Girl Scouts of America Announces a First for Its Iconic Cookie Lineup—One Created Exclusively for Dogs

For the first time in its 109-year history of cookie sales, the organization offers a custom-made sweet treat for four-legged friends

Christian Thorsberg | Daily Correspondent

September 10, 2026 3:28 p.m.

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One of America’s most famous cookie lines is expanding to accommodate canine palates, as the Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) prepares to launch a brand-new variety made especially for dogs.  

Set to debut in January, the cookie—called Patch Pals—will be blueberry muffin-flavored. Each cookie will bear one of four designs that represent classic Girl Scout patches: a compass, a trefoil, a heart or a ball. Created in collaboration with Bark, a New York-based dog toy and treat company, the cookie was “inspired by Girl Scouts’ deep love for their dogs” and intended to “celebrate the bond between people and their pups,” according to a GSUSA statement.  

Inclusion is a major focus of next year’s offerings. Patch Pals will be joined by Sparkables, the scouts’ first allergy-friendly cookie, as new additions to a lineup of beloved, time-honored classics that include Samoas, Tagalongs and Thin Mints.  

“Inspired by Girl Scouts around the country who have advocated for expanding the cookie lineup to meet the diverse needs of their communities, Patch Pals and Girl Scout Sparkables offer new ways for more girls, families and beloved pets to participate in the Girl Scout Cookie Program—while staying true to what makes the tradition special,” reads the statement.

Girl Scout cookies have been baked and bought across the country for more than a century. The practice began in 1917, five years after the organization’s founding, when the Mistletoe Troop of Muskogee, Oklahoma, sold cookies in the local high school cafeteria to raise money for gifts that were later sent to soldiers from the state. A sculpture of a Girl Scout and a small exhibit, installed at Muskogee’s Three Rivers Museum, commemorate the troop and the tradition’s humble beginnings.  

In 1922, the first standardized recipe for Girl Scout sugar cookies was published in the July edition of the American Girl magazine. A cup each of butter and sugar, two tablespoons of milk, two eggs, a teaspoon of vanilla, two cups of flour and two teaspoons of baking powder were enough to make six to seven dozen cookies; each dozen sold for 25 to 30 cents.  

“Attention Scouts! Forward March! Bake! Sell! This is your chance to show how much Scouting means to you,” read a message accompanying the insert.

Recipes and designs were further refined through the 1930s as the cookies’ popularity grew among both troops and sweet-toothed gourmands. Marketing and production were gradually streamlined, and the cookies evolved from being home-baked to produced by commercial bakers. Sales boomed following World War II, and new flavors were introduced: By the 1960s, a consistent rotation of five cookies featured Chocolate Mints (now known as Thin Mints); Savannahs; Chocolate and Vanillas; Scot-Teas; and Shortbreads.  

Subsequent decades have seen the emergence of new varieties, some with fiercely defended regional names—allegiances that speak to the cookies’ nostalgic weight and popularity. 

“The cookies sold by my daughter’s Girl Scout troop are now called ‘Caramel deLites’ instead of ‘Samoas.’ Why?” Carrie Stetler wrote in a Star-Ledger op-ed in 2008. “I’m outraged—yes, outraged—that Girl Scout cookies have new names.” 

Despite the occasional naming controversy, some 200 million Girl Scout cookies are sold annually, the Associated Press’ Dee-Ann Durbin reports. The new Sparkables and Patch Pals cookies will be available exclusively online. 

Christian Thorsberg is an environmental writer and photographer from Chicago. His work, which often centers on freshwater issues, climate change and subsistence, has appeared in Circle of Blue, Sierra magazine, Discover magazine and Alaska Sporting Journal.