Carob Star Cookies

OK, everyone, now that we've said goodbye to summer and are heading into shorter days and colder nights, there's no excuse anymore not to bake up some delicious treats for our fur-pals. In the spirit of the holidays to come, we're going to post a recipe each week for some treats that are easy to make and will bring a wag to the tails.

The first treat we have to share comes from Tee in Malaysia. She has ten dogs, all of whom say these treats are great.



Carob Star Cookies

340 g flour ( 3.5 cups)
210 g butter (1 cup)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
cold water
carob buttons ( can substitte bacon, liver, sausage or whatever your pups likes)

Mix butter into flour until it resembles bread crumbs. Add lemon juice and cold water until it forms dough.

Let stand 20 minutes.

Roll out dough and use cookie cutters to cut into desired shape. Tee used star shape.

Stick carob button in middle of star and bake at 150-180C (300 -350F) for 20 minutes.



Let cool, then let the canine taste testers decide.

This is Anna getting ready to try them out.

I made the conversions in the above recipe and since my metric skills are sadly lacking, you might want to check them before you attempt this.

Carob is a chocolate substitute that is safe for dogs and most of them love it, so these are really special treats in the doggy world. Thanks, Tee for sharing with us.

Now sit down at the table and dig thru your recipe box and send me your dog or cat's favorite homemade treat. I'll try very hard to post one per week, and we want a nice big selection to choose from.

Look Who Has A New Family

Say hello and congratulations to Lyric. She has a new home and a new family.


Lyric is an almost three year old Pomeranian whose first family didn't care enough to prevent her from getting heartworm. Heartworm is very easy to prevent, not so easy to cure. Rather than dealing with the treatment, they decided to euthanize her.



This perky little lady was very lucky. Nicki decided to foster her while she underwent treatment for her condition and in the process the family fell in love with the little charmer.



Now Lyric has been adopted by Nicki and has her own home in the country with a yard and playmates.



She shares her new life with Zodiac and Legend and is happy to be healthy again and have a caring home with a family that won't just give up on her.

Treat Seekers

Nothing is simple at our house. Sissy has an intolerance for corn meal and chicken meal, which seem to be directly related to another little medical issue of hers. (It's not fit for polite conversation, but her anal glands have ruled the kibble and treat situation at our house since she was just a few months old.)

We're fortunate to have a local pet food company, Sammy Snacks. While my fur-girls can't eat their kibble, they are hooked on their original Sammy Snacks. They are marketed "for you and your dog", but my girls aren't inclined to share. They're a great size for Gretchen (a wee Jack Russell Terrier), and Sissy (a basset hound) loves it when two or more are stuck together from the baking process. We've tried every variety, and haven't found a bad one yet.

A MOST special favorite is Carnivore Crunch by Stella and Chewy, in the beef variety. Actually, Sis tolerates the chicken variety too, but she's doing so well on a no-corn, no-chicken diet that we're sticking to the beef. Nichole introduced us to this ambrosia for dogs quite some time ago, and along with Sammies, it's the treat we're never without. We do use it only as a very special treat, such as after toenail torture for Sissy, or when Gretchen learns a new skill. They know when we reach for that bag, and they dance - right up until they sit firmly, which must happen for any treat to be dispensed.

Last, but hardly least, are Buddy Biscuits, from Planet Dog. We gave the seasonal gingerbread variety as Christmas gifts to our bigger doggy friends last year, and they were well-received, although my girls didn't care for it much at all. They're always up for peanut butter flavors, and I see they offer a sweet potato variety, so we'll be trying that soon too.

Please share your pets' favorite treats! We're always looking for something new, especially in small-dog bite-sized creations. Gretchen has to watch her figure, while Sissy is our hard keeper...

Make Ours Unleaded

Since the big pet food recall a couple years ago, most of us have become much more conscious of what we feed our dogs and cats. I find myself standing in the food aisle reading labels and making comparisons online. None of the dog foods we used were involved in the recall, but we became better consumers anyway.

Now the problem seems to be treats. There are still recalls going on with dog treats that contain either salmonella or lead.

We are constantly on the alert for healthy and good tasting treats for our fur kids, and we've found a few that we want to share with you.

