The whole workflow in one paragraph
Enter your recipe and get an estimate label — a watermarked draft that shows you what your recipe looks like as numbers, and what is wrong with it. Fix the recipe using the suggestions, then freeze the recipe (no more changes). Bake that exact batch, send a sample to a laboratory, and enter the lab's measured values into the tool. The label then becomes a final label — no watermark — that you can register with your state and print. The estimate is for planning and diagnosis; the lab is what makes the label real.
This guide is for home and small-batch dog-treat sellers in the United States. It is not legal or veterinary advice. If a step below conflicts with what your state feed-control office tells you, follow the state office.
- Enter your recipe and finished batch weight
- Read the estimate label and the recipe suggestions
- Improve the recipe — then freeze it
- Bake the exact batch and send a sample to the lab
- Enter the lab values in the tool
- Understand guarantees vs. lab means
- Get your final label
- Register the product with your state
- Add everything else a legal label needs
- Know about the label-format change coming by 2030
Step 1 — Enter your recipe and finished batch weight
What to do: On the label generator, enter your product name, each ingredient with its raw weight in grams, and — this is required — the finished batch weight, weighed after baking and cooling. Also enter how many treats the batch makes.
What you need: your recipe as you actually bake it, and a kitchen scale. Weigh the whole finished batch, not one treat.
Why the finished weight is required: Guaranteed Analysis is a percentage of the finished product, as fed. Baking drives water out, so everything left gets more concentrated — a recipe that is 14% protein raw can be 16% protein after baking. If you used the raw weight, every number on the label would be wrong. The tool refuses to generate a label without a finished weight.
Common mistake: weighing the batch while it is still hot (steam is still leaving, so the weight keeps dropping) or guessing the finished weight from the raw weight. Weigh it cool, on a scale.
Step 2 — Read the estimate label and the recipe suggestions
What to do: Press “Generate draft label”. You get a label marked ESTIMATE — DRAFT LABEL — NOT A LABORATORY ANALYSIS, plus a short list of recipe suggestions — what the numbers say about your recipe, each with the number that triggered it and a concrete fix.
What the suggestions mean. The tool checks your numbers against five reference points — and only these five:
- Protein vs. the AAFCO adult-maintenance reference. AAFCO's Dog Food Nutrient Profiles set crude protein at a minimum of 18.0% and crude fat at 5.5% on a dry-matter basis for adult maintenance (22.5% / 8.5% for growth and reproduction). The tool converts your as-fed numbers to dry matter and compares. If your dry-matter protein is below 18%, it suggests adding a protein source such as egg, peanut butter or meat.
- Fat vs. the same reference (5.5% dry matter). Below it, the tool suggests a little oil, peanut butter or cheese — and notes that this also raises calories per treat.
- Calories per treat vs. the 10% rule. Treats should provide at most 10% of a dog's daily calories; the other 90% must come from a complete and balanced food. The tool works out the daily treat budget from the dog's weight (see the table below) and tells you how many of your treats fit in it. If one treat already exceeds a 20 lb dog's whole daily budget, it suggests smaller treats or less fat/sugar.
- Moisture. A moisture maximum above about 12% triggers a shelf-life note (dry longer, cool fully before packing, watch for mould). A moisture mean below about 5% triggers a note that the biscuit may be very hard and crumbly. These are bakery rules of thumb, not regulations.
- Crude fiber. A fiber maximum above about 5% triggers a palatability note — taste-test it and watch the dogs' stools before scaling up.
The one thing to understand about the AAFCO numbers: the AAFCO profiles are for complete and balanced foods, not treats. Treats are not required to meet them, and a treat must never claim to meet them. The 18% / 5.5% floors are used here as reference points only — a way to see where your recipe sits — never a pass/fail, and never a claim for your bag.
How the 10% rule works, in numbers. Daily calories are estimated as 1.6 × RER, where RER (resting energy requirement) = 70 × (bodyweight in kg)0.75, for a neutered adult dog. The treat budget is 10% of that:
| Dog size | Daily calories (approx.) | Daily treat budget (10%) | Sample 103 kcal treats that fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 lb | 348 kcal | 35 kcal | 0.3 |
| 20 lb | 586 kcal | 59 kcal | 0.6 |
| 50 lb | 1,164 kcal | 116 kcal | 1.1 |
Those budgets assume a neutered adult at average activity. Puppies, intact, senior, overweight or very active dogs differ — ask a veterinarian for a specific dog. The sample treat in the table is the tool's sample recipe (103 kcal per 25 g biscuit): one biscuit already exceeds a 20 lb dog's whole daily treat budget.
