I wouldn't do it, since most has salmonella on it now a days! My daughter used to get my youngest son (6 years younger than her) to eat dog food when they were little (among all sorts of other stupid stuff they did...). Of course, I didn't find this out until they were grown... Thank God they both survived their stupidity!

 

I was one of those kids that had to "graze" on everything outside .... including dog food and treats. But we are talking 50 years ago! Lol! I would not do it today if you paid me to. Too many health concerns with foodbourne illnesses.

I just smell it to see that it is not spoiled.

 

My older son who is 5 now I used to find in the dog bowl ALL the time!! Drove me crazy but the dr said it would be okay, even joked and said well Atleast it has some good things about it (puppy food lol). My now 2 year old I catch in dog food every once in a while but now I keep it in tubs so thankfully not as often as my other son. I'm all good on trying my dogs food haha. Let me know how it goes if you try it

 

honestly I wouldn't recommend taste testing your dogs food you probably wont enjoy it. I out of curiosity have tasted several doggy training "treats". dont know why dogs like em they are all pretty disgusting. as well as the health concerns, dogs immune systems are different from ours they can eat things that would easily make us sick (think raw diet) or grass from the lawn or even (shudder) cat poo. most foods are probably not going to make you sick just keep in mind the standards for dog consumption vs human consumption are vastly different.

 

I thought that all those really good ingredients would taste good to me as well as the dog! I got as far as putting one kibble in my mouth, the taste was extremely bland. But I could not bring myself to bite down on it, based on that experience I have serious doubts about what is really in these so called hollistic grain free dog foods.

 

Did someone call for me?

I've tasted (and ingested) every commercial product I've ever given to my dog, treats included.

Beneful is really sweet and soft in texture compared to other dry kibbles.
'Regular' Purina products and two Eukanubas tasted very flavorless, like grainy meal. And leaves a stale taste in your mouth
Wellness Super5Chicken is actually also quite mealy, not a lot of 'meatiness' but it tastes better than the above Purina. Same with Blue Buffalo
Taste of the Wild products are actually quite good. Saltier than any other kibble I've ever tasted but you can really detect the duck, fish, etc depending on the formula.

I've also tasted one brand of wet cat food (gross, bitter). And Alpo canned food, which is surprisingly... okay.

Milkbones taste like tack. I've heard soldiers use to carry them around as rations because they were hard and easy to store. Pretty flavorless but definitely unoffensive.
Virtually any jerky strips actually taste great, since it's just dehydrated meat.
'Rolled' treats, like the ones that look like slim jims, taste really strong. I have a fish based one right now and it's overpowering, even for me. No wonder my dog likes it!
BilJacs are extremely 'sour' for the lack of a better word.
Most dry biscuit treats taste the same but depends on what the base is (flour, oatmeal, etc).
MarroBones are sweet in a Beneful sort of way.

I don't recommend doing any of the above, btw. But dog products actually smell good to me and I eat almost anything, so I try what I can

 

HAHAHA I had the same mindset for a while and thought I wont put anything into my dog I wont try I gave up after some of "flavors" I got were just not pleasant (the dehydrated beef liver was probably the final straw). but it did make me more carefully consider what I feed and to inspect ingredient labels carefully.

 

My dogs eat raw... and I am vegetarian so I have never tasted them... but I would imagine it tastes like whatever meat it is lol!

 

ha ha no, but i'm pretty sure at least 2 of my kids have tasted the dog's kibble at least once. I don't think they liked it.

 

My parents fed Iams to our cats, dogs, and ferrets when I was growing up... and, like most little kids, I did eat it. As an adult, I never would. BUT I have eaten horse treats as an adult. I bought these apple biscuits once for my friend's horse, and tried one because they smelled SO yummy. It was delicious. Lol

 

Sassy's home made chicken and rice food smelled yummy but when I tasted it it was very bland and boring. No salt, no garlic, no onion to make it tasty!

 

There's a photo of me as a toddler sitting next to our GSD's bowl, snacking on the kibble. This would have been early 80s, and probably something like Gravy Train! I don't think I'm any worse for it, but those who know me might beg to differ! Not sure I'd try it as an adult, though I'd imagine it would be rather flavorless--most meat doesn't have a lot of flavor, unless its seasoned, which is something dog food doesn't do. I'd actually imagine the cheaper filler-brands would taste better to a person, as so much of human food is filled with the same sweet corn bases.

