Best natural dog treats to bring home for the holidays: one brand kept its seat
A daily log, for pet brands, of who ChatGPT names before Thanksgiving.
By Daniela Ricaud, founder of Pretty Citable
We asked ChatGPT the same question twice on November 12, at 7:45 AM and 10:15 AM. PureBites was the top pick both times, with a different bag at a different price: a 3-oz bag at $9.99 the first time, a 4.2-oz bag at $12.99 the second. It was the only brand named in both runs. Pupford had two of the five spots at 7:45 and none at 10:15. Chewy was the seller on four of the five cards in each run. Every pick was described by what's in the bag: one ingredient, or a short list of them.
- Engine
- ChatGPT
- Asked
- November 12, 2026: 7:45 AM, 10:15 AM Central time
- Session
- Logged out, private window
- Runs
- 2 of 2
- Named in every run
- 1 of the 5 from run 1
The question
"Best natural dog treats to bring home for the holidays"
Asked exactly as written, logged out, in a private window.
Who kept a seat
Every brand ChatGPT named today, and the runs it showed up in. A dot means it wasn't named in that run.
| Brand | 7:45 AM | 10:15 AM |
|---|---|---|
| PureBites | Beef Liver Freeze-Dried Treats (the panel showed the 3-oz Mini Trainers bag)$9.99 | Beef Liver Freeze-Dried Raw Dog Treats, 4.2-oz bag$12.99 |
| Farm Hounds | Bison Trainers$29.99 | · |
| Pupford | Freeze-Dried Salmon$16.89 | · |
| Vital Essentials | Freeze-Dried Minnows$22.99 | · |
| Open Farm | · | Freeze Dried Raw Beef Liver Treat$14.99 |
| Benny Bullys | · | Liver NutriMix Freeze-Dried Dog Treats, 2.1-oz bag$11.99 |
| Blackwood | · | Beef Liver & Salmon Limited Ingredient Oven Baked Dog Treats, 8-oz bag$7.99 |
What changed in two and a half hours
One brand kept its seat, with a different product. PureBites was the top pick at 7:45 and at 10:15, labeled "Best overall" both times. At 7:45 the card showed $9.99 and its panel opened on the 3-oz Mini Trainers bag. At 10:15 the card named the 4.2-oz bag at $12.99, and PureBites took the second spot too, with its salmon treats.
Four of five brands changed. Farm Hounds, Pupford and Vital Essentials were named at 7:45 and gone at 10:15. Open Farm, Benny Bullys and Blackwood took their places.
One brand held two spots, then none. Pupford had picks 3 and 4 at 7:45, salmon and sweet potato. At 10:15 it wasn't named.
Chewy was the store on almost every card. Four of five cards listed Chewy as the seller in each run. At 7:45 the exception was Farm Hounds, sold by The Organic Dog Shop. At 10:15 it was Open Farm, sold by Open Farm itself.
Two panels showed lower prices somewhere else. Pupford's Sweet Potato card said $15.99 at Chewy; its panel also listed Pupford's own store at $13.99. Farm Hounds' Bison Trainers card said $29.99 at The Organic Dog Shop; its panel also listed Furville Pet Supplies at $12.99, with no bag size shown for either.
Every card described what's in the bag. "100% beef liver." "Wild-caught salmon." "Five recognizable ingredients." The answer opened by recommending natural, limited-ingredient treats, and each pick was explained by its ingredients.
The holiday basket photos came from small shops that weren't picked. Both runs ended with a "holiday dog treat basket" idea illustrated with photos from at least 10 small shops, including Tickled Pet, Oliver Bentley's and Winston & Faith Bake Co. None of them were among the five picks.
What this means if you sell pet products
The answer is built from ingredients. Every card ChatGPT showed was summed up by what's inside: one ingredient, a protein, a short list. If your page shows the ingredients only on a photo of the bag, there's nothing for it to quote.
Your retailer may be the one getting the click. Chewy was the seller on four of five cards in both runs. When a brand also sells on its own site, the panel can show both, and at 7:45 Pupford's own store was $2 cheaper than the card.
