Dog Treats: Sweet Carrot Kisses

Sweet Carrot Kisses are a cute carrot cookie with sweet potato (and apple); making a sweeter dog cookie. These cookies can be made without flour, but they lose any shape and come out of the oven more like chips -still taste good though. These measurements are approximate, so don't worry to much about it. If you don't have or can't find white rice flour try using regular flour or better yet potato flour.

2 cups cooked steamed chopped carrots
0.5 cup pureed sweet potato (or yam)
0.5 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 TBLS ground flaxseed
0.25 tsp baking soda
0.25 tsp baking powder
1 cup white rice flour

Mix the applesauce sweet potato in blender, add carrots (1/2 cup at a time) until all the carrots are blended, then add flaxseed. Let sit for a few minutes. In a bowl mix together white rice flour, baking soda, and baking powder. I then put the mix into a cake decorating tube, the kind used for frosting cupcakes. Pipe the mix onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Bake in the oven at 250 -275 F for two hours, turn off oven but leave cookies in oven with door closed for a couple more hours to get a crunchy dog treat.

Happy Holidays

The Santa picture. When I was young some of my parents friends were dropping off some sort of holiday cheer and were on their way to the pet store to get a picture of their pet with Santa. I might have been 12 or 13, but they let me tag along with our dog at the time Lady (a black greyhound).

The picture is....bad. Done in an age before the digital picture, it was a small crappy Polaroid picture. To make matters worse, Lady was, like so many black dogs, unphotogenic and to add insult to injury there was a bright flash reflecting back through her eyes. The store cut out the Polaroid and stuck it in a Christmas ornament.

Through the years this ornament contains one of the few pictures I have of Lady. It has a special place in my heart and through some unknown means gives special meaning to that unquestionably ridiculous picture of Santa with a beloved pet. Here is Beckett's. Happy Holidays.

Adoption Day

In honor of Beckett's 1st annual adoption day which is just a few days away; I'll re-post my favorite Beckett Story.

It’s hard to believe that Beckett, as he’s now known, is the same dog as the one I first got. The first few days he wouldn't drink or eat. And at one time, walking down the street was an obstacle. He just wouldn’t go. At some point he decided he wasn’t leaving the house. Well, so much for my imagined jogging partner. Oh, and at the time, he didn’t like food or treats that weren’t given to him in his crate. And when he was in his crate he whined. Every night. All night. He whined until we figured out he was afraid of the dark and got him a nightlight, that only took about a week or seven days without sleep.

The walking thing — that took longer. The crossing guard didn’t even blink when Beckett froze up in the middle of the street, she just waited holding up traffic. She acted like it happened all the time, maybe because at that point it did.

The first breakthrough came when Beckett picked up a stuffed animal, the only thing he had ever shown any interest in. So there I was walking down the street attempting to coerce a 70-plus pound dog to simply move by holding out a large incredibly embarrassing teddy bear. It did wonders for my street cred.

Once we were able to get to the end of the street we came to our first setback, these things called “dogs.” The scariest of these creatures was 20 pounds or less and moved quickly. He refused to go down any street that had led to an encounter of the four-legged kind. All my streets lead to parks. In the city, all parks have dogs. It was all dogs; even the neighbor’s whippet scared him. He would literally try to run away (at full speed) from a 5lb dog. If there was no place to run, he might snark or snap and even a small snap from a large dog is no laughing matter.

There is just no way to nicely say, "I don't care if your dog is friendly, my dog might kill yours." He probably wouldn't kill the other dog, but when you need someone to keep their dog away from yours, saying that works, that and a muzzle, we used that too. There are probably better methods, but...

The only exception was other greyhounds. The moment he is with another greyhound everything changes. Of course I’m trying to explain all of this during an open house (a gathering of greyhounds, usually in pet store), and since there is another greyhound, he looks and acts perfectly adjusted. He even does fine near other “regular dogs.” He becomes “Super Dog.” It is a complete 360, and I look like I’m crazy. That’s okay though, because at this point I am sort of used to looking “eccentric.” I’ve been carrying around the teddy bear for a few weeks.

