OSCAR ATE MY MUFFIN

And Just Like That...

The first warm days of spring never fail to inspire a craving for ice cream cones (Oscar and I are pretty big fans). Coincidentally, those teasingly mild temperatures also tend to coincide with a rather important event on the spring calendar - an event that fully supports the procurement of aforementioned ice cream, going so far even to demand sprinkles... that's right, it's BIRTHDAY-time, friends, and this year, for one big red dog, it was something special...

This year, on the cloudy 27th of March, 2015, Oscar-dog turned one year older. And this year, the Beast turned TEN. 120 months have passed, roughly 3,650 rotations on the earthly axis, and countless hours of beloved company have been enjoyed since this stubborn, steady, remarkably clever (and shockingly handsome) canine rocked into the world. And you know what? He just. keeps. getting. better...


He may nap a bit more loudly, and romp a little less; he may require more frequent fine-tuning, and his drool is still a mess... But his patience has only grown longer, his old-dog-wisdom is real, and when it comes to loyalty and focus - let's just say... there's a reason why my dad recently remarked, "You know Oscar is really like a weathervane - whenever I need to know where you are, I just look at which direction he's pointing!". If that's not devotion, folks, I don't know what is.

10 years young, this incredible Beast is wearing his age like the fine gentleman he's always been, and I count myself blessed beyond compare to have him always by my side.

Happy Birthday, my sweet boy - here's to many more.

The Return of Dogpants and... Donuts?

Dearest readers,
best dog friends, fans of fine donuts, and alllll of the lovers...

Sooo, let's just never mind the fact that you've seen neither hide nor hair of the Beast and I in... nearly four months... Yeesh. *One should really only indulge in so many self-shaming apology posts before pathetic tedium sets in, SO - to put your minds at ease, we're both 100% tip-top - even better, in fact. We've been up to our eyeballs in (hard-earned) wonderful, and our radio silence has had nothing to do with calamity (OK, there was that one close encounter involving an ambulance - but sometimes all it takes is a good scare to throw the doors wide open on your beautiful life... yeah - THAT).

Moving forward into this fiery new Year of the Horse (be still my equine-aligned astrological heart!) we've got some brilliant things to share; a speck of breathing room in which to share it; and a whole lot of missing-the-act-of-sharing to keep us rolling. AND - kicking off the newest news is a moment of jolly celebration... for, lest anyone had forgotten - a certain red-wheaten someone turned a whole year older (and 365 days grumpier!) this past March 27th. GAH! And just like that, my big, beautiful boy is NINE years old...

As per tradition, meatloaf cake (with or without a bun) will make it's annual appearance, but on the fine afternoon of the actual day, the most appropriate indulgence I could imagine was a jaunt to our neighborhood nook of sugary sin - Union Square Donuts. This baller little pastry joint just happens to turn out the finest donuts - IN ALL OF BOSTON - a deliciously true story which Oscar-dog finally got a chance to confirm.

Happy Birthday, my sweet, sweet boy...

*And if you've ever wondered what a dog in donut-fueled ecstasy looks like, imagine the following... He was actually only allowed one - the Maple Glazed Bacon (because, duh) - but my-oh-my what a treat...

Spring Projects in Print!

Remember those exciting print projects I mentioned in an earlier post? It is my great pleasure to unveil the following two dog-related features that officially hit newsstands and mailboxes this May: An illustrated recipe spread (art and text by yours truly) in none other than glorious The Bark* magazine; and an illustrated essay in the premier breed magazine for the Rhodesian Ridgeback world - The Ridgeback Register!** Both of these projects were absolute joys to complete, and I send a heartfelt thanks to Bark editor, Cameron Woo, and Ridgeback Register editor, Denise Flaim, for the opportunities.

*Why YES - that IS Oscar Dog in The Bark spread, inching off the picnic blanket and salivating over the Big Dog Burger and Liver Cracker Bun! I couldn't very well illustrate a recipe page without testing out these treats myself, so Oscar stepped up and volunteered his discerning palette for a few rounds of "canine test kitchen" - one such exercise easily became the focus of this year's birthday celebration...

**The Ridgeback Register is a subscription only publication, so you'll have to be "in the Rhodie know" to catch my work there - The Bark, however, has national distribution and can be found in most major bookstores or large newsstands, so if you're looking for a phenomenal collection of all things contemporary dog culture - hot-foot it to your nearest book seller!

Belated Big Dog Birthday Burgers

Let's see now... where did we leave off back in March, before that eggregious pause in dog-blogging activity... THAT'S right - we were just celebrating Oscar Dog's BIRTHDAY! Indeed, I put up a post on March 27th, to mark the occassion, but we hadn't yet had time to throw the party (and anyone following the life and times of Oscar knows that dog birthdays in this house mean baked-meat treats - and sometimes paper hats). Well, weeks later - I did get my canine culinary act together (I sadly neglected to incorporate a new hat... though Oscar appeared A-OK with that oversight) - and the feast for the Beast this year? A twist on a great classic: "Big Dog Birthday Burgers!"