Common mistake: treating a suggestion as a verdict. A suggestion triggered by an estimated number — especially crude fiber — may move after lab testing. Every suggestion carries a confidence note: “based on estimate” or “based on your lab values”. Do not reformulate on an estimate alone if the change is expensive; confirm the number first (Step 4).
Step 3 — Improve the recipe — then freeze it
What to do: Follow the suggestions that make sense for your product — a little more egg for protein, smaller pieces for calories, a longer bake for moisture. Re-generate the estimate label after each change and watch the numbers move. When you are happy with the recipe, write it down exactly (ingredients, weights, bake time and temperature) and do not change it again until the lab work is done.
Common mistake: “improving” the recipe after the sample is already at the lab — for example, following a suggestion the estimate gave you. That is exactly what the freeze is for: suggestions are for before the lab, never after.
Step 4 — Bake the exact batch and send a sample to the lab
What to do: Bake the frozen recipe exactly as written. Set aside a sample of the finished batch and send it to a pet-food testing laboratory for a full proximate panel — moisture, crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber, ash, and energy (kcal/kg). Ask the lab how much sample they need and how to pack and ship it.
What it costs: in research done 2026-11-15, a full panel (Midwest Labs F2) was $40 per product per batch; sellers typically report $75–150 per product. Ask your lab for a quote before sending anything — prices change, and some labs charge per analyte.
Test at least two batches. One batch, one analysis is a starting point, not full cover. AAFCO advises at least two analyses per variety and setting guarantees from the mean ± 2 standard deviations, because ingredients and baking vary from batch to batch. Two batches tested gives you a mean you can trust and a sense of how much your numbers move.
Common mistake: sending a sample from a different bake than the recipe you froze — or sending a sample and then tweaking the recipe while you wait for results. The lab report describes the sample you sent, nothing else.
Step 5 — Enter the lab values in the tool
What to do: When the lab report comes back, open section 3b. Laboratory values on the label generator and type in the measured numbers: crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber, moisture, ash (all % as fed) and energy (kcal/kg). Enter only the values your report actually gives you. Each line you enter replaces the estimate for that line and is marked “lab”; every other line stays estimated.
Check the basis first. Most lab reports give as-fed % (percent of the finished product). Some give dry-matter % (percent of the product with all water removed). The tool has a basis selector for this — choose the one your report uses. If yours is dry-matter, you must also enter the lab moisture, because the tool converts with it: as-fed = dry-matter × (100 − moisture) / 100. Entering dry-matter values as as-fed is the most common mistake here, and it inflates protein and fat.
Watch the sum warning. When all five proximate lab values are entered, the tool checks that protein + fat + fiber + moisture + ash + NFE lands near 100% (97–103%). Far outside that range, it warns you — it usually means a basis or unit mistake, so check the report before using the label. (A very high-soluble-fiber recipe can legitimately sit a little high, so this is a warning, not an error.)
Common mistake: typing a number from the wrong column of the report, or mixing bases — for example, protein from the dry-matter column and moisture from the as-fed column. If the sum warning appears, stop and re-read the report; do not print the label.
Step 6 — Understand guarantees vs. lab means
The lab gives you a mean. The label needs a guarantee. They are not the same number.
A lab report's protein value (say, 18%) is the measured average of the sample tested. The label's guarantee (say, protein min 16%) is a limit — a promise that the product stays above it (for protein and fat) or below it (for fiber and moisture), batch after batch. If you copy the lab mean straight onto the label as the guarantee, the next batch tested by the state can fall on the wrong side of it, and the product fails.
What the tool does: it applies the same conservative margin to lab means as it does to estimates — the guarantee is the mean minus the larger of 10% of the mean or 2 percentage points for protein and fat (floored to 0.1%), and the mean plus the larger of 10% or 2 points for fiber and moisture (ceiled to 0.1%). The page shows both numbers for every lab-entered line, so you can see the difference. AAFCO's preferred method is mean ± 2 standard deviations across multiple batches (worked example: mean 24.8%, SD 1.28 → 22% min) — which is another reason to test at least two batches (Step 4).
Common mistake: “the lab said 18%, so I'll print min 18%.” Do not do this. Print the guarantee the tool derives, not the lab mean.
Step 7 — Get your final label
What happens: when all four Guaranteed Analysis lines — protein, fat, fiber and moisture — are lab values, the label switches from a draft to a final label: the red “ESTIMATE — DRAFT” banner becomes a green “FINAL LABEL — GUARANTEED ANALYSIS FROM LABORATORY ANALYSIS” banner, the DRAFT watermark is removed, and every line is marked “lab”. If even one of the four lines is still an estimate, the label stays a watermarked draft — a line is either lab or estimated, never mixed.
