February 23 is National Dog Biscuit Day. It is also recognized internationally as International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day.

According to DaysOfTheYear.com, “The first dog biscuits were developed in the mid-19th century by American manufacturer James Spratt. He came up with the idea after he visited Liverpool in England, where he observed stray dogs hungrily tucking into ship’s biscuits. The first Spratts biscuits were produced in London, with a secret recipe including both meat and vegetables.”

NationalDayCalendar.com offers some recipes you might want to try for homemade dog biscuits.

Is there anything more fun than watching a TV star humiliate himself before he was famous? In this commercial, Ron Carey, who played Officer Carl Levitt on Barney Miller, wears a dog suit and plays a kind of canine Jack LaLanne hosting “The Gaines Biscuits Health Hour.” (Actually, since he was a comic actor he probably did not find this humiliating.) He leads exercises while extolling the nutritional value of Gaines Biscuits. None of the exercises he demonstrates are ones you can do unless you can stand upright, which must be frustrating for any dogs watching.

Ron Carey, vintage Gaines Biscuits commercial