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Dogswell, the pet food company that started out six years ago with dried meat (jerky) products, now has a full product line of dry and wet food, biscuits, and wraps and veggies. Dubbed Veggie Life, the treats are made from fruits or vegetables wrapped in chicken jerky. I had picked up a couple of samples at the America’s Family Pet Expo back in April, but I had forgotten about them. Since the expiration date read 1/21/2011 (scary, right?), I figured it was safe to feed them to my dogs in a taste test.

As I’ve said before, I have two pugs. Now, pugs are not the most discerning when it comes to food. They will pretty much eat anything that you give them (except mine won’t eat lettuce). So this post is more about how I perceived the food than how my dogs did because they just gobbled it up.

I like Dogswell’s products. I’ve been a fan for years. Rory and I would feed Sushi, my older pug, the Happy Hips chicken breast jerky because she has arthritis in one of her hips, and this treat contains glucosamine and chondroitin. And we’d give the Vitality line to Zelmo because he has a history of skin problems, and these treats contain flaxseed and vitamins A and E.

So when I saw the Veggie Life wrap treat samples, knowing the pugs love both chicken and fruit, I snatched them up. The chicken-wrapped sweet potato comes with the Vitality ingredients, and upon opening the package, I could immediately smell the sweet potato. It smelled fresh, and both the chicken and sweet potato were still pliable enough for me to rip them apart so both dogs could have some (the samples came individually sealed). Of course they loved it. Next I opened the chicken-wrapped banana that come with the Happy Hips ingredients. The banana is basically a dried chip, just like what humans eat, and there were two chips wrapped in a piece of chicken — perfect for my two dogs. They loved this one as well.

Chicken and sweet potato (L), chicken and banana (R)

These wrap treats would be perfect for big dogs as they could probably eat one whole with no problem. But my doggies are too small to feed these to them whole (they tend to try to swallow things whole), so I have to rip them apart and give them the pieces little by little. But I’m used to that.

Zelmo (L) and Sushi (R) eyeing the chicken and sweet potato wrap

In addition to the chicken and sweet potato varieties, there is also a chicken-wrapped apple treat. And you can get the sweet potato alone, too. All the treats come in both the Happy Hips and Vitality lines. They aren’t cheap at $7.99 for a 5 oz. bag, but if you’re looking for a healthy dog treat — all of Dogswell’s products are free of hormones, antibiotics, byproducts, gluten, wheat, corn, soy, flour, and artificial colors, flavors or preservatives, according to the company’s Web site — these are worth it.