Black Friday is November 27, and holiday gift questions are being asked now. Two runs, two and a half hours apart, kept one brand out of five.
If you sell pet products: the one fix
Write the ingredients, the sourcing and the bag size into your product page text, so ChatGPT can quote them without reading the bag.
Two runs in, every pick was explained by its ingredients, and the brand that kept its seat was described the same way both times: single-ingredient beef liver.
Here's how we'd write a treat page:
- Name
- Beef Liver Bites, freeze-dried, 4 oz
- Ingredients
- One: beef liver
- Sourcing
- Where the beef comes from and where the treats are made, in one sentence
- Good for
- Training, picky eaters, a holiday stocking
- Everywhere
- The same name, size and price on your site and on every retailer that sells it
Is your brand at the table?
Check it yourself in two minutes:
- Open ChatGPT in a private window, logged out.
- Ask "Best natural [your treat] for [the dog it's for]".
- Write down every brand it names, in order. Then ask again two hours later and compare.
One question in one engine shows you one moment. The free check takes 60 seconds and writes three of your buyers' questions for you, ready to open in ChatGPT, Google AI, Perplexity or Claude.
Run the free checkEvery run, in full
Each run in the order ChatGPT listed its picks. The last column shows the seller each card listed.
Run 1 · 7:45 AM
- 1PureBitesBeef Liver Freeze-Dried Treats (the panel showed the 3-oz Mini Trainers bag), $9.99. Its best overall pick: 100% beef liver, no fillers.Chewy
- 2Farm HoundsBison Trainers, $29.99. Its best specialty gift: dehydrated bison.The Organic Dog Shop
- 3PupfordFreeze-Dried Salmon, $16.89. Wild-caught salmon in training-size bites.Chewy
- 4PupfordFreeze-Dried Sweet Potato, $15.99. Its best plant-based option: 100% sweet potato.Chewy
- 5Vital EssentialsFreeze-Dried Minnows, $22.99. Its best unique treat: whole minnows, no fillers.Chewy
Every card in this run was tapped and its offers recorded. No sponsored product appeared in what was recorded.
Run 2 · 10:15 AM
- 1PureBitesBeef Liver Freeze-Dried Raw Dog Treats, 4.2-oz bag, $12.99. Its best overall pick again: single-ingredient beef liver.Chewy
- 2PureBitesSalmon Freeze-Dried Raw Dog Treats, 2.47-oz bag, $12.99. Its best fish treat: wild-caught salmon.Chewy
- 3Open FarmFreeze Dried Raw Beef Liver Treat, $14.99. Its best premium pick: grass-fed beef liver.Open Farm
- 4Benny BullysLiver NutriMix Freeze-Dried Dog Treats, 2.1-oz bag, $11.99. Its best fruit and veggie blend: five recognizable ingredients.Chewy
- 5BlackwoodBeef Liver & Salmon Limited Ingredient Oven Baked Dog Treats, 8-oz bag, $7.99. An oven-baked, everyday crunchy treat.Chewy
No sponsored product appeared in what was recorded.
The screenshots
How I ran it
One question a day, asked in ChatGPT logged out, in a private window, with no brand name in the question. I ask it up to six times through the day, two hours apart: twice in the morning, twice in the afternoon and twice at night. I record every brand it names, in order, and save a dated screenshot of each run. AI answers change often, so every run on the page has its time. You can run the same test on your own brand with this step-by-step method.
Logged out keeps my own chat history out of the answer. ChatGPT doesn't publish how it picks brands, so this log shows what it named and when.
Other things I logged on Day 2. The safety tips at the end of each answer cited the AAHA, WSAVA and PetMD. At 7:45 the Vital Essentials Minnows panel listed a $10.99 offer and a $22.22 offer next to the $22.99 card. Both runs ended with a few narrowing questions about the dogs and the budget.
See who sits at your table before Black Friday
The AI Visibility Audit asks 30 of your buyers' questions on ChatGPT, Google AI, Perplexity and Claude. Your report shows which brands get named, where yours appears, and what to fix first, in order. It's $500. Order by Wednesday, November 18 and the report arrives by November 25, the day before Thanksgiving. See a sample report.