I have tasted some treats, mostly the bakery type things. They've been blander than human cookies would be, but not bad. The freeze dried lobster bits I tried on a dare from the SO, and actually were pretty decent, if an odd texture for lobster. And the Sammy Snacks cheese bites tasted like a very dense, slightly stale Cheezit. Like Syd, I've also tried some of my horse's treats when I bother getting something beyond carrots and peppermints, and they seem to be a bit more flavorful, but then again, her favorite treat is a gingersnap!

 

You know, this makes me wonder - how does a dog's sense of taste differ from ours?

For example, I gave Wally a quarter of a Belgian waffle, a 2 egg omelet, and a couple pieces of bacon. I wonder - does it taste the same for him as it does for me? He sure devoured it. The bowl was CLEAN.

 

Even if I weren't a strict vegetarian, I don't think I'd be tempted to taste Katie's food.



Compared to humans, dogs have a much better olfactory system, but a less well-developed gustatory system.

Description and Physical Characteristics of Dogs
Senses in Dogs

(fun fact: when you bake cookies, they don't get hot enough to kill salmonella bacteria). My (clean-freak) mom actually used to put me out in the garden with a spoon when I was a toddler. Pretty sure she was expecting me to use the spoon for digging, but I had other ideas...

So, what is the internal temp of a freshly baked cookie?

LOL at the dirt eating I have a friend who grew up during WWII and she talked about eating the scraps of bread soldiers threw off the trains at the crowds. She swears that growing up in a less sanitized environment made her healthier in the long run.

 

I remember tasting dry cat food when I was little and it was the worst thing I'd ever done. lol

Now, knowing what I do about commercial pet food, I would never, ever put that stuff in my mouth. Especially not things like Beneful (actually all Purina products), Iams or other low quality foods that contain possibly very unhealthy ingredients...

 

Seriously?? The thought of trying my dogs' food myself has never crossed my mind.

 

OK, once a friend, when I was a teenager, dared me to eat a dog biscuit. . .some off-brand Milkbone. It tasted like Play-doh (and, yes, as a kid I ate my fair share of Play-doh so I can say that confidently, LOL). Other than that, no, I never have tasted pet food. Ugh. TOTW smells OK, if I had to try one I guess I'd pick that .

My mom says that she used to accidentally eat her dog's canned food all the time (finding a half-gone can in the fridge), thinking it was canned hash. But, then canned hash is pretty nasty anyway, so I guess there's not much difference!

 

I have personally only ever eaten dog treats that I have made myself (including dehydrated chicken). I probably ate just as much dehydrated chicken as the dog did. It was WAY too tasty/easy to snack on. Homemade biscuits are usually very bland. Except for the ones I made with bacon fat and cheese - they were actually pretty alright. My fiance, on the other hand, has tried a variety of commercial dog treats, and both varieties of kibble that we've purchased.

We both eat steak tartare very chance we get (not often, says the wallet), sushi/sashimi, carppaccios, blue-rare steak, and raw cookie dough (fun fact: when you bake cookies, they don't get hot enough to kill salmonella bacteria). (Clearly) Run-of-the-mill food-borne bacteria doesn't bother me; it's everywhere anyway. My (clean-freak) mom actually used to put me out in the garden with a spoon when I was a toddler. Pretty sure she was expecting me to use the spoon for digging, but I had other ideas...

 

I have tried:

All of the bones/ treats we have made for the dogs,
Milk Bones,
TOTW dry kibble,
4health dry kibble,
Professional dry kibble,
EarthBorn dry kibble,
Soild Gold dry kibble,
Purina Pro Plan dry kibble,

I will not try wet dog food. lol

 

When I was very little, like 4-5 years old, I would sneak to the next door neighbor's house and crawl under their garage door (they left it partway up, as the dog was tethered inside) and I would eat his food. It was multi-colored pieces so was likely something awful like kibbles n bits. It tasted just how it smelled.

In middle school my friend and I ate milkbones. Again, tasted how they smelled.