*Oscar doesn't mess around: the burger buns in this dish are primarily for effect, and while they're laced with liver and plenty appealing to dog taste buds, you can see this canine foodie goes straight for the meat first... smart lad.

Meatloaf has long been a staple of mine when I want to cook something special for Oscar - it's incredibly simple to make, and packed full of healthy ingredients. I used our old standby recipe to create the "burger" here - I just shaped the meat mixture into individual rounds, instead of the large bricks typical of meatloaf. I posted an elaborate illustrated recipe for our meatloaf last year, so I'm going to simply link to that post for anyone interested (if you're shaping burgers instead of loaves, you'll want to bake them for about half the listed time).

The BUNS you see above however... those are a new concoction... A very basic (but dense!) baked good, they incorporate fresh liver - blended until mush in consistency. Yes indeed, liver smoothies are straight up gag-inducing, but trust me, your dog will adore you for adding this ingredient. So take a deep breath, open the kitchen window and follow the instructions below...


RECIPE: LIVER CRACKER BURGER BUNS

1. In a bowl, combine flour, wheat germ and parsley - set aside.

2. Briefly blend the liver in a food processor until smooth. I used chicken livers in this case, but any liver will likely do the trick, with varied amounts of blenderizing.

3. Add liver mush to dry ingredients, then mix in oil and water until a sticky, firm dough forms. I mixed the dough with my hands, dusting my fingers with a little flour when it came time to shape the buns.

4. On a greased cookie sheet, shape bun rounds - about 3" in diameter and 1/2" thick (make the bun top about 1" thick and mold it into the domed silhouette of a classic burger bun).

5. Brush bun tops with egg white and sprinkle sesame seeds over them.

6. Bake at 400˚ for 15-20 minutes. Buns should be slightly soft in the center when pressed. Cool before assembling with burgers and serving.

NOTE: This recipe makes enough dough for about 4 "normal sized" cracker rounds: 2 top/bottom bun pairings. These treats MUST be stored in the refrigerator if not consumed immediately, and they should be eaten within 2 days of baking.

Gingerbread... with a Twist

Sooo, even with a holiday to-do list already busting at the seams, inspiration struck last week when I stumbled on this kinda amazing, albeit ambiguously simple, novelty gingerbread cookie-cutting set. I've made my share of spice-cookie architecture and smiling ginger-boys and girls, but this was something new, something special - and I loved it... but I could so totally do something better...

So I did.

Starting with a silhouette of Oscar's handsome pop, Ruger, and utilizing some very gracious design/engineer friend-consult, I fashioned, step-by-step, my very own custom Ridgeback cookie cutters...


Now, molding tin dog silhouettes to a perfectionist's specs isn't exactly a walk in the park, but lest you think it's all smooth sailing once you've got a bonafide "dough-stamp" - working with raw gingerbread (I'll posit any cookie dough) is, let's just say, rather tricky. *Consider that your molds - dependent on THREE cookies to amicably interlock - have a lean margin for variance in cookie thicknesses; consider that gingerbread rises ever so slightly (and completely uncontrollably) while baking; consider that your icing, depending on how you make it and how thickly you spread it, adds it's own hair to two-hair's thickness; then consider that gingerbread, as a sculptural material, could honestly care less about what you're up to... Add that all up and you've got a recipe for trial and error. Lucky for me, I'm one patient amateur baker...


Many delicious prototypes and test runs later, I had a small pack of "perfect" gingerbread dogs, which I guarded FIERCELY until all photography and special gifting was complete. And now - project documentation buttoned up and posted - I just have a half dozen or so extra reasons to go out for a run or find a treadmill every day for the next month...

*For those curious, the gingerbread recipe I followed was from trusty MarthaStewart.com, as was that for the Royal Icing. And if you're wondering about the icing color, which is actually a bit brighter in person, behold - Neon Food Coloring (yeah, they make that now!).

Perfect Pumpkin Pup-Treats

When the season of giving thanks rolled into town this year, I couldn't resist the call of fresh pumpkins, suddenly plentiful at the grocery store: I love roasted pumpkin myself, but Oscar might be a bigger fan than even I. Since I had been interested for some time in making a batch of homemade, baked dog treats for the Beast, I thought now a fitting time to research recipes that utilized this most excellent flavor...

