Doggie Treats.

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!