We found Robbie Dawg products when an order from Sit-Stay.com included a sample. I immediately checked them out online and liked what I saw. Then we tried the taste test and my taste consultants informed me that these were especially good.


Robbie Dawg products are made in Brooklyn, NY and use US products. They make Robbie Dawg biscuits in such wonderful flavors as BBQ Chicken, Brooklyn Pizza, Peanut Butter and Carrot, Skillet Fish Fry and our favorite Turkey Sausage and Romano Cheese.


They also make Little Lulus' which were the first ones we tried. They are small in size but apparently huge in flavor. The offerings are Bacon and Parsley (think Morgan), Pumpkin Spice, Brooklyn Pizza and Lucy's very favorite Peanut Butter and Blueberry.

Robbie Dawgs and Little Lulus are available from Sit-Stay or from the Robbie Dawg website. My entire pack thinks they're wonderful and I also like the packaging.


Another treat that we use a lot in our household is Charlee Bears. OK, I did originally buy them because they had what I thought was a Portuguese Water Dog on the label, but they turned out to be a great product.

They are low cal, only 3 calories per treat, and for that reason I use them for training. They are a small size, easy to use in class because the dog doesn't have to stop to chew and they taste good. I know because I've tried them. They come in three flavors, liver, turkey liver and cranberry, and cheese and egg. The cheese and egg flavor taste a bit like a stale cheez-it cracker.

Charlee Bears are available in many pet warehouses such as Petsmart and also available by mail order from most of the pet catalogs.

There are other treats we like and use, but these are exceptional and I trust their ingredients. Closer to the holidays we'll post some recipes for homemade treats that you might want to make for your friends.

Be Prepared

Today our friend Beau was rushed to the hospital with bloat. He underwent surgery and had 30% of his stomach removed. Beau is one of the lucky ones. He survived.



Bloat or Gastric Dilatation-Volvulus is the second leading killer of dogs after cancer. Bloating of the stomach is often related to swallowed air. Stress can be a contributing factor. As the stomach swells it may twist, trapping air, food and water. The bloated stomach obstructs veins in the abdomen, leading to low blood pressure, shock and damage to internal organs.

Know the symptoms of bloat because minutes count with this condition.

* Attempts to vomit (usually unsuccessful)
* Doesn't act like usual self
* Significant anxiety and restlessness
* Hunched up appearance
* Lack of normal digestive sounds in the tummy
* Tight abdomen (like a drum)
* Heavy or rapid panting
* Excessive drooling
For other symptoms check out the website at www.globalspan.net/bloat.htm or do a Google search for dog bloat symptoms. There are a number of sites that can give you information.

There are some things we can do to reduce the chances of our dogs getting bloat.

* Feed two or three smaller meals rather than one large one.
* Do not permit rapid eating
* Avoid heavy exercise immediately after eating
* Avoid stressful situations
* Know you dog's normal behavior

Familiarize yourself with the symptoms of bloat and keep the number and address of your emergency vet handy. Minutes count when you're dealing with bloat. Beau is alive and recovering tonight because his owner knew the signs and got him immediate medical care.

Believe It Or Not

The "experts" tell us that dogs don't see color, have no emotions and don't really think or reason, that they only act instinctively or by repeated learned behavior.

I think the "experts" are full of it!!

On what do I base my statement? On a lifetime of living with, interacting with and observing dogs.

Let's take these statements one at a time. First color.

I have always heard that dogs are color blind or see in shade of gray. Why then do some dogs have preferences for certain colors?

At Christmas we put dog toys in a toy box and let them all choose their own toy. 99% of the time Monty chose a pink toy. This was his favorite, Pink Pig Bunny, but he also had a pink ball, a pink octopus and a pink teddy bear. Was that just coincidence? I don't think so.

I've also heard from the "experts" that dogs can't see the picture on the television screen, that their eyes don't process it the way ours do.

When Bentley was a pup we had a movie on the tv that we had seen before, so we turned the sound off and left the picture on. In the movie the bad guy had three Doberman dogs that guarded his house. Every time the dogs came on the screen, Bentley would start barking. Why? If he couldn't see the dogs, why did he only bark when they were in the picture?