Calories: the calorie statement is separate from the Guaranteed Analysis and always says how the number was obtained. If you entered a lab energy value, it reads “(laboratory-measured)” and uses your lab's kcal/kg. Otherwise it reads “(calculated)” and uses the Modified Atwater formula on the label's numbers: ME kcal/kg = 10 × [(3.5 × protein%) + (8.5 × fat%) + (3.5 × NFE%)]. The two methods are never mixed on one label. Note that calculated (Atwater) energy tends to read a little low versus measured energy, so if calories matter for your product, entering the lab's kcal/kg is worth it.
Common mistake: printing the draft and treating it as finished because “the numbers look right”. The watermark is there for a reason — a draft estimate is not a label you can sell with, however good the numbers look.
Step 8 — Register the product with your state
What to do: a lab-tested label is not a registration. In most states, dog treats are commercial feed, and each product must be registered with the state feed-control office before you sell there — usually a fee per product per year, plus a label review. Check the state registration checklist on the tool page (13 states, with fees and source links, dated 2026-11-15) for your state, then confirm the current fee and form with the state office itself — fees change every year.
What you need: your final label, your lab report, and the registration fee. Some states also want your facility inspected or a separate license. Keep the lab report: if the state questions a guarantee, the report is your evidence.
Common mistake: assuming cottage-food law covers pet treats. It usually does not — dog treats are feed, not human food. Minnesota is the national exception, where baked and dehydrated dog and cat treats are covered by the cottage-food rules. Everywhere else, expect a feed registration.
Step 9 — Add everything else a legal label needs
The Guaranteed Analysis and the calorie statement are only part of a legal pet-food label. This tool produces those two parts. The rest is yours to add — do not ship a bag with only the GA panel on it. A complete label also needs:
- Product name and a purpose statement (what species it is for — dog).
- Net quantity — the weight of product in the bag (net wt.), in both US and metric units.
- Ingredient statement — every ingredient, listed by its AAFCO-defined name, in descending order by weight. (The tool suggests AAFCO ingredient names for your recipe; use them.)
- Manufacturer or distributor name and address — city, state and ZIP.
- Nutritional adequacy wording. Treats are for intermittent or supplemental feeding only. A product prominently labeled as a snack or treat is exempt from the adequacy statement; anything else must carry “This product is intended for intermittent or supplemental feeding only.” Never claim a treat is complete and balanced, and never print “AAFCO approved” or “AAFCO certified” — AAFCO approves, certifies, tests and endorses nothing.
- Calorie content statement — kcal/kg and kcal per treat, with the method stated (the tool produces this in Step 7).
- Feeding directions — optional for treats, but useful: how many treats per day for what size dog (the 10% rule in Step 2 is the basis for this).
If you are unsure about any of these, ask your state feed-control office to review the full label before you print a run — most will do a pre-review as part of registration.
Step 10 — Know about the label-format change coming by 2030
The label this tool makes is the old-format Guaranteed Analysis panel — the format pet food has used for decades. Under AAFCO's Pet Food Label Modernization (PFLM), labels are moving to a new Pet Nutrition Facts box, in which total dietary fiber replaces crude fiber. The old panel remains acceptable during AAFCO's enforcement-discretion period, running to about 2030, so a label made today in the old format is fine — but the format will need updating before the transition ends, and the two formats must never be mixed on one label. This tool makes the old format only; the new box is not built yet.
Worked example — the sample recipe, end to end
The tool's built-in sample is oat & peanut-butter biscuits: oat flour 180 g, peanut butter 120 g, wheat flour 60 g, egg 50 g, honey 30 g, baking soda 2 g. Raw 442 g → finished 400 g (90.5% yield), 16 treats of 25 g.
| Estimate label (Step 2) | Final label with lab values (Step 7) | |
|---|---|---|
| Crude Protein (min) | 14.4% | 16% |
| Crude Fat (min) | 17.9% | 18% |
| Crude Fiber (max) | 4.5% * | 4% |
| Moisture (max) | 8.4% | 10% |
| Calorie Content | 4,114 kcal/kg, 103 kcal/treat (calculated) | 4,000 kcal/kg, 100 kcal/treat (laboratory-measured) |
| Label status | DRAFT — ESTIMATE, watermarked | FINAL, no watermark |
* Crude fiber on the estimate is still an estimate (see FAQ below). The lab-values column uses lab protein 18%, fat 20%, fiber 2%, moisture 8%, ash 2%, energy 4,000 kcal/kg. The estimate also produces two suggestions: protein is below the AAFCO adult-maintenance reference on a dry-matter basis (17.5% vs 18%), and one 103 kcal treat exceeds a 20 lb dog's whole daily treat budget (~59 kcal). With the lab values entered, the protein suggestion clears (lab dry-matter protein 19.6%); the treat-size suggestion stays, because 100 kcal still exceeds the 20 lb budget.
