A frozen treat for Fido

It's summer in Germany, and it's hot. People try to keep cool with fans and air conditioning, they sip cold drinks - and eat frosty ice cream. Dog lovers are also known to slip their pooches an extra scoop, too.

Dogs adore frozen treats, and plenty of videos on the Internet attest to canines' love, even greed, for an icy treat.

Now some German ice cream parlors have come up with a special treat for dogs: artisanal liverwurst ice cream.

A cone with a scoop of the usual classics chocolate and vanilla for the owner, and a scoop of liverwurst on the side for the dog - that's a normal order these days in Leonardo Caprarese's ice cream parlor in the northern German town of Stuhr-Heiligenrode. Balsamic strawberry ice cream may have been the flavor of the year - for people in 2015 - but dogs pant for liverwurst.

The liverwurst ice cream is sugar-free and mainly contains water and carrot juice. Golden Retriever Oska certainly seems delighted with his treat.

Caprarese has served dog specials since 2009. Past flavors included turkey and beef ice cream.

Mixed manners among four-legged customers

Meanwhile, the canine trend has caught on in other ice cream shops, too.

"It's very well received," said Marco Vazzola, manager of the Eiscafe Venezia in the town of Birkenfeld.

Vazzola said he noticed dog owners often bought an extra scoop of ice cream for their dogs on hot days, so he decided to concoct a flavor just for dogs - and not surprisingly also came up with liverwurst ice cream.

"Most dogs devour it in one go," he said. "But some also lick their ice cream."