Dog Biscuits

     After Emma's humorous Ice Age referencing title, I felt like this was a little boring, but oh well. I'll just have to make do. It does portray the subject accurately.

     As Emma said in her post, dogs do need treats. They need treats as much as we need candy--desperately!! Enough said. Let's make some dog treats!

     This recipe does call for some things that you may, upon first reading, say 'who in the world keeps these things in their house?!' but you should be able to find all of these things without too much trouble. Look in the bulk section of a health food store, or even your local grocery store. You never know, they may carry some of these ingredients.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups unbleached flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rye flour
1 cup cracked wheat
1/4 cup skim milk powder
1 1/2 t. yeast
1 3/4 cup lukewarm chicken broth

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 300 F. Put in a large mixing bowl the flour, whole wheat flour, rye flour, cracked wheat, and skim milk powder.

NOTE: Cracked wheat is different from flour. I did mine in a hand mill.

You can see the texture is rough and there is still a semblance of individual grains.

Once all the above ingredients are in the bowl, combine them completely. Make sure they are mixed thoroughly so there won't be pockets of a certain ingredient anywhere in the finished product.

Skim milk power is especially good for puppies because of the protein. 

On the side, dissolve the yeast in the chicken broth. Let this mixture sit for about 10 minutes.

Yummy yummy! You can see a weird glob at the bottom.
That is a spoon of Bacon fat just so there's another flavor in there.

Add the broth to the dry ingredients and mix well.

Roll the dough out on a floured surface to about 1/2 inch thick. I actually found it easier to spread it with a knife than to use a rolling pin. This particular batch was quite sticky so the rolling pin just tore it up.

Cut out the biscuits. I'm using a can that once had tomato paste or some such eatable in it in order to get a round shape. I normally would use a small dog bone shape but I couldn't find it this time around. Oh well. Tastes the same! (Not that I've tasted it or anything like that)

Transfer these to a baking sheet.

Place an egg in a small bowl and beat with a fork or small whisk until smooth. This is an egg wash.

Brush this onto the biscuits with a small pastry brush.

The egg wash will add flavor and nutrients and will give the biscuit a hard, shiny top after baking.
Bake biscuits for 45 minutes. I know it sounds like a long time but don't shorten it! They do take that long. Once biscuits are done baking, transfer to a cooling rack to cool and harden.

Your dog will love these homemade biscuits! Not only is it better for them because of the grains and protein, but the meat broth is so, so, so much healthier for them than artificial flavorings (and it tastes real!).

Recipe from The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery.

DIY Dog Toy

     Here is a super simple dog toy that you can make with items just laying around your house!

My dog, Cocoa, has a tendency to chew on laundry. Whether it's in a basket or on a person it's all chewing items to him! That's why I made this toy. I suppose the fabrics felt good in his mouth because they were firm enough to help but soft enough to not cut him (he's teething). So, with no further ado, let's get started!

You will need:

Scissors
3 strips of fabric (the fabrics don't have to be the same type or color or anything. Use your imagination to create a one of a kind toy)

I used two strips of fleece and a strip of a woven cottony sort of fabric.

My fleece strips were narrower than my cotton one because of the thickness of the fabric. I cut the cotton one wider to make up for the lightness of the fabric weave. The fleece is about 3" wide while the cotton is 4" (looks like other measurements because the tape measure was bent).

Tie the three strips together at the top leaving about two inches at the top. Braid down about one foot. Then tie off again. Cut the excess strip at the end to make the top and bottom even.

Cut the excess strip at the end to make the top and bottom even.

TIP: if you don't have fabric around your house, cut strips from a rag, or an old t-shirt. It'll work just the same.

Tada! Now, my dog (and yours, as the case may be) can chew on fabric to his heart's content without getting into trouble.

Simple Dog Tricks

     I thought I would share some tricks that you can teach your dog quite easily that go beyond the basic 'sit down, roll over, shake hands' stuff. There are a lot of things that look really impressive to spectators but are super simple to teach. My dog was a poodle, and let me just say (I know everyone says this,) he was an absolutely amazing dog. He was willing to do pretty much anything he was asked. ....He just didn't speak English so he didn't always know what I was asking. Anyway! Onward to easily-taught-impressively-shown tricks!

Number 1: Hoop Jumping


Like so many other tricks, it takes more time than effort. You have to be willing to do it more than once a week. Once the dog has been taught, it makes great exercise for him and it is fun for you!


