I too love to eat potato skins from baked potatoes. That's where the fiber is and some nice vitamins too. Of course, they need to be nicely washed potatoes.

My dogs like the short cut carrots, and french style green beans. I haven't tried baked potato on them, but they do like Basmati Rice.

Rice is an absolute no no for my dogs!!! I wonder if certain breeds cannot eat certain foods. I have rat terriers, a mullins feist, and puppies from them. The TOP thing that they can't have is rice. It always comes back up. Same with noodles. And turkey gives them the back door trots. Think it's the breed??

And for those who don't know... since we're on the topic of dogs & food now, never ever give your dog a piece of chicken that's still on the bone. Chicken bones can splinter and cause the dog either a very harmful ouchee or can possibly kill them...

You could bake the potatoes, then scoop the "meat" out of the skin and mash as per usual.

If you wish to use dried, I would suggest the new ones that have real potato skins in them. They're not half bad.

I would also suggest being *sure* to add salt to your water (or use stock). If the instructions call for milk and butter, don't skip that. You can also increase the flavor/texture by adding sour cream once the potatoes are done.

Oh, yeah, and don't forget that you aren't supposed to whip or overmix. Just use a fork and blend the gently mix the flakes with your wet ingredients.

Here's one for you - a friend of mine did not have enough potatoes to make mashed potatoes for her family (they are potato hounds!!) and she had instant in the house which they don't like as much. So she took whatever "real" potatoes she had and boiled them. Made instant potatoes with whole milk and plenty of butter and added sour cream, chopped the real potatoes up and added them to make it look like lumpy mashed potatoes. No one knew the difference.