puppy love [peanut butter “dog biscuits”]

After getting so many compliments on my lovely little dogs, I thought I may as well introduce them, & share their favorite treat (scroll to bottom if you want to skip the babbling and head to a super-easy treat recipe!).

First: Sandy the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

Sandy was my first furbaby. I spent most of 4th and 5th grade year actively campaigning for a dog… I originally was obsessed with wanted a West Highland White Terrier, but my obsession interest ended up moving towards the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. I still remember the excitement of stepping into the breeder’s house to pick him up; he was 6 months old and already named.

Eight years later, he’s still going strong. Occasionally a somewhat lazy and grumpy old man, but regal and gorgeous all the same. And while he’s possibly a little “fluffier” than he ought to be, that just means more to cuddle with. ;)

Lily the Mini Poodle

Lily is my lovely little mini-poodle. I hate telling people I have a mini, because they automatically assume she’s some snappy, yippy little thing. Couldn’t be further from the truth! She’s possibly the sweetest dog ever, and even my friends who are cat people love her… She’s basically a real, live, warm, fuzzy teddy bear.

When we got her, she was 8 weeks old and could fit cupped in my hands. It was fairly amusing to see Sandy torment her by jumping on the couch with toys where she couldn’t reach them. Now she’s ridiculously good at jumping… to the point that she’s scaled baby fences before. I’m pretty sure she’s part teddy-bear, part rabbit, part sheep, and then part dog. Probably in that order.

And she sleeps in goofy places. Like in the nightstand in hotel rooms. Silly rabbit…

When I’m at home, I always make them a ginormous batch of dog treats. While I can’t exactly say if these are their favorite, they definitely eat them without any complaints. I mean, they’re part of my family, so they’re kind of obsessed with peanut butter (seriously, they sit there pleadingly every morning when my mom makes her peanut butter sandwich).

Incidentally, these are made with very few, very human ingredients. And while they aren’t exceptionally flavorful (which might be remedied with the addition of salt), they’re really crisp, crunchy, and delicious. And every time I make them, I have to fight to make sure some make it past my mom and into the dog treat jar.

Peanut Butter Dog Treats
from here

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup natural peanut butter
1 cup milk (I haven’t tried this with non-dairy milk, can dogs have almond milk?!)

Preheat oven to 385 degrees and lightly grease a cookie sheet.

Mix together milk and peanut butter until well combined. In a separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients. Add dry to wet and mix well; it will start getting gummy the longer you use it, but they’ll turn out fine. Roll out onto parchment paper about 1/4 inch thick, and cut with cookie cutters (or into strips, if you’re lazy)

Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. To get perfectly even crispness, you can even try to flip them over once while baking, but it’s not really necessary. Dogs aren’t picky, after all…

(And neither is my mother).

Gratuitous video of Lily playing in the snow… please excuse the awkward audio and atrocious filming.

Tell me about your fur-friends. :)