Overview
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, often sold in a flat bone-shape. The dry and hard biscuit texture helps clean the dog's teeth, promoting oral health.
History
"Dog's bread", made from bran, has been mentioned since at least Roman times. It was already criticized (as in later centuries) as particularly bad bread; Juvenal refers to dog's bread as "filth" - "And bit into the filth of a dog's bread" Et farris sordes mordere Canini.
In Spain, "pan de perro" is mentioned as early as 1623 in a play by Lope de Vega. It is used here in the sense of giving someone blows; to "give dog's bread" to someone could mean anything from mistreating them to killing them. The latter meaning refers to a special bread (also called zarazas) made with ground glass, poison and needles and intended to kill dogs.
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).