Anyone with a dog likely knows that canned pumpkin should be a staple in any properly outfitted canine pantry, due to it's "magical" digestive-regulating properties - I don't know how much of that benefit is transferred after baking into a cookie, but it certainly can't hurt. The original version of the treat recipe I based the following on was actually born of the resourcefullness by one skilled chef, in response to her black lab's upset tummy, and fickle taste buds. That original recipe can be found on the blog simmer till done - but because I can never leave well enough alone, I made a few minor adjustments:

Since I only had wheat flours in my pantry - and I know my dog tolerates wheat just fine - I swapped out the rice flour for whole wheat... and I added turmeric. Turmeric (colored by the yellow pigment, curcumin), it turns out, is a powerful supplement, with anti-inflammatory benefits, and the power to inhibit tumor growth, and naturally dissolve lipomas (fatty tumors) - this recipe would provide only fractions of a pinch within in each cookie, but I'm inclined to never underestimate the power of trace amounts... 

So, without further adieu - read on to learn how to make your own Perfect Pumpkin Pup-Treats... 

1. Mix together wet ingredients: 1/2 cup canned pumpkin (since they're in season, we actually roasted a little sugar pumpkin and made our own puree!) and 2 eggs.

2. Seperately stir together dry ingredients: 2 1/2 cups flour (we used whole wheat, but any flour can be substituted - just be aware that different flours may require a touch more pumpkin puree to form a good dough), 1/4 tsp salt, 2 Tbsp dry milk and 1 tsp turmeric.

3. Blend dry mixture into wet mixture until ingredients are mostly incorporated, then turn out the dough and knead until smooth.

4. Roll out the dough: I rolled mine down to about 1/8 of an inch, and used a small, bone-shaped cutter, but the exact thickness and size of cookie shape is up to you. Less is more in this house... a larger, thicker cookie will simply need more baking time.

5. Use a cookie cutter to make your treat shapes! I love the wee bone shape... *poking the treats with a fork will minimize puffing up during baking*

6. Place cut-outs on a baking sheet - we put our cookies directly on an un-greased sheet and had no problem with sticking - and bake at 350˚ for 15 to 20 minutes, or until just starting to brown. If you make larger cookies than I did, they'll likely need more time... just watch them for browning.

7. Turn out cookies to cool on a rack or plate and make sure they're completely cool before sealing them up in an airtight container. At the size we worked with, this recipe made over 6 dozen little bone-shaped treats! Oscar, as you might imagine, was thrilled with this output but demanded quality control inspections at regular intervals...


We hope your 4-pawed friends and family enjoy this handmade treat as much as Oscar does - and if the mixing and kneading and stamping and baking leaves you inspired to make more goodies for the pups, we have just the direction to point you in: Our good friends Pretty Fluffy and Chic Sprinkles (fellow lady dog-bloggers extraordinaire!) have just released a terrific new ebook titled "52 Weeks of Treats"! Dozens of inventive recipes (Sweet Potato Pretsels, Hearty Beef Bites... Puppylato!) and tips are combined with lovely photographs - all available for download! We're excited to give some of these tasty treats a spin in our kitchen... just in time for holiday gifting...

O-Town Reviews: Sojos 'Good Dog' Treats

At long last - and just in time for the gifting season - Oscar's first product review is ready for prime time!

As a proud new member of the inubar5, Oscar's treat-tasting, canine coat-wearing, plush toy-thrashing talents will now be put to professional use - as bona fide product testing for the snazzy, design-centric, online dog boutique, inubar. Good boy that he is, the Beast waited most patiently for the postman to finally deliver our first surprise box of sample goodies... there was still growling at the front door when said package arrived (the postman IS still the postman - bearing gifts or not), but what joy of joys when we cracked open the corrugated cube to reveal... one of O-Town's FAVORITE nibbles of all time...

Oscar may be an X-LG when it comes to dog-sizing, but (despite some people's misguided impression that treat size should correlate directly with girth) the smaller the treat for him, the BETTER. If you're familiar with marker training (same camp as clicker training) you know the value of lots and lots and lots... AND LOTS... of consistent "YESES", aka "marks", paired directly with rewards (in most cases, rewards = food). If I were handing out jumbo Milkbones for every "YES", I'd have a WHALE for a companion (and much as Oscar might enjoy being a whale, that body type just ain't healthy for a dog). Since Oscar was raised on boatloads of rewards-based marker training, the Holy Grail of treats, in my book, is a nibble-sized, uber-flavorful, wholesome-ingredient-rich, virtual crumb of a cookie - prefereably dry and non-greasy (so when they inevitably escape into a coat pocket, things don't get gross). Suffice to say, the day I discovered Sojo's "Good Dog" treats was a very, very good day.


These teensy little bones are positively the perfect size for training-treats; they come in a range of what I consider "delicious" flavors (blueberry cobler, pb & jelly, and - featured here - apple dumpling); and they are neat as can be in the handling department. Oscar most definitely agrees with me on this. And since these treats are ever so dainty, even after a full session of honing quality party tricks like "say you're sorry" and "stick em up", he runs nary the risk of becomming another embarrassing tubby puppy statistic...

