Phoenix has always been a fussy eater -
apart from his two meals of rice, milk and chicken, he does not eat any
of the snacks like biscuits or toasts that the other dogs enjoy. He looks mournfully at them crunching up the
tidbits, but refuses to have them himself.
 |
| Phoenix as a little pup |
The only snack that he ever enjoys
and begs for is the ‘chewstick’. Now
this is a doggie treat that all of them love, but it is something that is not
available in Chitrapur or its vicinity. So our Mumbai trips always have a visit
to the petshop where we buy enough to last us until our next trip. And still sometimes that is not enough!
 |
| No, thanks, I don't eat human-biscuits |
We can never sneak one out of the packet and
give only Phoenix when the others are munching their share of human-biscuits.
Oh,no – for Phoenix refuses to eat one all by himself. He waits till everyone is
around and then takes his. It may seem
strange especially since most dogs just grab the treats. But not Phoenix – he
is the gentle one, he likes to share his treats!
A couple of months back, we ran out of chew-sticks way
before our trip to the city. And
Phoenix’s expression became so mournful, that I did not even venture near my
bookshelf. The bookshelf ? Yes, the
packet of chewsticks is always kept on the top shelf of our bookshelf for easy
access. You just have to step near it
and Phoenix is there right behind you looking hopefully for a treat.
We had a visitor the other day and when I
went in to get some tea, he wandered around and stood in front of the bookshelf
looking at the collection. Something in the top shelf caught his attention and
he started taking out the book when he sensed some activity behind him. He
turned around to see four dogs gathered around him watching his every move and
he froze. I walked out with the tea just then and seeing his expression burst out laughing. “Have you trained the dogs so that no one can
touch your books?”, he asked. He had a
hearty laugh too when I told him about the chewsticks!
So you can imagine how it is when we exhaust our supply of
chewsticks.
 |
| Sigh.....this is how it feels to have a chewstick-less existence |
I had to do something and thought of making some doggie biscuits at
home. A couple of eggs mixed directly into whole wheat flour (no unhealthy
refined flour for my darlings you see), and a dough mixed together with chicken
stock. I shaped it into a log, sliced it
into biscuits and baked them.
 |
| D-shaped Doggie biscuits - just so that the humans know whom it is meant for |
They were
tough to break, since I had not used any baking soda. Now the real test – would
Phoenix eat them? I called out to all of
them and they came obediently into the kitchen. I handed out the first one to
Phoenix, he sniffed at it, thought for a moment, looked around to make sure
that all the others were also there and then accepted it delicately.
 |
| It sure smells good, guess there is no harm in tasting it. |
Hurrah!
He carried it out to his favourite chair, and sat and ate it and was
back for more! Hurrah indeed!
So now I have home-made doggie treats for our canine
quartet!