With hoop jumping, you will need (obviously) a hoop. Without a hoop it would pretty much be --ah--jumping. I used a hoola hoop that I got at Walmart.

Start with the hoola hoop resting against the ground; hold it upright so that your dog can walk through without having to step high. Coax him through by holding a treat on the other side of the hoop so he has to walk through to get the treat. Don't reward him unless he went through the hoop! From then, move on gradually. Lift it so that he can walk through easily, but it isn't touching the ground. Then raise it so he will lift both front paws at the same time and then the back ones. Finally, raise it so it become a full scale jump. After that, it's up to you and your dog how high you want to go; the sky's the limit! OK, the height your dog can jump is the actual limit. Have fun!

Number 2: Push-ups


Now drop and give me twenty!! Hehe, just kidding. With this trick, all your dog will need to know beforehand is how to lay down and stand up. Pretty basic right? Hopefully he will be able to master doing then in quick succession! 


Start with your dog laying down-- either in front of or to the side of you. Lure him upwards with a treat. As soon as he rises, give him the treat. Then give him the command to lie down. Alternate rise and lie until he catches on. Reward him for a job well done! Don't let him creep forward as he's doing push-ups and don't keep him at it till he's exhausted and frustrated; it's not boot camp!

Number 3: Jump Over a Bar


Just like a hurdle, but for dogs; maybe it will make it into the Olympics--who knows?! Poker made it.


You can buy nice bar set ups specifically for dogs, but if you want, just set up two chairs and a broomstick. The broom stick should be set up so that if the dog hits it on his way over, it will come off. So the chairs should be set up with the backs facing the starting point and the broom laying across the seats so it will slide forward. I found it easiest in teaching this trick to have your dog sit at the starting point and then walk over to the other side of the bar. Then, from the end point, you can call him and he will (hopefully) jump over the bar on his way. If he goes under or around, don't reward him! If he goes over, praise him--he deserves it. If he is hesitant and you can't get him to do it no matter what, go over the hurdle with him (sounds ridiculous, I know). I had to do this a few times with my dog and it helped a lot. Keep working on it! If he's a fast learner, you could even be sending him across from the starting point after only a few days. Just remember to stay positive because if you think he can, he'll be able to. If you think he can't, he won't be able to. Dogs know this stuff. Don't ask me how.

And finally to finish off with.....

Number 4: Take a Bow


He deserves to take a bow and hear your praise... Maybe get a treat. I'm sure he'd appreciate that.


Have your dog stand facing you. Hold a treat in the palm of your hand and hold it at nose height. But don't give it to him now. Press your fist (with the treat inside) gently against his nose and downward. Release the treat and reward him as soon as his elbows touch the ground. If he is laying down completely, you need to release the treat sooner. It's not mandatory that his elbows touch the ground. You're looking mostly for the pronounced dip of the head.

Dun da dun! 4 easy tricks that look like you attended training school! Have fun!

-Rachel-

Tricks came from 101 Dog Tricks by Kyra Sundance and Chalcy. Great book; I would definitely recommend it for those who are serious about teaching their dog some showing off techniques!

DIY Bird Treat

Hi, Rachel here! I have a DIY treat you can do for birds today--either pets or wild birds! Almost all birds love popcorn. Making a popcorn string is relatively easy and it should last for a little while.

You will need:

Popcorn
thread
needle
a bird-safe stopper, such as a wooden bead

So, you will need to start with some popcorn. You shouldn't use the packaged bag popcorn because chemicals and such in the popcorn are potentially harmful to birds. There are three ways you can make bird safe popcorn easily.

With an air popper, you don't need anything but the kernels to make popcorn. With the stove popper, you need some kind of oil, so I would suggest coconut oil. The last way to make popcorn safely is to place a small handful of kernels in a brown paper bag, fold down the top a few times, and put it in the microwave for a few seconds, till the pops are about 1 second apart. Don't leave it too long or it will get burned!

After you have some clean popcorn, you can thread it using the needle and thread.

Use your stopper to tie to the end so the popcorn won't just slide off. For pet birds you only need 10-15 pieces of popcorn but if you want to put some outside for wild birds, you may want a string several feet long. It's all up to you though.

Don't be surprised if your bird won't touch the treat for a few days. Many birds will take a little time to be comfortable enough with something in their cage to try chewing on it.