Sunday morning

We took the dogs down to the canyon for an early morning walk today. Because I do not run the dogs either an hour before or two hours after they have eaten; we go before they eat. But; like us they need a little something or they might not feel great being too hungry. This morning my husband gave them a cheese string to split. The girls love it of course; Luke takes a while to convince him that he does indeed like it.

So once we were back from the run; they had their feet washed, a drink of water and time to cool it was breakfast time. This morning they had turkey of course, liver, green pepper, yogurt, cranberries, potato, tomato and brown basmati rice. Peppers are a big favorite for the dogs; and of course they prefer the sweeter yellow, orange and red over the green but they eat green.

Even Luke loves them and this morning picked his green pepper out before anything else. What a good boy to eat his greens. So what's in green pepper?

Green Bell Pepper nutritional information:

Serving size 1 medium (148g)
Calories 30
Total Fat 0g
Sodium 0mg
Total Carbohydrate 7g
Dietary Fiber 2g
Protein 1g
% of U.S. RDA

Vitamin A 6%
Calcium 0%
Vitamin C 150%
Iron 2%

Turkey

Having got two turkeys at the grocery store yesterday for a quarter of the regular price; I cooked them both today. I barbequed up the liver early this morning and got the turkeys into the oven. The dogs had liver this morning and a huge turkey dinner tonight.

After cooling the turkey I picked the meat off both and prepared their dinner. They had brown basmati rice, yellow pepper, chopped dried cranberries, turkey and liver with probiotic powder. As you can see from the image above; they were more than anxiously awaiting their turkey dinner.

I was surprised and very happy to see Luke so into turkey. Often I will give Luke and the girls an appetizer to get (Luke) them prepared for dinner. Often if Luke has a few bites before dinner he will actually eat better. He ate all of his dinner but a few pieces of pepper and a tiny bit of rice.

The big secret with Luke is to mix well; the easier it is to pick out pieces the less chance Luke will eat it all.

Recently I was asked about Mayonaise for dogs; someone with a sick dogs just needs them to eat. Just like several weeks ago when Luke wouldn't eat anything; I tried everything. Like us when we are sick; whatever goes down, works. Mayo is fine; you have to watch the fat content, fat is the worst culprit for diarrhea so take care when giving high fat foods. Consider where you will be the day after. ;)

Thankgiving day

It's Thanksgiving; but we aren't eating turkey. We are celebrated our Thanksgiving in October (Canadian Thanksgiving), so we had an Italian dinner with pumpkin. I made a delicious pumpkin pasta dish; salad and a chocolate chip pizookie. A pizookie is a giant soft chocolate chip; served warm with ice cream in the middle. You serve it at the table in the pan and everyone digs in.

The dogs had tonight a good portion of ground turkey and beef, gizzards, arugula, and pumpkin pasta. The girls loved it; Luke picked through it but eventually ate almost everything. Before giving my dogs any of our prepared food I have to consider what went into it; what might come out and how much they should get.

Gizzards

If you're like me you grew up hearing the terms gizzards, giblets etc around the holidays. It never really peeked my interest; I just knew that it was the gross stuff my Mom boiled up and it came out of the turkey. Now as a canine guardian looking for great food for the dogs I wanted to know. What the heck are gizzards?

While at the grocery store yesterday; looking for liver I spotted a good supply of gizzards and hearts. I did know that they come out of turkey's and chickens but I wasn't sure what they were exactly. They are cheap; so I bought four packages for the dogs. Once home I got out the computer to see just what these gizzards are.

Gizzards are secondary stomachs used by birds to grind their food before digestion. Very much like the tripe people feed their dogs and themselves; yuck. Because birds don't have teeth, they must fill their gizzards with small stones to achieve the same end result. Gizzards contain a very tough inner membrane, surrounded by a muscular pouch which provides the grinding action. Gizzards are part of the group of foods called offal, which also includes beef tripe, chitlins (pork intestines), and hearts; mmmmmmmmmm.

I am of Scottish heritage so I am very accustom to the stuff that some people eat. It really is what you are raised with. Steak and kidney pie, blood pudding, haggis (made from sheep liver, lungs, hearts, oatmeal and seasonings). I have to admit I love oatmeal; love it in anything but the other stuff? I'll leave that for the dogs to enjoy.

I have three packages of gizzards, hearts and liver fresh off the barbeque. They will be outside cooling; lest they offend any sleeping human members of the family in the house. But believe me, the dogs are going to be very happy.

