Dogs living the gourmet life
Cooking for your pets is just another way to show you care
As I write this, my 12-week-old Dandie Dinmont puppy, Gracie, is pursuing a blueberry across the kitchen floor as though her tiny life depends on it. Forget about chasing foxes and badgers. She’s fine with organic fruit and tweed blankets, thank you.
She’s part of a got-to-be-gourmutt trend. Lucky hounds are feasting on organic turkey, kale and quinoa. They lap up rich stock, sorry, bone broth, as an amuse bouche and tuck into frozen coconut oil and raspberry “pupsicles” to cool them down on hot days.
Today, our dogs are not only in the house, chances are they are cosying up on our sofas or, gasp, on our beds, too. We live in a world of no dog left behind. They go everywhere with us. My local gastropub has an advertisement in the window for bar staff: “Good with dogs” is now in the job description.
When I began to cook for my dogs, it was my guilty secret. I felt ridiculous, but I cook for everyone I care for, so why not them? When I mentioned my from-scratch dogs’ dinners to my regular dog-walking posse, it felt like soothing group therapy. Everybody was doing it, just nobody talked about it.
I tentatively wrote a piece about cooking for Barney, my 10-yearold Border terrier. I felt relieved, unburdened. Then I did several radio interviews about it and a British TV show called to check Barney’s availability. A posh cookery school invited me to teach a class. A publisher asked me to write a book about cooking for your dog.
I began to see my forays into canine haute cuisine as an extension of how we all used to feed our dogs anyway, with scraps from the table boosted with raw bones and the odd bit of tripe from the butcher. Those dogs of yore all seemed to live for ages, without many of the intolerances and other food-related problems we see in some dogs now.
But many vets are wary of this new-old go-it-alone approach to dog nutrition. There are concerns people are feeding their pets wildly unsuitable things, or imposing wacky, self-indulgent vegetarian or even vegan diets on them. But many vets have strong financial ties to large-scale pet food manufacturers, so you’re not necessarily getting the most unbiased advice.
In the spirit of gastronomic adventure, I did try to introduce Barney to the joys of the attractively named BARF (bones and raw food) diet, but it wasn’t for him. His interest in meaty bones extends to burying them in the garden and waiting for weeks until they achieve the perfect level of revolting before reappearing with them, gleefully.
Now Barney enjoys a diet of around 60 to 70 per cent lean meat, boosted with vegetables, fruit, some grains, eggs, a little live yogurt and powdered egg shells for extra calcium and he seems disgustingly healthy.
When I don’t have time to make my dogs’ dinners, I rely on bought stuff which is as near as possible to what I’d create. I’m not alone. Gourmet pet food is flourishing.
One final confession: in our house, the tables have been turned. Many of the casserole recipes I develop for my dogs, I then tweak with extra seasonings to make them suitable for me and my husband. So in truth, we now survive and thrive on the scraps from their table, and I’m here to report my coat’s never been more glossy.
Liver and cranberry brownies — the ultimate dog treat
The cinnamon is optional but it certainly makes your kitchen smell less like a Game of Thrones massacre while the liver brownies are cooking.
A little sunflower or olive oil, for greasing the tin 4.5 oz (130 g) rolled oats 1 oz (28 g) dried cranberries (optional)
7 oz (198 g) buckwheat or brown rice flour
1 tsp (2.5 mL) cinnamon (optional)
9 oz (256 g) chicken, lamb or beef liver 3 eggs, lightly beaten 2 tbsp (30 mL) coconut oil
Preheat the oven to 350 F/175 C. Brush a 25-cm/3.8-square brownie tin with oil and line with baking paper, let the paper hang over the edges so the brownies are easier to remove. Brush the paper with oil.
In a processor, pulse the rolled oats until fine, then add cranberries, flour and cinnamon. Tip into a bowl.
Put the livers in the food processor with the eggs and coconut oil and pulse until fairly smooth. Add the dry mixture in three batches, pulsing until just mixed. Pour into the tin and bake for 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely in the tin, placed on a rack. Cut into roughly 0.5-1 inch/1-2 cm bites. They will keep in a container in the fridge for a few days, or in the freezer for up to four months.
The dog’s ultimate breakfast ...
Porridge made with beef stock, sorry, bone broth. May have a little mince simmered into it and some bananas or blueberries scattered over the top.
A real dog’s dinner ...
Sardine bake — slice a sweet potato very thinly, line a baking dish with half the slices, mash two tins of sardines and spread over the sweet potato, then lay more sweet potato slices on top. Cover in foil and bake at around 375 F/190 C for 45 minutes. Cool and serve.
On the banned list
These ingredients are potentially harmful to dogs, so avoid at all costs.
n Anything containing alcohol
n Avocados
n Anything containing caffeine
n Chocolate
nCooked bones — they can splinter
n Corn on the cob — the husk can become lodged in the dog’s small intestine
n Grapes, raisins and other dried vine fruits
n Macadamia nuts
n Onions and leeks
n Xylitol, an artificial sweetener often found in peanut butter, so check the label