Cahabones offers handmade, locally-sourced dog treats

Heather Taylor likes to joke that her pugs loved the Cahabones treats so much that she bought them the whole company. 

“It’s been a lot more hectic than I anticipated. It’s definitely a labor of love, but it’s also been extremely rewarding and fulfilling,” said Taylor, who’s owned Cahabones for the last three years and done all the baking, packaging, accounting and marketing. “I have the best customers in the world — and their people are pretty great, too.”

Taylor said her two pugs — Harry, who passed away in 2016, and Lulu — were an integral part of the Cahabones team, as is her 1-year-old pug Georgie.

“[Harry] was well-known by people at Pepper Place for begging at Cahabones before it was our booth,” she said. “Georgie’s already an expert at being there for the drops when I bake.”

Each week, Taylor spends two days baking the treats, which are sold at the local Piggly Wiggly and Western Supermarket, the Whole Dog Market, Sheppard’s Pet Supply, Cahaba Brewing Company, Pepper Place Farmers Market and other pop-ups and events, including the Caha-BAZAAR this December. Generally, all of Taylor’s treats contain less than five ingredients, all of which are locally sourced. 

She has two different lines of treats. The first kind is made with whole wheat flour and spent grain from beer, which is a by-product of the brewing process and a great resource after the local “explosion of craft breweries,” she said. Usually, she gets it from Cahaba Brewing Company. The second line of treats is grain-free, to accommodate the dogs that have allergies to wheat, where she instead uses an organic sprouted lentil flour from a company in Fitzpatrick, Alabama.

“I use all real ingredients. It’s all whole food; it’s not flavoring. If it’s bacon, I’m baking bacon and shredding it,” she said.

Popular treat flavors for the spent grain line include Peanut Butter Bacon, Bacon and Cheddar and the classic crowd-pleaser Peanut Butter. Grain-free flavor favorites include Mint, Coconut and Honey; Peanut Butter Molasses; and Sweet Potato, Beef and Apple. Each winter, she also sells gift boxes and treats in Christmas shapes, as well as the grain-free seasonal treat she calls Ginger ‘Yaps,’ which she said smell “delicious” and are made with ginger, molasses and apple. 

Taylor said her treats sold at local stores generally cost $7 and come in 4 oz. packages that contain 15 treats. 

For more information or to buy online, go to cahabones.com.