The incredible edible egg

Sunday morning breakfast; two fried eggs and toast. Eggs aren't just for us anymore, eggs are a great source of protein for our dogs and they are very affordable. Most dogs love eggs; not all though. You know who I'm talking about; Luke is not an egg fan. So if eggs are on the menu I have some hide'n seek work to do.

Yesterday was egg day and with a ton of liver on hand I was able to conceal just about completely. I cooked up two eggs for the poodles, one for Jessie and two for my son. Easy fixing; they all went into the pot and I returned 10 minutes later. Running cold water over the eggs before attempting to shell them saves your fingers.

I chopped the dogs eggs as much as I could; mashed them really. You can't hide big pieces, I needed to be able to disguise them. The girls ate them without one bit of complaint; Luke knew there was something other than his liver in the bowl but he ate them. Here is the facts below.

http://www.nutritionandeggs.co.uk/eggs_nutrition/nutrition1.html

Green Beans

I've been feeding green beans to my dogs for a very longtime. I'm not a huge fan of them myself; but my husband loves fresh green beans. Fresh is always best whether for us or for our dogs. But as a constant food source for my dogs I buy the frozen ones at Trader Joe's. They are very good and a good value.

Green beans are something that all my dogs enjoy; yes even Luke. Oddly enough he does enjoy green vegetables alot; even if his tastes are strange concerning other foods. Like all veggies I cut them small and they are partially cooked to make them more easily digested for the dogs.

Here is a good link to the nutritional value of the good ole Green bean.

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=134

Best way to cook liver

I have discovered the best way to cook liver; the best way that is if everyone in the house hates liver. Even the smell of it sends some of the family members to gagging. To me liver is just that; liver and it does not offend me to cook it. It does bring back memories of being in the show ring and I do sort of gross out at it in it's raw state.

But being that I have alot of people to deal with in this house; not only the dogs I try to accomodate. So I have discovered that cooking it in tinfoil on the barbeque works best. I can leave it outside to cool so that not even the foul smelling steam gets into the house. But that's as far as it goes.

If anyone complains about the smell of liver as I cut it up for the dogs; well too bad. It has made a huge difference to Luke; he ate two bowls of food lastnight and he only ever did that before for liver. So liver is here to stay in my house and I am very glad that I finally found a source to get it.

Taste

As you start to cook for your dog/dogs you will find that not everyone is going to like everything. Just like us; dogs have very specific likes and dislikes. Now there are dogs that will eat anything you put infront of them, like my Jessie. There are very few foods that she won't eat and often if there are things she likes and dislikes mixed up; she goes through eating the best and leaving the worst for last.

My girls are easy to feed; the even ate the sardines I tried on them. Luke is just plain weird and beyond fussy; he likes to eat like a person not a dog. So I try my best to accomodate but it can't always be a gourmet meal. There are days like yesterday when I've been out and dinner is going to be a quick one.

Lastnight I made scrambled eggs with ham and havarti; I then added oatmeal before serving it up. The girls loved it; even though Tilley is not a big egg fan she ate. Luke on the otherhand was a challenge to feed. He adores ham typically but I had forgotten to fry up the ham first, he loves the taste of fried (who doesn't). I threw the ham in after the eggs were cooked so it didn't have that mmmmmmmmmmmm flavor.

Honestly.

Where has the liver gone?

Okay, I've finally found something that Luke loves; liver. Now finding liver is the trick; you use to be able to get it at any grocer. That is back in Canada when I was showing dogs in the conformation ring. I had to buy it all the time to cook and bake it up for bait. Now I want it to feed to Luke and I can't find it.

I even went to a butchers yesterday where they had veal liver; at 12.00/lb "are you kidding me." So I'm on a search to find a good supplier of liver; I think I'll have a look at the freeze dried stuff, see where it comes from and perhaps it will suffice until I find the real thing.

Liver is very strong smelling and definitely stirs something in Luke. So what is in liver that is so great?

http://www.fitbit.com/foods/Beef+Liver+Braised/2872

The list is long; but what you quickly see from the information is that it is a high fat, high cholesterol, high vit A meat. High caloric foods is what I need for Luke. Liver gives him the taste sensation he needs while giving him more nutrients in small amounts than other meats.

Squash

I love squash, mostly acorn squash and it is in season now. It's easy to cook and the dogs love it. I split them in half, scoop out the guck, turn them upside down on a plate and microwave. This is a fast and easy way to do it. With the nutritional value of this food it is a great thing to add to your dogs diet.

Because they are in season right now they are a great price. You can cook them, scoop out the squash and freeze it for use all year long. Try spaghetti squash as well, it's ever cheaper.

