Milk-Bone is a brand of

dog biscuit A dog biscuit is a hard biscuit-based dietary supplement for dogs or other canines, similar to human snack food. Dog biscuits tend to be hard and dry. Dog biscuits may be sold in a flat bone-shape. The dry and hard biscuit texture helps clean ...

. It was created in 1908 by the F.H. Bennett Biscuit Company, which operated a bakery on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Originally named "Maltoid", the biscuit was a bone-shaped treat made from minerals, meat products, and milk. The biscuits are made exclusively in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

History

Sometime between 1915 and 1926, the biscuit was simply named "Milk-Bone", owing to the high composition of

cow's milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modulati ...

. In 1931, the bakery was acquired by the National Biscuit Company (now

Nabisco Nabisco (, abbreviated from the earlier name National Biscuit Company) is an American manufacturer of cookies and snacks headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey. The company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Mondelēz International. Nabisco's ...

). The biscuit was the only Bennett product carried over after the acquisition. Over the next few decades, the Milk-Bone was expanded to include a number of different flavors, such as chicken and beef. The marketing focus was also shifted from Milk-Bone being merely a dog treat to a product that promoted cleaner teeth and better breath. Nabisco, under the ownership of

Kraft Foods The second incarnation of Kraft Foods is an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz in 2015. A merger with Heinz, arra ...

, sold the Milk-Bone rights to

Del Monte Foods Del Monte Foods, Inc (trading as Del Monte Foods) is an American food production and distribution company headquartered in Walnut Creek, California. Del Monte Foods is one of the country's largest producers, distributors and marketer of br ...

in May 2006. Del Monte Foods renamed their pet products division

Big Heart Pet Brands Big Heart Pet Brands is an American company that manufacturers, distributes and markets branded pet food and other products for the U.S. retail market. Now a subsidiary of The J.M. Smucker Company, it is headquartered at the One Maritime Plaza i ...

. This division was spun off in 2014 to create "Del Monte Pacific Limited". On February 3, 2015,

The J.M. Smucker Company The J.M. Smucker Company, also known as Smuckers, is an American manufacturer of food and beverage products. Headquartered in Orrville, Ohio, the company was founded in 1897 as a maker of apple butter. J.M. Smucker currently has three major bus ...

announced the acquisition of Big Heart Pet Brands. A box of Milk-Bone treats makes an early product placement appearance in the 1924 silent film ''

The Tomboy ''The Tomboy'' is a 1924 American silent comedy-drama film directed by David Kirkland and starring Herbert Rawlinson and Dorothy Devore. Plot As described in a review in a film magazine, Tommy Smith (Devore), the village tomboy, runs a boardin ...

'', and this product was the basis for a line from the TV sitcom ''

Cheers ''Cheers'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993, with a total of 275 half-hour episodes across 11 seasons. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association w ...

'', spoken by

George Wendt George Robert Wendt Jr. (born October 17, 1948) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing Norm Peterson on the television sitcom '' Cheers'' (1982–1993), which earned him six consecutive nominations for the Primetime Em ...

's character Norm: "It's a dog-eat-dog world and I'm wearing Milk-Bone underwear." A box of Milk-Bone Biscuits can be seen, in cartoon form, in ''

Mickey's Surprise Party ''Mickey's Surprise Party'' is a 1939 American animated short film directed by Hamilton Luske, produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by Nabisco. It was the 105th short in the ''Mickey Mouse'' film series to be released, and the sec ...

'' (1939), a theatrical advertisement/cartoon short produced by

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

for Nabisco.

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the S ...

is seen presenting Minnie's dog Fifi with a box of Milk-Bone Biscuits; she happily accepts them and thanks Pluto by kissing him. Milkbone biscuit ad 1959

Notes

External links

* {{Del Monte Foods Dog food brands Del Monte Foods brands Nabisco brands Products introduced in 1908 The J.M. Smucker Co. brands 1908 establishments in the United States