quickly. My older dog, Sanchez, is also getting more treats than normal lately so he doesn’t feel neglected. The vacuum cleaner comes out and treats fall from the sky. This helps change Gina’s association to the vacuum cleaner and it changes Sanchez’s association to Gina. Hey, it’s working!

    If I won these treats, they would be appreciated by me as much as they’d be enjoyed by my dogs!

  19. 29. my dogs, especially the old ones, deserve these treats because they give so much love to the residents at my mom’s nursing home

  20. 31. These look like excellent treats!

    I think Sherman deserves these treats because he is my loyal Newfie, he is always by my side and never asks for anything in return except to be loved.
    He has always recently shown me that he is there to break my falls when he brother jumps on me!

  21. 32. My dog bailey deserves these treats because he’s a good boy. He hasn’t dug any holes this week or chewed up anything Thanks

  22. 35. I have three hounds, and they go through lots of treats. We’re giving away treats on Dogs Rock too, but somehow I managed to run out of treats in my dogs’ jar. They really need a refill. 🙂 Thanks for participating in the holiday hop! We’re having lots of fun with it!!

  23. 36. My two dogs Moxie (a dachshund) and Liam (a rottweiler) deserve these treats for so many reasons! It’s their first true Thanksgiving and Christmas this year! They both had hard times before and we adopted them earlier this year. Plus they also deserve a treat because they always get made fun off because of the difference in their size!

  24. 39. Last Monday, Dottie lost her buddy, Frieda, and is still mourning the hole in her heart and mine. She and Frieda were great lovers of sweet potato treats as well as mashed sweet potatoes left over from my dinner. They had been together for only 5 years, but they would sleep on the same big dog bed. She keeps looking for her. Now she just has me.

  25. 42. Steve deserves treats because:
    – Likes to play, chewgars & going nuts. He is a well known frisbaholic;
    – He mastered the trick of keeping his tongue out at all times;
    – He is also know as El Fabuloso Chimpoxit (Steve is an avid fan of Lucha Libre);
    – Steve is the founder of RTS (Restless Tail Syndrome) support group;
    – He works his tail off as the CBO & ombudsman of Gangs of New Yorkie (and also is a part time manager of the night club Pups);
    – Because he is staring at me right now to make sure I type the right stuff. & I really like my shoes.

  26. 43. Well….I think all dogs would deserve these treats, but mine would be more than happy to indulge! I used to add canned pumpkin to my dog’s dinner every night because I had heard it was really good for him, and for whatever reason once I got the new puppy I stopped. So it would be nice to be able to give him the pumpkin still!

  27. 44. The Gang of Four deserve treats because they’re being very patient with me. They don’t see the sense in my sitting at the computer yakking about them, when I could be yakking with them instead. Help me make it up to my guys for being such good, patient dogs!

  28. 45. There are a lot of reasons why my Brutis deserves these. He’s protective, sweet, affectionate, a funny comedian, and is sincerely interested in what I have to say (unlike some others! LOL).
    Thanks for the giveaway.

  29. 45. Diesel deserves a chance at winning your yummy looking Zack-O-Lantern treats. Diesel is my rescue Rottweiler who came to me with horrible gas/loose stool/vomiting etc. Now that he’s been fed food with no corn, soy, bi-products, etc. He’s doing so much better. I still have to watch is consumption of water, but no more LS 😉 So, Diesel and I believe that a chance at yummy pumpkin treats is awesome!

  30. 46. My dog deserves these after being rescued from a very bad situation and the sadl being attacked by another dog. These would cheer him up!

  31. 47. My dog deserves these treats because…. she is CUTE. She is fantastic. She fits into our family perfectly and know all our habits. It takes work for her to do all this… and that is why she deserves some extra special treats.

  32. 48. My dogs makes a difference in the lives of those around him. We attend as many of the fundraising events as we can. We will be attending the Jingle Bell dog walk next week, and he gets so excited. He also stays up late cheering me on while I do my homework. He adds so much love and joy to our house and we are lucky to have adopted him.

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