Can Goldendoodles Eat Peanut Butter?

Peanut butter jar with Goldendoodle in background

Peanut butter is often given to dogs as a treat or even as a way to hide medicine, but should it be? Is it safe to give peanut butter to your Goldendoodle?

Absolutely! Goldendoodles love peanut butter and it is perfectly safe for them to eat as long as it is all natural and doesn’t contain harmful ingredients. Xylitol should be avoided at all costs and added salt and sugar is not recommended.

If you would like to feed peanut butter to your dog, the following tips will help you to make sure you are doing it right.

Feed them only natural, organic peanut butter

Lots of food products these days come with a host of added ingredients that are not beneficial to your dogs health. These ingredients include things like artificial sweeteners, added salt, and other ingredients that should not be consumed.

I recommend spending a little more money for a natural, organic product for your dog. If you buy a jar that is only intended to be eaten by your dog, it should last quite a while so it really won’t be that pricey in the end.

All-natural peanut butters are easy enough to find these days but if you can’t find them in your local grocery, it’s very easy to make your own homemade version.

All you need are unsalted roasted peanuts and a powerful blender such as the Vitamix or the Ninja blender.

I own and use the Vitamix and there is a handy recipe in the Vitamix recipe book. The recipe only includes peanuts so it’s super simple.

Just take three cups of roasted, unsalted peanuts and add them to your blender. This is what the recipe calls for but I typically only use a cup at a time.

Peanuts in blender
1 cup of peanuts in the blender

Run the blender for a short time while tampering with the tamper tool until you reach the desired consistency that you are looking for.

Your dog will be in heaven eating this all-natural homemade peanut butter. Just make sure he/she doesn’t eat too much of it. Store it in a jar in the fridge and it will make a nice treat for your dog for a few weeks.

Fresh peanut butter in jar

Avoid peanut butter that contains xylitol

Among the most deadly added ingredient that may be found in some peanut butters includes xylitol.

Although xylitol is a natural ingredient that is found in many fruits and vegetables, it is not ok to feed to your pet.

Xylitol is poisonous to dogs and should never be given to your dog under any circumstances. This sweetener is often found in gum, mints, toothpaste and can often be accidentally ingested by dogs causing damage to their health and even death.

Always read the labels when you are picking out a brand of peanut butter to use. Stick with those without added ingredients. The ingredients should only be roasted peanuts. Some may have a small amount of salt but ideally, you don’t want salt either.

Avoid feeding too much

A little bit of peanut butter is fine but don’t go crazy with it. You’ll only want to feed them a small amount each day. A tablespoon is sufficient for a smaller dog and perhaps a little more than that if you have a standard or large doodle.

I typically give my mini doodle a tablespoon 3 or 4 times a week. I’ll let her lick it right off the spoon.

As you can imagine, it’s a sight to see as she licks the peanut butter off and gets it stuck all over the inside of her mouth. She knows the sound of me getting the peanut butter jar out of the fridge and will come running when she hears it.

Avoid added salt

Salt in peanut butter is only there to enhance the flavor. However, it isn’t necessary and can only lead to problems if you give your Goldendoodle too much added salt.

Americans eat way too much salt as it is so we expect foods to be overly salted in order to taste good. Someone might take a bite of unsalted peanut butter and find it a bit bland.

However, your dog doesn’t care about salt being added. I actually prefer it unsealed as well but it is generally difficult to find it without any salt at all. The brand I usually buy says it contains 1% or less of salt which should be fine.

Peanut butter ingredients

Avoid added sugar

There is no need to have sugar in peanut butter other than to satisfy the sweet tooth of humans. When choosing a brand that your pooch can eat, just steer clear of those that have added sugar.

However, DO NOT purchase those that have xylitol instead of cane sugar. Always read the label first so that you know for sure what is in the product and that it doesn’t contain anything that could harm your dog.

What about peanuts?

Peanuts on white background

Peanuts are also fine for your dog to eat. However, the same is true if you are feeding your dog peanuts. You only want to feed them natural, unsalted peanuts that have no other ingredients added to them.

I typically buy the roasted, unsalted variety because that is the only kind I eat. I don’t have to think about it when giving them to my dog. I know they are safe for her as well.

My Goldendoodle loves to eat them but she gulps them down way too fast. For this reason, I tend to give her more peanut butter than peanuts. I do give her a few here and there and she knows exactly when I open the jar that they are kept in.

Similar to peanut butter, she knows exactly where I keep the peanuts and hears the jar open from anywhere in the house. When she does, she comes running as if she knows I’m getting some out for her.

Make sure your dog has plenty of water

This may be obvious but it’s worth mentioning. We all know how difficult it can be to eat a mouthful of peanut butter without any water. It gets stuck all over the inside of your mouth.

Just make sure your dog has access to water any time that you give him or her this healthy treat.

My dog doesn’t drink as much water as we would like her to but she nearly always heads for her water bowl after we’ve given her PB.

Health benefits

Although usually fed to a dog as a treat and not necessarily a healthy one, peanut butter does have some benefits for your dog. It’s high in protein and contains various vitamins and minerals that are essential to your dogs health.

It is also loaded with healthy fats but only in moderation. Again, just make sure you are only feeding your dog small amounts at a time and not letting them eat a whole jar in one setting.

Using peanut butter to trick your dog into taking medicine

Peanut butter on spoon with pill

It isn’t always easy to make a dog swallow down a pill or take some kind of medicine that doesn’t taste very well. One trick is to hide the medicine inside something that they do love to eat.

There are treats that are dedicated to this exact purpose. However, peanut butter provides a great way of doing this as well. I have used it with my Goldendoodle many times before.

We often give her a naturopathic medicine for stress and anxiety when we travel with her. In order to do this, we put the small pills inside peanut butter and she scarfs it down with no problem.

We’ve also used peanut butter to hide other things that don’t taste good to her such as apple cider vinegar and pumpkin seeds that we often use to help ward off a UTI (urinary tract infection).

Conclusion

If you are going to be giving your dog peanut butter to eat, please take precautions that you are not giving them anything that is going to harm them.

  • Become good at reading labels when you go grocery shopping and learn to check the ingredients to make sure there is nothing hiding in there that might be poisonous to them.
  • Make the homemade version as it will be healthier and likely cheaper in the long run.
  • Create a schedule of when you’ll give peanut butter so that you aren’t giving too much.

Peanut butter can be a healthy part of your dogs overall diet. Just be sure to do it moderation and he or she will look forward to it each and every time.

Dan Collins

Not only am I a dog or pet lover, but an animal lover. My Goldendoodle has opened my eyes to how special animals can be and I am proud to be her dad. I write about Doodles and share my knowledge and experience of owning a mini Goldendoodle for 16 years.

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