Food! Glorious Food!

I've gotten the hang of cooking food for Odie. It's quite a pity that I hardly cook for myself and for my family, actually. Odie has forced me to go to the supermarket, get in the kitchen, and basically prevent him from uprooting (!!!) the plants in our front yard by luring his nose towards what I have on hand.

Of course, that doesn't mean I stopped buying dog food from groceries, pet supplies stores, and hardware stores. I still keep my eye out for things he might like. A few weeks ago, National Geographic Philippines announced that they will be distributing loot bags to those who weren't able to claim theirs during the Doggy Day Camp event. I went to their office at the Active Fun building at BGC to claim the loot bags for Odie and Theo, went to Hobbes and Landes to check out if they had the Lupines I wanted, and waited for the driver at Jamba Juice. I unpacked the loot bag upon getting home and was not disappointed with the contents.

The loot bag was a large drawstring bag (the one where all the goods are resting on). In it were two packs of Pedigree wet dog food, a feeding guide, a small spray bottle of Green Cross hand sanitizer, Piattos Multigrain Chips, and the most random one of all, Nissin Cup Noodles. It also came with a utility bag (upper right) which looks suitable for training. However, Doc Marose is emphasizing that we should be fading lures and rewards by now. Maybe I'll use it when we're in a high distraction environment. Again, thank you to Natgeo Philippines, and of course to Pedigree! Pedigree Philippines is giving away Dentastix sample packs via their Facebook page! I just filled out this little form and a representative already contacted me to ask for directions. Hope it arrives soon!

I haven't been too keen on getting lots of commercial treats lately. It's cool though how I found a fruit-flavored treat the other day, thanks to JerHigh.

JerHigh Fruity Snack, banana flavor
(P135, True Value)

I was choosing to buy just one pack of treats because Odie still has a lot of Tiny T-Bonz filet mignon treats. I give them sparingly because there are a bunch of ingredients I don't understand. It's interesting to come across a pack of banana-flavored treats with real chicken meat. Moreover, I know that Odie only eats bananas when they're frozen (maybe he finds the warm ones too mushy?) so I wanted to know if he'll take this one quite well.

Let's just say that I can cradle him again these days using these banana treats so I guess that's a good sign! When I cradle him with a treat in my hand, he sometimes just lays still like a stuffed animal! I hope he does the same if Doc Marose makes us do a cradle this Saturday. Gotta redeem ourselves after being crazy when we sat in at Puppy Class. I would love to see more puppies this Saturday! It's not too late to enroll!!!

We have an orientation for Basic Obedience - Intermediate Class on Saturday after the puppies have their fun, so I went to Shopwise last night in hopes of buying chicken liver for the liver bits that I usually make. Doc Marose shared the recipe with us and honestly, it's the only recipe I've come to know by heart because it's so easy to make! Sadly, the store ran out of liver and I didn't want to look anywhere else, so I bought chicken breast fillet instead.

I wanted a no-frills training treat that Odie would appreciate so I decided to just cut them up to bite-sized pieces and boiled them til they were thoroughly cooked. I also kept the chicken broth (the water I used to boil the chicken) to mix with his kibble for a tasty meal. I know dogs like to eat raw chicken but I'm really afraid of salmonella so I've yet to overcome that paranoia. I gave Odie a little piece of cooked chicken just before dinner. He kept sniffing it and got very excited, and started crying when I left to finish cooking. I'm so glad Odie loves almost everything that I feed him (except warm bananas). Some of his classmates are quite picky with food, and I can only imagine the frustration when dogs won't take the treats their humans bought and/or prepared.

I've also been called out for cooking for Odie. Friends tell me he's so spoiled to be getting home-cooked food instead of just commercial treats. Honestly, I think it's wiser to just cook dog treats instead of relying on store-bought ones. Really, there's nothing so "spoiled/sosyal" about it because I end up spending less. Odie is allowed 1/4kg of chicken liver in a week, so that's around a kilo a month, which is Php 120. A kilo would need two packs of graham crackers which would be around Php 60, there's parsley being sold for less than Php 5, and 3/4 cup of honey is around 30 bucks. That's around Php 200 for a month's worth of liver bits, as opposed to packed treats being sold for Php 150 which would last us less than a week. Moreover, there's a sense of comfort in knowing that I know what Odie is eating. The commercial treats I buy are dried, which means they have preservatives and other ingredients I can't pronounce. On top of it all, the expression on Odie's face when I give him freshly-cooked treats is priceless, which makes me very happy. I mean, I can't cook to save my life, but Odie seems to love it. That will do for now :)