Fortunately, Beckett came to appreciate the wonders of peanut butter, so at least I had two weapons — the teddy bear and the jar of peanut butter — both of which I was carrying around on my walks. Once we were able to walk down the street, I would literally shovel food, cheese, bacon, peanut butter into Beckett's mouth any time we saw another dog. Things started to get better, slowly we could get closer. Of course what really made a difference was time, patience and help. I received a lot of help. Everything from book suggestions to basic lessons on clicker training, in addition to emotional support and advice from really caring dog owners and volunteers.

Soon we could handle larger dogs, then medium ones, and today we do “good” around smaller dogs. He might never be perfect. But, just this morning we went for a walk with a dog 5lb or less, of course that dog wasn't in his face, and I was feeding Beckett kibble the entire time, but I take my wins where I can get them.

Today you might not even know it was the same big guy that came from the track. Though this is probably exacerbated by the story I used to tell people around my old neighborhood, about a dog that looked just like mine that used to live there. That dog didn’t want to walk anywhere and was owned by this crazy lady carrying a teddy bear.

The teddy-carrying lady would just sit down, right on the sidewalk and ignore the didn’t-want-to walk dog until he finally started walking again at which time she would praise him while holding out aforementioned Mr. Ted and a jar of peanut butter.

The thing is I’m not sure who really learned more: me or him. Probably a bit of both. I just wanted to give a shout out to all the people (Jo, Liz, Rally, and others)who helped get Beckett to where he is now — my best friend and running partner.

Beckett is Super Dog 85 to 90 percent of the time, pain in my butt 15 to 10 percent of the time, which is just about where he should be. I'm so happy to have him in my life, not only have I grown and continue to grow experiencing new facets of caring, forgiveness, and patience, but also of trust and love (did I mention patience, because that might need repeating) with my dog, Beckett. Happy Adoption Day.

Dog Book List

So here are a list of my favorite Dog Books. (In a not completely biased order)

1. The whole dog journal handbook for dog and puppy care and training

I love that this is a general book, it has a little bit of everything. Its my new gift to give to someone who has just gotten a dog. It is very "natural" or I like to call it "crunchy", as in granola, as in hippie. Its great though, as I'm a little "crunchy" myself. It has tips on care such as shots, veterinary visits, fleas, diet and also contains some basic training, it might not have every detail, but it points you in the right direction, thus being a great resource. (I'm a huge fan)

2. Clicking with your dog step by step in pictures by Peggy Tillman

This book is just so Practical! When I first starting clicker training, I was overwhelmed. There was just no way I could do it, the books were to long, complicated, and esoteric. Or simply put, Dense and I have a PhD in science. This book was the first to spell things out step by step (with pictures). In order to do this, the book glosses over the science behind clicker training, (which may be important to you) but you can find that in other books (try the book "click for joy"). I wanted the science after I had my dog under control aka when he was no longer chewing through the dog training books, on loan, from the public library.

3. Leader of the Pack by Patricia McConnell

This is not a book, its a pamphlet. It is quick, easy, and great to leave around for your friends, family, significant other, guests, especially important during the Holiday season with so many people coming in and out. I leave it on the table (or more honestly in the bathroom). For guests to read so next time they won't encourage a dog to jump up onto them. This can also help someone new to the dog world get a handle on things. Its so short it takes maybe 10 min, but wow what a punch it packs into those 10 min.

4. Other end of the leash by Patricia McConnell.

This isn't the shortest or most practical book to read, but I love the research she packs into it. McConnell begins to explores the behaviors and communications between people, dogs, and people with their dogs. McConnell looks at behavioral responses that can lead to both confusion and bonding between human and canines. The other end of the leash wasn't a fast read, but it was fascinating read that I really enjoyed and gave me a glimpse into the world as a dog sees it.

5. "Bones would rain from the sky", by Susan Clothier.

This book is so touching you might want to read it with a box of tissues on hand. Susan goes where few trainers dare to go, the spiritual level. Looking at the very connections that bond us (with often great force) to our four legged best friends. In this book Clothier paints a picture from the heart and not just her heart, but any heart that has been touched by a cold wet nose.

Of course, the favorite Greyhound reads. Hands down, my favorite is Retired Racing Greyhounds for Dummies by Lee Livingood. I not so secretly find the for Dummies far more informative then the other popular greyhound book whose name I won't mention, but the other one does have pictures, who can hate on pictures?

What is your favorite Dog Book?