Noah barks at dogs on the television and Tsar loves to watch dancing. He parks himself in front of the television and stares at it as long as anyone is dancing.


"Experts" tell us that dogs can't really think or reason. Their actions are all learned from repetition.

I believe dogs think, reason and have a sense of humor. My dogs enjoy playing jokes. Bentley used to stand in our kitchen window and when he saw a dog walking down the street he would bark, then race upstairs to the bay window where he could watch the dog's confused reaction to hearing a bark and not seeing another dog. He had a similar joke he played on people who were standing at the mailbox. He would sneak up behind them, give one loud bark, then race for home. When the startled person turned and looked around, all they saw was Bentley lying on his porch looking angelic.


On my other blog, I related the story about the frog that pooped on our stairs and this week my pack set me up with this stuffy sitting in a puddle of water. They think this is funny stuff. Their humor is on the level of a pre-schooler, but it's still humor.

As for the "expert's" opinions on emotions, I disagree with that one, too.

We've all witnessed a dog's grieving for a lost companion. It can be heartbreaking. We've seen dogs adopt baby animals of other species that needed love and protection. And yes, dogs do laugh.


When my dogs do something they think is silly or something that makes me look silly, they laugh. Here is Pylon laughing over something she found humorous.


Sky laughs at his sisters when he thinks he's played a trick on them.


Even Tsar, who is generally pretty serious, can laugh when he puts one over on Fudge.

So, what do you think? Are the "experts" right? Are dogs just little machines with no emotions or preferences or reasoning abilities, or do they think and joke and laugh and like one color better than another? What are your experiences?

If you have pictures of your dog laughing, e-mail them to me and I'll post them to show the "experts". Does your dog play jokes on you or a companion? Tell us about them. And does your dog have a favorite color? What is it? And you cat people, let us know what your cat does to amuse itself at your expense.

Maybe the "experts" need to try living with a dog.

Good Dog !

Is your dog a good member of the family, a good neighbor and a good member of society in general? The American Kennel Club has a wonderful program that will show everyone that your dog is all of the above. It's call the Canine Good Citizen program and it's open to all dogs regardless of age, size or breed. Your dog can be a registered pedigreed member of a known breed or he can be a mixture of many breeds whose parents are unknown. It doesn't matter.

The program is meant to recognize dogs that have good manners at home and in the community.
There is a test that consists of ten parts.

The program is the first step for those planning to go on to become therapy partners and is often used as a first step toward other activities such as Rally, Obedience and Agility.

Test # 1: Accepting a friendly stranger.
The evaluator walks up to the dog and handler and greets the handler ignoring the dog. The evaluator and handler shake hands. The dog must show no sign of resentment or shyness and must must not try to go to the evaluator.



Test #2: Sitting Politely For Petting.
This demonstrates that the dog will allow a friendly stranger to touch it while out with it's handler.

Test #3: Appearance and Grooming
This demonstrates that the dog will permit someone to groom or examine it.

Test #4: Walking On A Loose Lead
Demonstrates that the handler is in control of the dog.

Test #5: Walking Though A Crowd
This demonstrates that the dog can move politely in pedestrian traffic and is under control in public places.

Test #6: Sit and Down on Command and Staying in Place
This demonstrates that the dog will respond to the handler's commands.

Test #7: Coming When Called
Demonstrates that the dog will come when called.

Test #8: Reaction to Another Dog
This demonstrates that the dog can behave politely around other dogs.

Test #9: Reaction to Distraction
This demonstrates that the dog is confident at all times when faced with common distracting situations. These could be dropping a crutch or cane, a jogger running by, a wheel chair etc.

Test #10: Supervised Separation
This demonstrates that the dog can be left with a trusted person, if necessary, and maintain good manners.

All tests are done on leash and you, the handler, can talk to your dog and offer encouragement throughout the tests.

If you and your dog pass all ten tests you'll receive a certificate and your dog will be able to use the initials CGC after his name. It tells everyone that he is a canine good citizen and a welcome member of society.

To learn more about the CGC program and full details about each step of the tests, go to the AKC web site. You and your dog working together can show everyone what good citizens you are. There are also comparable programs available in other countries.