Frequently asked questions
Is this label legal to sell with?
The estimate label is not — it is a watermarked draft for planning. The final label, made from your lab's measured values, is the one to register and print. Even then, legality is decided by your state feed-control office, not by this tool: confirm the label with the state before you sell, and keep your lab report on file.
Do I still need a lab test?
Yes, for any label you sell or register with. The estimate is a calculation from recipe data and USDA nutrient values; it is not a measurement of your product. Only a laboratory analysis of the finished product confirms your guarantees, and most states require lab-tested values for registration.
What is crude fiber, and why is it estimated?
Crude fiber is what is left after a sample is boiled in dilute acid and then alkali (the Weende method, AOAC 978.10) — it is a laboratory residue, not a count of all the fiber a dog eats. USDA data reports total dietary fiber instead, and there is no verified conversion between the two: crude fiber is always lower, because the acid-alkali boil dissolves most soluble fiber. The tool therefore uses sourced crude-fiber values for common ingredients where published proximate analyses exist, and a provisional type-based factor elsewhere. Enter your lab's crude-fiber value and the estimate is replaced.
Why does the tool ask for finished weight?
Because Guaranteed Analysis is a percentage of the finished product, as fed. Baking drives water out, so everything else gets more concentrated — the same recipe has higher protein and fat percentages after baking than before. Using the raw weight would understate every number. Weigh the batch after baking and cooling, and enter that weight.
What does the 10% rule mean for my treat size?
Treats should provide at most 10% of a dog's daily calories. A 20 lb dog's daily treat budget is only about 59 kcal — so a single 103 kcal biscuit already exceeds a whole day's worth of treats for that dog. Either make the treats smaller, so two or three fit in the budget, or cut fat and sugar to lower the calories per treat. The tool shows how many of your treats fit the budget for 10, 20 and 50 lb dogs.
Can my treat claim to meet AAFCO profiles?
No. The AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles are for complete and balanced foods, and a treat is by definition not that — treats are for intermittent or supplemental feeding only. Do not print “meets AAFCO profiles”, “AAFCO approved” or “AAFCO certified” on a treat: AAFCO approves, certifies, tests and endorses no pet food. The 18% protein / 5.5% fat figures in this tool are reference points for improving your recipe, not claims for your bag.
What if my lab numbers don't match the estimate?
That is normal, and it is why the lab step exists. The estimate is approximate — most of all for crude fiber, where the tool has no direct USDA value to work from. Use the lab numbers: each entered line replaces the estimate on the label. But first check the sum warning and the basis selector (Step 5): a big gap often means dry-matter values were entered as as-fed, or a number was copied from the wrong column of the report.
What if I change my recipe after lab testing?
The lab result no longer applies. Lab values belong to the exact recipe and batch tested — change an ingredient, a weight or the bake, and you are back at Step 1: re-generate the estimate, and send a new sample to the lab. This is the reason for the recipe freeze in Step 3.
How much does lab testing cost?
In research done 2026-11-15, a full proximate panel (Midwest Labs F2: moisture, protein, fat, fiber, ash and energy) was $40 per product per batch; sellers typically report $75–150 per product. Prices change and vary by lab, so get a quote first. Budget for at least two batches per product — one test is a starting point, and AAFCO advises guarantees from the mean ± 2 standard deviations across analyses.
Which states require registration?
Most of them. In most states, dog treats are commercial feed and each product must be registered with the state feed-control office — usually a fee per product per year, plus a label review — before you sell there. The main exception is Minnesota, where baked and dehydrated dog and cat treats fall under the cottage-food rules. Check the 13-state checklist on the tool page for the states you sell in, and confirm the current fee and form with each state office, because fees change every year.
What this tool does — and does not do
- Does: turn your recipe into an estimate Guaranteed Analysis label and calorie statement; show you what the numbers say about your recipe; turn your lab's measured values into a final label with guarantees derived on the safe side of the lab means.
- Does not: measure your product, guarantee compliance with any state or federal labelling law, register your product, write your ingredient statement, or provide legal or veterinary advice. AAFCO does not approve, certify, test or endorse pet food.