Nutritional facts can be found by clicking on this link:

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=63

Fruits and veggies

There are a few things you learn when you feed your dog real food. Over the weeks and months some things become quite clear. One of those things is what happens to raw fruit and veggies. Not a whole lot happens to them; and they are pooped out onto your grass. So what is the problem?

Dogs have a more difficult time digesting fruits and vegetables so what doesn't get digested comes out as waste. The best way to give your dogs both is in the raw form; just as it is best for us. But, because dogs have a more difficult time digesting it is a good idea to either chop the food very tiny or cook it quickly.

It is amazing what you learn just by watching what comes out. The harder the veggie or fruit the smaller it must be; like carrots. Best to cook them and mash or chop really tiny; you'll know if it is small enough. And apples, same thing but it is mostly about the skin. Peas must be mashed and any type of beans.

A little extra time spent on preparation helps to make sure your dog receives better nutrition. No point in feeding something you are just going to throw away the next day.

Some dogs chew but alot of them don't; they don't know that chewing helps in processing the food. And if you have a dog like my little JRT, she'll swallow anything that doesn't choke her to death. And even those get several attempts before she decides to chew them.

Liver again

Yesterday I tried to get more liver for Luke. As I said I just add a bit to his meal and he eats like a champ. They were all out of beef liver so I got some chicken liver. I have been asked to only cook liver when no one is home; bunch of whoosies. But as it was Sunday I was not waiting to feed Luke until today so being one to not want whining and complaining I took it outside.

We have a big bar area with the barbeque in it so I took out my big flat grill and plugged it in out there. It was hot; too hot to be cooking outside but I much prefer that than to listen to whining about the smell. So I cooked up the liver, and let it cool a bit before bringing it in. I quickly put it in the container and put a loose lid on it to cool completely before refrigerating.

I took several of the pieces of liver and mashed them up into Luke's breakfast which he hadn't eaten. We tried it again with the newly added liver. He ate a bit, chicken liver doesn't seem to do the trick that beef liver does. I'm going to have to find a good supplier of liver; organic liver if I can get it.

Chicken liver also has a different texture, mushy. The smell is not near as strong as beef; good for the humans but bad as far as Luke is concerned. He was hungry once again when dinner rolled around and some nice fresh raw beef did the trick.

Dried Cranberries and Sweet Potatoes

I've been using alot of sweet potatoes lately. They are in season and #1 on the "good for you" veggie list. So what is good for me is good for my dogs. Of course not always; there are things that my dogs cannot eat that I can. But for sweet potatoes, they can eat them and they enjoy them. Luke of course likes his with butter and lots of it (just like his Mom). Here are the nutritional reasons to eat them:

The numbers for the nutritional sweet potato speak for themselves: almost twice the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A, 42 percent of the recommendation for vitamin C, four times the RDA for beta carotene, and, when eaten with the skin, sweet potatoes have more fiber than oatmeal. All these benefits with only about 130 to 160 calories!

Sweet Potato Nutrition Facts
(for one medium size sweet potato)
Calories 130
Fat 0.39 g
Protein 2.15 g
Net Carbs 31.56 g
Dietary Fiber 3.9 g
Calcium 28.6 mg
Sodium 16.9 mg
Potassium 265.2 mg
Folate 18.2 mcg
Vitamin C 29.51 mg
Vitamin A 26081.9 IU
Source: US Department of Agriculture


I have also started cutting up dried cranberries for the dogs food. I wanted to make sure that they are getting a natural source of vitamin C and this is a good one. They are very tart and not typically something the dogs would like; excluding Jessie of course. So I chop them very fine and sprinkle them in their food.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dried_cranberries

sneaking it in

So you have a finicky eater; you go above and beyond the call of duty to try to get them to eat. That's where I am at the moment but I have found that warming helps alot. Lastnight I gave Luke and delicious dinner of chicken, sweet potatoes, apples, liver and rice. As I watched him pick through the food I was astonished with the precision.

On our walk this morning I thought about outsmarting him and exactly how to go about it. I had cut the liver as small as it could be cut, mixed it until it all resembled liver; but he still was able to pick out the tiniest of pieces. I very often will warm the dogs food; I dont' think eating a bowl of cold food goes over too well sometimes. Although the girls don't care what the temperature of their food is.

This morning I warmed all the food. Tossed in a good portion of liver to all bowls with an extra handful for Luke. He ate almost all of his food, he started trying to pick but soon was eating it all. Warm is definitely the ticket.

Mmmmmmm liver

As Luke is going to the vet today I wanted to make his meal lastnight a great one. He loves liver so I went to the grocery store and got some to cook up. Luke loves flavor, he is not into boiled, bland meat so I fried it up in a pan with butter. I gave all the humans in the house a heads up, I had already decided to wait until we ate our dinner because I know liver is a strong smell.

