So, our seven-year-old Labrador, Barney, is in remission for cancer. It had been a year and he was still the peppy, tail-wagging beast that he had always been, spending a little too much time around the high chair at mealtimes, tracking a little too much mud inside the house when he goes exploring outside, and, of course, leaving a little too much of his yellow hair around our house. That is, until about a month ago when he started having seizures and, more recently, when he stopped eating his food. Never a good sign. He's been to the doctor and is on anti-seizure medicine. He has aged about three or four years in a few weeks. That old, mopey dog in the corner can't be our constant burst of hairy yellow energy, can it?Well, our sorrow reached an all-time low last week. I looked at some pictures of when we first brought Barney to live with us in 2002 when he was 8 weeks old. We hugged and petted him more in a week than he has had in the past four years total (when we first started bringing children into our family. Coincidence? I think not.).
The ultimate feelings of pity surfaced last weekend when we were hit with the big noreaster that pummeled our town with about a foot of snow. We were trapped inside the house for the entire day, the kids were playing with the husband, the baby was sleeping, and I was rummaging through my cookbooks when I came across the book for homemade dog biscuits I had bought back in 2003 and had used only once! You see where this is going.
So, out come the peanut butter, the whole wheat flour and (not so coincidentally), the yellow-haired beast who was exerting his 6th sense and could tell that something was happening and it was going to be in his favor for once (instead of one of the kids!). 30 minutes later, I was scraping bone-shaped peanut butter biscuits off of my cookie sheets and ole' Rover was smiling at me from across the room in West Side Story fashion. I had to see if Barney was just refusing to eat anything, or merely refusing to eat his dogfood.
Well, he didn't waste a minute when we gave him one of his new homemade bones. And he licked his chops approvingly afterwards. Still no advances towards the Iams, though. Apparently, he prefers to have his new personal chef make him homemade meals instead.
About 6 hours and 4 biscuits later, Barney had still not touched his food. So, I had this brainstorm to make some beef bouillon gravy to sprinkle on top. Well, that changes things, now, doesn't it? Suddenly the Iams didn't look so unappealing. 1-2-3 minutes later, the bowl that had sat there for two days, was empty and, again, my four-legged friend was gazing at me like he was in love. Well, who wouldn't enjoy made-to-order meals?
So, this brings me to this point in life where I am a mother of three children under 4 years old, a wife, an active participant in my church, and now, a slave to my 90 pound Labrador. As Charlie Brown would say to Snoopy, "Good grief!" So, in case you are feeling the need to butter up your furry friend one day, here's our recipe for homemade biscuits, guaranteed to please.
Peamutt Butter Biscuits
(makes 30)
1/2c. peanut butter
1c. water
2T. canola oil
1c. whole wheat flour
2c. white flour
Blend the oil, water and peanut butter together. Add the whole wheat flour and stir. Add the white flour, one cup at time, and stir until blended. Knead until a dough ball is formed. Roll to 1/4 inch thickness and cut with a bone-shaped cookie cutter (or another shape). Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.
