A Dog Post

39° here this morning, no quite so cold and yesterday was a pretty sunshiny day.

Yesterday was a "dog day" here.  First the vet appointment was for 8:30 which kept us hopping.  She did really well but was so afraid she trembled. Of course, she liked John (vet).  He is so good with all kinds of animals. She nestled up to his chest and rested her head against his throat.  He just stood very still and said let's just see what  she does.  He was really taken with her.

He verified  she is part Great Pyr because she had the detached extra set of dew claws on her rear legs that only they have.  He also agrees with the previous owner and all of us about the Pit Bull part.  The roof of her mouth is mottled mostly black with pink.  He didn't mention the Boxer part so not sure about that mix. He said having the Pit Bull mix is a very good thing.   He thinks they are wonderful dogs and the easiest breed he works on.  He said Sugar will be the best dog we have ever owned and will be easily trained.  So far, we are agreeing 100%.

We stopped by the little store in Ash Grove where the vet is located so I could pick up a couple of items and see if they had the extra ingredients I needed to make her my Sis's recipe for dog treats....I was amazed that they did.  I know I still have the expensive ones from the pet store,  but once I get an idea for something......So I did the batch of treats.  Good news; she loves them!

Here is the recipe for them.  There are lots of them on the 'net that are much simpler but I chose to do these.  For one thing they make a huge batch.  It is a very stiff dough but I used the KA Pro and it worked well. 

First,of course,I made some changes!  I hate it when I get a recipe and they say that.....I substituted chicken livers because I didn't want to dig and hunt for the beef livers that I hope are still in the freezer from butchering.  I did have to make some adjustments in the liquid because I didn't measure the water that I cooked the livers in.  I used dried garlic flakes; no brewer yeast.   That all being said, it worked out fine.
If you make it by hand, you will find the dough very stiff and hard to get all together.  I would add more liquid but remember it must be very stiff and not soft at all.  The end product is very hard; not cracker like.

Char's Dog Treat Recipe

Cook together:

1 cup (½ lbs liver cooked and minced (Note:  I froze the rest of the ckn liver slurry for another time)

2 or 3 cloves garlic

2-1/2 cups water

Note: The above seems unclear to me; I cooked raw livers in the water with the garlic.  Then slurried it all in the Cuisinart. You could drain off the liquid and add later then chop the liver.  I hate chopping raw liver.  I never asked her what she does.  May way worked fine.

Dissolve:

1 t. honey or sugar

1 T or package of dry yeast

½ cup warm water

3-1/2 cups flour

2 cups ww flour

2 cups cornmeal

1-3/4 cups rolled oats

¼ cup wheat germ

1 cup non-fat dry milk

1/3 cup brewers yeast (opt)

3 tsp. Iodized salt

3 eggs beaten

Cook garlic and liver together. Remove from heat and cool. Grind all and set aside

Dissolve yeast with honey

In a very large bowl blend dry ingredients ;add cooled yeast mixture, liver slurry,  eggs. Mix well

Knead 4-5 minutes

Cover let rest 15 minutes

Preheat oven to 300°

Grease 2-3 sheets

Divide dough into thirds

Note: 1/3 dough filled two standard size sheets and I froze the other 2/3)

Roll out 1/8 x ¼ or ½ thick. Cut into desired shape

Note: Sis uses 'bone' cookie cutter...I used my wheel type pizza cutter. Sugar did not refuse them because they weren't bone shaped.

Bake l hour.

Here are some pics of the process that might help.

 

 Rolled out 1/3.  I probably had mine a little thicker than 1/8 but not 1/4 inch.

Before baking,

I got tired of transferring them with a spatula and finally just slid them off the board onto the sheet. As you can see, I did not separate all of them.  The broke apart easily after cooking.

and the baked treats...maybe a little too brown because of my oven, but not burned.

These are about 3/4 to l inch in size but you can do whatever size you want.  

We are just using them as a reward when she comes inside or comes to us when we call her.

OK, promise. No more proud parent posts......maybe I will slip in a picture now and then. My Sis is getting a kick out of both of us.  We are being a little silly I know.