I was frying Luke some liver and that was that; don't like it? then go out for a while. There was alot of complaining and gagging noises but I was committed to giving Luke his liver. It is rich so it is not a meal of entirely liver; just enough for him to know he is eating it and convince him the whole thing is liver. He also had ground turkey, sweet potato, rice, carrots and smashed peas. He ate his entire meal; I'm always amazed when he eats all of his food. A clean bowl always gives me a false sense of hope; that he will eat his whole meal everytime if I put liver in it.

Luke is finicky and it is very seldom that he will even eat his whole meal two days in a row. So we are off to the vet early this morning and I will post the results on my original blog.

Bone appetite

Organics

Organic food is all the rage these days. Both Organic famers and non organic farmers are talking about it. And like anything both sides have very strong opinions on the subject. Of course the non organic side is going to bring up every possible angle on why organic is not the way to go. But the way I look at it; if I can feed my family less chemicals in their food then that's the way I'm siding.

Same goes with my dogs; I try to buy as much organic food as possible. And we are very lucky to have a fabulous store which is carrying more and more organic food each day. I am probably at Trader Joe's almost everyday and with each visit I see a new organic version of a food they carry; this is great.

Who knows what the studies are going to find out about all these "safe chemicals" down the road. Who knows what damage they have already done to the ground and our environment in general. I know when I lived in Canada and had my own garden; we ate organic all the time. Whatever came out of my garden was completely organic. I even saved seeds so that I wouldn't have to buy chemically altered seeds to sow the following season.

Our dogs deserve organic as well and even if you don't cook for your dogs there are lots of organic dog foods that use high quality products in their versions.

Think about going organic; at least when you can.

What I've learned

What I've learned over the last year and a half of feeding strickly homemade to my dogs is that rice is very important. Rice is substance that enables you to swithc it up daily. Well, for my dogs it is and that may be the fact that they are all seniors. Tilley for one has an easily upset stomach now at almost 12; she never use to.

I'm actually thinking about getting one of those great rice makers so I can have rice on hand always. At the moment I keep a good supply by microwaving it whenever I think about it. I'm liking the organic brown basmati rice now;

Basmati is a variety of long grain rice, famous for its fragrance and delicate flavour. Its name means "the fragrant one" in Sanskrit, but it can also mean the "soft rice." India and Pakistan are the largest cultivators and exporters of this rice - primarily grown through paddy field farming in the Punjab region.

The grains of basmati rice are longer than non-basmati varieties. Cooked grains of Basmati rice are characteristically free flowing rather than sticky. Cooked basmati rice can be uniquely identified by its fragrance. Basmati rice is available in two varieties - white rice and brown rice

Brown Basmati seems to be much easier to digest that typical brown rice which often just ends up in the yard.

When you feed your dog or dogs real food it can take a while to learn their likes and dislikes both in taste and stomach acceptance. My girls are great, they can eat just about anything and will eat just about anything. Luke is my big challenge; what I've learned about Luke is that finicky means not always liking something you like yesterday and often being shocked when he does eat something I'm assuming he won't.

Steak sandwich

Luke lucked out yesterday morning; being sick and finicky I'm doing my best to accomodate him. So let's just say he hasn't been eating the best of diets. Oh he is eating homemade fresh food but like us; somethings just don't look appealing to him when he is not himself.

So yesterday he got a raw steak sandwich and loved it. I'm having to do my trickiest of cooking and preparations. And my version of "open up for the choo choo" is becoming old really quick. "Mmmmmmmmmm, look what Mommy made you Luke; yummy." If I persist it finally works, getting him to taste is the biggy.

So his sandwich consisted of raw steak, toast with lots of butter of course and pumpkin spread thick enough to do some good but thin enough to not interfere with him eating. He liked the sandwich alot; can't blame him it looked really good.

Not sure what is on the menu this morning but I'll let ya know.

First food blog

This is breakfast for the hounds this morning; with my boy Luke being sick I've got a ton of different things on the menu. This morning was leftover toss.

I cook for my dogs; I cook for my family as well but this blog is all about the dogs. With the cooler air moving in I've been in the kitchen a whole lot more. Now with a sick finicky eater I've been cooking up a storm to try and create something that looks or smells appealing to him.

Cooking for dogs may seem to be a confusing task; many think it's just too much work. Yes it is more work than opening a bag and dumping but with a little effort you will see huge changes in your dog. I have and will explain in depth in the near future.

For now, welcome to my blog and I hope to enlighten, educate and entertain your desire to think about cooking for your dog.

Happy cook'n