Give a Dog a Bone

Woof Talk by Belinda Sinclair

My daugh­ter Nic­hole is the chef in the fam­ily between my three daugh­ters. One of the things that she will whip up in the kitchen is some home­made dog treats for our dogs Bon­nie & Dun­can. Nic­hole is a hero to our dogs when they see these treats. We use them to prac­tice their skills in obe­di­ence and herd­ing. When we just want to have fun show­ing off all of the tricks that the dogs know for friends and neigh­bor these spe­cial treats hit the mark. I would like to say that my dogs try a lit­tle hard­er when they real­ly like the treat we use as a reward. Any time that I can work on my dogs’ skills and keep it fresh and fun for every­one is always a good thing.

I am shar­ing two of Bon­nie & Duncan’s favorite treat recipes. I hope that your dog likes them as much as they do. Get your kids or grand­kids involved in mak­ing the treats with you. It is a great way to reward your favorite pooch. Bone Appetite!

JUNGLE BITES 1 ½ cups ripe mashed bananas ½ tea­spoon vanil­la extract 3 cups quick-cook­ing oats 1/2 cup nuts ¼ cup apple­sauce

Pre­heat the oven to 350 degrees. Mash the bananas and apple­sauce togeth­er. Stir in the oth­er ingre­di­ents and mix thor­oughly. On an ungreased bak­ing sheet drop spoon­fuls of bat­ter about two inch­es apart. Press each treat flat with the back of the spoon. Bake for about 15 min­utes. Cool com­pletely before serv­ing. Store in a plas­tic con­tainer in the refrig­er­a­tor. Makes about 24 treats.

CINNAMON STICKS 2 cups whole wheat or white flour ½ cup corn­meal 2/3 cup water 6 table­spoons canola oil 1 egg 1 tea­spoon brown sug­ar 1 tea­spoon vanil­la extract 2 table­spoons cin­na­mon

Pre­heat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix all of the ingre­di­ents togeth­er. Roll mix­ture out to about ¼ inch thick on a floured sur­face. Use your favorite cook­ie cut­ters to cut out fun shapes. Bake for about 45 min­utes. Cool com­pletely before serv­ing. Store in a plas­tic con­tainer. Makes about 24 treats.

Belin­da Sin­clair is the own­er and train­er of Woof Woof Dog­gie Day­care & Train­ing Cen­ter based in Wind­ham, NH. Free pup­py play group is offered every Sun­day for pup­pies up to 7 months old as a com­mu­nity ser­vice to cre­ate social­ly well round­ed dogs. Have a ques­tion you want answered about dogs? E-mail it to woofwoofpds@comcast.net or call us at 603–890‑6239.