In the previous Christmas blog about great gifts for your pets, I mentioned one idea was to bake homemade treats for your dog. From questions I’ve received since then, I must clarify, that yes, I did bake treats. Again, I will repeat, I did bake the treats. I have the pictures to prove it. With minor supervision from my sister-in-law, and let’s be honest, she only supervised her glass of wine that she mooched off me, and continual critiques from my husband, who is the main cook in the family, I did the brunt of the work and made a tasty little treat for my baby, Shalane. The night started out with a fashionable outfit, of course. It reminded me of a fifties homemaker, so I had to wear it with an apron and pull the whole idea together. I didn't actually even own an apron, so I had to borrow one from my mother-in-law. Excluding getting another cup of coffee, I don’t step in the kitchen very often, so it was an event that required great attire. My husband sat back watching my unusual prep work with a disgusted look on his face. He usually cooks after a run, so his cooking attire is definitely not fantastic. I’m the one that should be giving the disgusted looks. He may have looked perturbed by the fact that I was cooking for the dog and not him, but he needs to just accept the rank of importance in this house. Shalane, fashion, the food my husband cooks for me, then my husband. That’s not too bad, is it? My sister-in-law arrived to document this historical event in pajamas. She’s a stay-at-home mom, and I knew she wouldn’t dress up. She hates clothes in general. She always says the thing she’ll miss the most when she goes back to work is her pajamas. Not her kids, her pajamas. Most stay-at-home moms that I know revel in the thought of getting dressed up and going out, but not her. We got started with a Martha Stewart recipe. Before going to prison, she said she’d miss her pets the most, so as a veterinarian I naturally had to choose her recipe. If you’d like to try it, here’s the link: http://www.marthastewart.com/319172/izzys-apple-cheddar-dog-biscuits I was mixing the ingredients quickly. There was only one change that I made to the original, switching regular flour for barley flour because our small town grocer doesn’t carry such fancy things. As I mixed all the ingredients together, I thought I’d done something wrong because it’s a very dry mixture, but my husband quickly swooped in with some fancy tools and told me I wasn’t doing it right. This is a common occurrence in our house when I cook. My husband is quite the master in the kitchen, throwing things together without even using a recipe. I don't think I've tasted anything he cooked that I didn't like, except for broccoli, but that's not really his fault. If I want to get any real cooking or baking done (like I said, this happens rarely), it usually goes more smoothly if my husband isn't in the house. Otherwise, he'll stand behind me asking why I'm doing things a certain way or getting twice the number of dishes dirty. This usually results in me just letting him take over as it's clear that watching me cook is painful for him. This instance was no exception. Apparently, you need something called a pastry cutter to mix things like this, which is news to me. I let him take over for a few minutes at this point. After mixing it, it was time for a taste test of the dough. It only consists of flour, oatmeal, cheddar, parmesan, applesauce, and olive oil, so don’t freak out, I wasn’t eating anything disturbing. Come on, the ingredients on a bag of dog food look healthier than what’s listed on a bag of Cheetos, so maybe we should all start eating dog food for an afternoon snack. Sometimes when I don’t have time to make a run to town during the work day… Never mind The mixture didn’t taste too bad. It’s not a pizza of course, but it wasn’t split pea soup either. More like a granola bar, not bad, not good, but I’m willing to eat one if I’m hungry. After taste-testing the dough, it was time for some Christmasy fun (these were a Christmas present for my dog), so we got out the small cookie cutters and cut them all in the shapes of reindeer, snowmen, little angels, and a few hearts to switch it up. It was now time for the ultimate test of my baking skills, the actual baking part, so I clicked over to the oven in my best fifties housewife heels, put them in, and set a timer because one seriously entertaining conversation later and I’d end up with some treats that seemed more like clay ornaments. As we waited, it was time to watch crazy Facebook videos and lip-sync to nineties rap on Youtube, you know, like any other person might do. My sister-in-law is surprisingly well-versed in the lyrics of Salt-n-Pepa, like not missing a word. She even danced, but I won’t go into that. It wasn’t pretty. She let the wine get the best of her. The timer dinged, but no clicking this time. I’d thrown my shoes off so I could do the running man during our sing-along. The dog treats looked amazing, but we needed to complete another taste test. Really, this time we were just getting hungry and we’d already finished the cheese and crackers that I’d provided. Basically, they didn’t taste much different from the dough, just a little crunchier, but I knew that Shalane would appreciate them. Her palate isn’t very sophisticated, since her meals that day consisted of dog food, a couple of cow patties, and some random road kill that I saw her carrying away when I pulled in the drive. Those are just the items I witnessed in the brief time that I was home. I hate to think what else she finds on the farm. I was pretty proud of myself. Baking is not something I love to do, but for my Shalane, I’d do anything, so baking it was. Does everyone bake in a stylish outfit and heels? No, definitely not people who do it on a regular basis, but I had to make it somewhat entertaining for myself. Baking is really just the tip of the iceberg of what I'd do for my dog, and I know many of my clients are the same way. I've cleaned up diarrhea and vomit (no doubt a result of the dietary indiscretion mentioned above), bathed (that's an accomplishment with a 100 pound fluffy dog), hand fed her when she was feeling ill from chemo, shuttled her back and forth for radiation treatments for her cancer, held her, serenaded her (I'm really not sure if she enjoyed that), and many other things that we do for our “fur babies”. And I would do it all over again. A wise person once said, “A dog is the only creature on Earth that loves you more than it loves itself.” No truer statement has ever been made, and that's why Shalane will always have my love and a piece of my heart. The day after my kitchen escapades, Shalane’s cancer made an unexpected turn for the worse, and we had to make the difficult decision to humanely euthanize her. Kind of a sad way to end a blog post to say the least, but I can look back and smile knowing that her final evening with us was filled with laughter, dancing, and doggie cookies. May we always love our dogs and continue to care for them as family members, this day and every day. We did not know that night would be her last, but we have nothing but good memories to comfort us during this difficult time.
2 Comments
Ronda
1/12/2016 02:34:47 pm
Dear Dr. Stroupe, I so enjoy reading your blog ! Can't lie...this one made me laugh.. and made me cry. Keep on doing what you do. We sure appreciate you and your caring heart. God bless.
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Ellen Dalzell
1/14/2016 04:29:00 am
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Jessica Stroupe, DVM
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