Newbury Playday, Part 1: Fish & Bone

When appropriate, I like to bring Oscar along for window-shopping walks. He's a bit of a people magnet, and enjoys the attention; he's patient, and curious, and predictably jazzed by the bouquet of freshly changing smells that bathe the heavily trafficked streets of a popular retail strip. A few weekends ago, the Beast and I again ventured across the river to the sunny hum of Newbury Street. And whether I had planned to stop in or not, as soon as O-Town's sniffer passed the "never-ending treat can" tied to the wrought-iron railing in front of pet boutique Fish & Bone, it was decided: we were going inside - and we weren't coming out empty handed.

Fish & Bone is owned by the charming Kathy Palmer, and is the younger, southern sibling of pet supply outpost Fetch, in Portland, ME. Fish & Bone's Newbury location does not boast a heap of square-footage, but what space there is positively overflows with bright, unique, tastefully designed, and meticulously sourced product: collars, leads, stuffies and chewies take up much of the front, while a nom-nom nook towards the back teems with healthy food options, for dogs and cats alike - at least that's what it looked like - we only really made it as far as the á la carte canine treat display...

While Oscar busied himself investigating a bucket of antler chews and pigs ears, I went to work filling a small paper bag with an assortment of novel yet wholesome looking treats from the neatly organized self-serve treat shelf. Each treat type* was labeled in it's own giant, glass, lidded jar, and with names like "Lamb Wonder Wieners" and "Philly Cheesesteak Meatballs", I couldn't help but grab one of each.

*I'm pretty certain Oscar can detect the flavor nuances between venison jerky and chicken crunchers, what I'm not certain of is whether he gives two shakes about diversity (this is the dog that inhales paper wrappers if they so much as smell like they once swaddled a muffin). All things considered, if I can read into excessive drool and an unusually hasty attention to commands as any indication of "like", I'd say each all-natural, no preservative little nugget has so far been a home run in the flavor department. Below, a selection of the varietous treat-scape you can expect to find on the Fish & Bone shelves...
 
Of course every Beast becomes an angel when there is good food to be had... and there was no shortage of good eats for this dog at Fish & Bone. From the company website:

Throughout the years our mission has remained the same: to improve the quality of life of animals and their people with healthy natural diets & other edibles, a great selection of gear, a depth of knowledge in a creative atmosphere, and a spirit of good fun… and to support animal welfare, the arts and the environment along the way.

Our thanks to Kathy and the sweet staff at Fish & Bone for making an impromptu Saturday pit stop such a thoroughly enjoyable affair. We'll surely be back - and we'll bring a bigger shopping bag next time!

Frozen Repentance

I'd say this indulgence was some form of remorseful apology after the "dog-wig" post (did I really just refer to a "dog-wig" blog post, of my own creation? sigh), but at the time, it was probably more of a reward and relief for one very long, VERY hot drive up to Vermont for the weekend. A bum A/C, a black car, and rush hour traffic out of the city combined last Friday night to create a mobile dog oven on 93 South... sure, it was cooking one human as well, but I have the privilege of sweat glands... Oscar dog, sadly, does not. By the time we made it to Montpelier, a maple creemee (VT-speak for "soft serve") at Morse Farm was pretty much mandatory in order to stay conscious for the last 30 miles home. I would have gladly shared my cone with the Beast, but he took it upon himself to go paws up onto the counter at the order window and suggest a dish all to himself. No really. He did.

Deliciously Cool Red, White & Blue

This July 4th was a toasty one. Oscar was flat on his side on the coolest part of the concrete studio floor for most of the sunshine hours - it was only our evening trek up a grassy hill to watch fireworks (and possibly the wee cottontail that decided to dart in front of us along the way) that got his ears perked and engine going. For a breed developed on the velds of Africa, this Rhodesian Ridgeback is a real slug when the mercury rises. Lucky for the Beast, I have just the treat to make a hot day more bearable... For the second of our illustrated recipe series, I wanted to share one of Oscar's very favorite sweltering summer-day snacks: Frozen Yogurt & Fruit Cubes.

I like to use ice cube trays in fun shapes, to make things more... fun (you know, for me), and the rubbery, silicone versions are a little easier to pop the treats out of, but standard trays work just fine. In honor of July 4th, I went matchy-matchy with the birthday colors of the good ol' U.S. of A. and used raspberries and blueberries for this batch, though any little fruit bites could be substituted (just NO grapes!). Remember to keep the yogurt plain (flavored varieties have uneccessary sugar and calories), and go with lo/no-fat if you've got a dog of average metabolism. The probiotics in any live-culture dairy are a healthy supplement to any canine's diet, and 2 or 3 of these frosty squares a day, for a medium-sized dog, should (at least temporarily) lift the spirit of even the most heat-sapped hound...